Even the campaign trail shouldn’t lead a doctor to forego science on vaccinations
Last week, state Sen. Ralph Alvarado, who’s now Matt Bevin’s running mate as lieutenant governor, was at a rally when someone asked him about all the people dying from vaccines.
According to an audiotape from the event, Alvarado, who is a medical doctor, didn’t contradict a possible voter on a patently false statement; he instead noted that was a matter of debate. He went on to say: “I think it’s good health policy to administer vaccines but if people don’t want them, we shouldn’t force people to take them.”
Later on, he admitted it’s a fine balance, noting that “a lot of theses diseases can be fatal.”
Well, yes, doctor. Measles, for example, is one of the leading vaccine-preventable causes of death. But thanks to this new parental resistance to vaccines, the Centers for Disease Control reported 1,095 cases in the U.S. as of June, the highest number reported since measles was eliminated — due to the use of vaccines — in 2000.
That eradication was due to “herd immunity,” which is the concept of protecting the few—newborns babies, people with lowered immunity, such as cancer patients— because most people are immunized. In the case of measles, it is 95 percent. Polio, which is less contagious, requires an immunization rate of 80-85 percent.
It’s unfortunate, then, that the latest statewide immunization survey of Kentucky students for 2017-2018 showed that the percentage of kindergarteners who received required immunizations against diseases ranging from chickenpox to hepatitis B was below the state’s goal of 95 percent.
Kentucky’s vaccination requirements, by the way, are only required for public schools, some private ones, university housing and day cares. There are medical and religious exemptions allowed. So you can make the choice to avoid them. But even home-schooled students live in communities, and as a community, public health officials have decided, through scientific evidence, that vaccinations are the safest way to eradicate once deadly diseases from our population.
Then yesterday, a group of Catholic students in Northern Kentucky lost their appeal against the local health department, which had canceled extracurricular activities and imposed a temporary ban on school attendance for unvaccinated students as a chickenpox outbreak spread. The chickenpox vaccine was first created from fetal cells in the 1960s, so some Catholics oppose it.
The health department’s attorney told the Associated Press that the decision: “underscored the authority of local health departments to take reasonable measures to prevent the spread of infectious disease and protect public health.”
After that case got underway, Bevin caused an uproar when he admitted to purposely exposing his children to chickenpox rather than getting the vaccine. Chickenpox can also be dangerous to newborns, the elderly, pregnant women and those with auto immune deficiencies.
Across the state, only 91.6 percent of kindergarteners were immunized against chickenpox.
“This is very unfortunate and needs to be addressed,” University of Kentucky pediatric infectious diseases associate professor Sean McTigue told the Herald-Leader in April. “Aside from improvements in public sanitation and nutrition, no medical intervention has been as effective in reducing and in many cases eliminating disease as routine childhood immunization.”
Fears about vaccines have never been properly documented; a huge scare about vaccines causing autism has been debunked. Many parents are alarmed at the simultaneous vaccines doctors offer to young children, but most doctors are happy to space them out.
Of course, it’s beyond hypocrisy that Alvarado, who has supported onerous anti-abortion bills that promote extreme government control over women and their uteruses, thinks the government should just step aside when it comes to rules that protect thousands of vulnerable people.
But maybe more disturbing to see is this nonchalant approach to science from those who are supposed to promote it. Even on the campaign trail.
Linda Blackford writes columns and commentary for the Herald-Leader.
This story was originally published July 2, 2019 at 9:39 AM.