New Mexico removes fake religious objections from vaccine exemptions
As I discussed yesterday, the pendulum is swinging against the so-called “philosophical exemption” against vaccination, which allows parents to not vaccinate their children based on the “just because I don’t want to” principle. They don’t even have to support their exemption with a discussion with a healthcare worker who might explain the risks of their decision.
According to an article in the Las Cruces Sun-News, New Mexico state law says that residents can exempt their children from immunization for two reasons: 1) medical issues that might make the vaccination unsafe (often called medical exemptions) or 2) vaccinations conflict with the family’s religious beliefs (religious exemptions). Apparently, according to the article, “the New Mexico Department of Health wants to keep it that way.”
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State legislatures making vaccine exemptions more difficult to obtain
Outstanding news. Tara Haelle reported in Nature News & Comment that US state legislatures are beginning to pass laws that make it more difficult for parents to obtain so-called personal exemptions to vaccinations before children attend public schools.
According to Haelle, “Each US state sets its own vaccination policies, and most will not generally allow children to attend public school unless they have been vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough); hepatitis B; the Haemophilus influenzae bacterium; measles, mumps and rubella; polio; and varicella (chicken pox).” In general, most states require that students meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention schedule (pdf) for children between 0 and 6 years old, which is set by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
All states allow legitimate medical exemptions from the immunization schedule, because of certain medical conditions that might make vaccinations problematic for young children. Some of these medical issues are: allergies to some of the components in the vaccines, immunocompromised conditions, family history of seizures, and other issues outlined in the General Recommendations on Immunization of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
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Make vaccine exemptions more difficult to obtain
A study recently published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, Medical Exemptions to School Immunization Requirements in the United States–Association of State Policies With Medical Exemption Rates (2004-2011), found that more parents get medical vaccination exemptions for their kindergarten children in states in which they are easier to obtain. A perfectly predictable result, based on anecdotal observations of the arguments that I’ve observed on the internet.
The study found that the number of medical exemptions was relatively low during the seven years of the study period, but the rate was more than 6X higher in states with relatively easy medical exemption criteria when compared to states with more difficult exemption standards. As I reported previously, as more parents get vaccine exemptions, herd immunity can be impacted, and children in schools with low immunization levels can face outbreaks of diseases that were once thought rare.
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Whooping cough: New Mexico records first infant death since 2005
Sadly, whooping cough (Bordetella pertussis) has killed an infant in San Miguel County, New Mexico. According to the New Mexico Department of Public Health said that it was the first time that an infant in the state has died from pertussis since 2005. The infant was two months old, and had been given the first of three doses of the DTaP vaccine, which immunizes children against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. The vaccine doesn’t induce a sufficient immune response until the third dose, which is given at around 6 months, so infants are at risk from being infected by the bacteria. The only way the infant could have contracted whooping cough was from another infected person, like an adult (whose immunity has lapsed) or an unvaccinated child.
In the same report, the state’s Department of Health say that New Mexico experienced more whooping cough cases in 2011 than any time since the 1980′s. They also state that they have confirmed 110 cases of the disease s0 far in 2012, ahead of the rate in 2011. Of those 110, 13 have been in infants, and of those eight required hospitalization.
This case is very sad, because the parents were responsible, and got their child vaccinated. But someone else, who was not immune or a child whose parents refused to vaccinate them, passed this dangerous infection on to the dead child.
Vaccines save lives. Literally.
via New Mexico records first infant pertussis death since 2005 | Vaccine News Daily.
