It was about a year ago that B.C. had to deal with an outbreak of measles, with about 100 cases popping up in the Fraser Valley, and a few more scattered around the province.
This year, it’s Ontario’s turn.
Though it’s still a common disease in many Third-World countries, the once common childhood ailment is rarely seen in Canada these days.
There is one main reason for that: Vaccinations.
Complications from measles include ear or respiratory infections like pneumonia, and in extreme cases, brain inflammation, blindness and deafness or, rarely, death.
Measles accounted for 500,000 deaths worldwide in the year 2000. Mass immunizations have drastically reduced that figure. By 2012, the number of measles deaths had been reduced by 80 per cent.
But the number of children that are being vaccinated is shrinking – many parents are willing to risk their children’s health, and that of others, by refusing to have their kids vaccinated.
According to Fraser Health records, more than 30 per cent of infants in the health authority’s region are not getting vaccinated on schedule against diseases such as measles, diphtheria, polio and Hepatitis B.
And though Fraser Health’s numbers show that infants in parts of Surrey and Cloverdale are above the regional average when it comes to getting immunized, the stats are still concerning.
More than 15 years ago, a British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, suggested the measles vaccine, long proven safe, might cause autism. His study has long since been found not only inaccurate, but fraudulent.
Yet, with the help of the Internet, the scare – and others like it – has been perpetuated.
Experts are concerned that people who refuse one vaccine may be spurning others as well, setting communities up for outbreaks of other dangerous diseases, like diphtheria and whooping cough, that are slower to propagate.
The typical course for common measles, especially with modern medicines, is relatively mild. But why put your child through even that, and put others at risk, for misplaced fear of a simple vaccination?
While a rare few may have good reason – backed by the opinion of a medical professional – to avoid vaccines, it is still in everyone’s best interest to rely on the advice of doctors, rather than put misplaced faith in the veracity of the Internet.
Vaccinations are not mandatory, of course, so in the end, it is the responsibility of parents to make sure they are making decisions based on fact, rather than misinformation.
Their children’s health may depend on it.