As
we enter National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW), I can’t help but
think how far we’ve come in my lifetime to secure immunization
against once insurmountable plagues of disease. We live in a time
now when germs from China or Africa arrive in the US in a matter of
hours. In our grandfathers time, the biggest worry was what
illness was in the next town or county.
In the 1950s, nearly every child developed measles. Unfortunately, some even
died from this disease. My own brother developed mumps in 1957 and was left
sterile as a result. Today, however, few physicians just out
of medical school will ever see a case of measles during their
careers. This is due to the wide use of the standard
recommended MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine for children. In
March 2005, CDC announced that rubella is no longer a major health threat to
expectant mothers and their unborn children, thanks to a safe and
effective MMR vaccine and high vaccine
coverage.
In my youth, it would have been unbelievable to imagine a day when these
infectious disease would be eradicated. Vaccinations are quite a luxury
that we take for granted today.
I began first grade in 1953 in a rural Virginia village with seven fellow
students. Jo Ellen was one of those seven. Jo Ellen developed polio the previous year and was
only able to walk with braces and two crutches. In that time, parents
kept young children on their farms because there was no protection available to
them – no vaccine existed. When the first oral polio immunization became available
in 1955, my mother took my three brothers and me to our church for the inoculation. I also remember standing in line in my
rural Virginia elementary school for the one or two other immunizations that were available.
In the 2010 California outbreak of whooping cough, 8,000 cases were reported
in the state with ten infant deaths. Additionally, measles takes the lives of more than 100,000 children globally each year. Thanks
to immunization, we can now protect infants and children from 14
vaccine-preventable diseases before age two. However, they must receive the vaccines to receive that protection!
In September 2010, CDC announced that childhood immunization rates for
vaccines routinely recommended for children remain at or near record highs. Perhaps we can find a day when our children can look back in
amazement, for the number of diseases that have been eradicated in their
lifetime.
If you have questions or concerns regarding childhood vaccination, please
refer to the Talking About Childhood Vaccine brochure, and be sure to consult
with your doctor.
For more information on activities happening around the country in
celebration of NIIW, please CDC’s NIWW page.