Don't immunize? You risk your health, others, and can be sued

[caption id="attachment_22451" align="alignleft" width="211"] child receiving polio immunization[/caption]

Carol Forsloff---If you are one of those individuals recommending people not take immunizations, or not taking them yourself, you might want to read about the growing number of people coming down with preventable illnesses, for whom you might be responsible.  In other words, experts say if you want to be one of those playing Russian roulette with your health, it is unfair to put the gun to someone else's head.

That can be the case, for example,  measles, mumps, or influenza, all of which can kill, depending upon the immune system of those exposed to infections that cause various communicable diseases.

The growing number of cases of children who have polio is another piece of evidence of the problems related to refusing immunizations, putting some countries in a serious situation.

Some of this has to do with the associations that were made at one time by a researcher, whose conclusions, it turned out, were bogus and eventually uncovered as that.  But as people often keep hold of the original information, that might be false, and therefore refuse to believe in anything that refutes preconceived beliefs, folks still maintain that immunizations cause autism.

Some of this false information is passed along by bloggers, some of whom may come from countries that offer little protection from certain diseases, like the country of Pakistan.   This month 70 health care workers in Khyber refused to give polio vaccinations.  Bloggers from that area of the world often state that polio still exists despite immunizations, or even caused by them, and that the medical authorities simply changed the names of certain diseases in order to cover up their manipulations.  But look closer at the evidence, if any is provided, and often it is another blogger or a defrocked doctor or someone whose medical credentials are often questionable.

Much of the tuberculosis that is spread occurs as a result of people coming to the United States from the part of the world where people refuse immunizations.  The newest multidrug resistant concern is of concern to public health officials because TB used to be one of the diseases that created numerous fatalities in the US.  Health officials became especially vigilant when there was an uptick in the disease during the 1970's and 80's, but it has declined as a result of that vigilance.

The fact remains that those people who don't have immunizations put other people's lives at risk.  There is both legal and moral culpability by doing that, and that is aided by those who continuously offer false information that not only can harm those who read it but many other people as well, with potential outbreaks of diseases entirely possible as a result of making bold statements without factual basis.

And finally if you are traveling to a country such as Pakistan, the US government offers a list of vaccinations to prevent becoming ill from the diseases in that country.  Given the resistance to vaccinations, it is likely those recommendations are cogent.

Public refusal to take flu vaccinations worries health experts, fuels pandemic concerns

Carol Forsloff — According to January 10, 2012 reports, approximately 91 percent of the types of flu viruses are ones included in the currently available flu vaccine. The H1N1, or swine flu virus, that has been an ongoing concern since it was identified several years ago, is one of those types presently circulating. Yet, in spite of widespread publicity on television, newspapers, radio, and the Internet, many people refuse to accept the vaccine or the evidence of its protection, fueling pandemic concerns.

Around the country the flu outbreak is reported to be increasing and in some cases to be deadly. Boston, for example, refers to the flu season this year as a public emergency. But if it is an emergency, then why are there people who refuse the vaccine?

In 2009, a research survey found that 60% of Americans refuse to take the flu vaccination. This number reflects specifically the refusal to take the vaccine for the H1N1 flu virus. Reasons given include safety concerns, belief the vaccine won't work, or that there are side effects that can be troublesome. The percentage of those refusing the vaccine in the United States was reflected in the numbers found to refuse it in other parts of the world.

Ethel Hoover, a former nurse for IU Health Hospital Goshen, was recently terminated because of her refusal to take the vaccination, as she cited some of the reasons listed for that refusal. On the other hand, Elaine Cox, Director of Infection Prevention at Riley Hospital for Children, an IU Health Hospital, recommends the vaccine for health workers, saying, “If you go patient to patient, you can be the vector of which the flu is spread,” Cox said. “We get them the flu shot so they won’t unwillingly spread it to patients.” She also recommends college students get vaccinated since the flu symptoms are usually not noticed until three to five days of exposure.

Morbidity rates among young people were especially higher among young people during the outbreak of the swine flu virus in 2009.  By late 2009, 30,000 people had died worldwide.

But despite the entreaties from health care management, people continue to refuse vaccination for the flu. This is in spite of entreaties from national and international organizations and a history of influenza in the recent past that reveals the millions of people that died during epidemics, such as the one in 1918. More recent estimates by researchers indicate global mortality from the 1918-1919 pandemic at anywhere between 30 and 50 million. estimated 675,000 Americans were among that number. Life expectancy in the United States during those years was 20 - 25 years less than it is today, with part of the reason cited as the influenza virus and other diseases for which modern medicine has found prevention.

Some experts maintain vaccinations are being used to control the population, directed at infecting otherwise healthy individuals. An article on this publication presents an interview with one such "expert, "Dr. Rebecca Carley. " I say there is no such thing as a safe vaccine" and goes on the downplay the news information on vaccines such as those for polio viruses, although she has made a generalized statement about all vaccines and their risks. Dr. Carley, however, lost her license to practice, but is the kind of medical expert sometimes cited as an authority by those who retain fears of vaccine risks.

The Centers for Disease Control recommends vaccination, especially seniors and children, but also for for  the general population. The Agency maintains that some people can still get the flu even if vaccinated because of age and health factors related to given individuals,  because they were vaccinated after having been exposed to the flu virus, or because they have that small percentage of viruses not covered by the vaccine.

"It’s important that health care providers and the public remember that influenza antiviral medications are a second line of defense against influenza. CDC has recommendations on the use of these medications (sold commercially as “Tamiflu®” and “Relenza®”) to treat influenza illness." The CDC further states that " Influenza vaccination is not a perfect tool, but it is the best tool currently at our disposal to prevent influenza."