Despite new law, vaccine discussion continues

It’s been quite the year for news in health and health care. And by “year,” I am measuring the time I’ve been covering local health for the Merced Sun-Star. A year and four months, to be exact.

I took a moment to look back at the health-related stories and issues that have become trending topics on social media and have made the paper’s front page.

Some issues are more controversial than others, and some hit closer to home.

Ebola panicked half the nation, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, received national attention because of the Internet sensation that became of the ice bucket challenge.

Directly impacting the Valley, several come to mind: doctor shortages, overused emergency rooms, food deserts, lack of health care for undocumented immigrants and respiratory issues made worse by the area’s poor air quality.

But few have drawn attention, concern and controversy as has the measles outbreak.

Starting last December, nearly 200 people in the U.S. and Mexico tested positive for measles. Most cases were traced back to visits made to Disneyland in Orange County. One case was identified in Merced County.

On Thursday, the U.S. confirmed its first measles death in 12 years, the Associated Press reported. The infection was discovered in a woman from Washington during an autopsy. Whether the woman was vaccinated was not reported, but Washington state health officials did note the woman had a compromised immune system.

What has struck health officials is that the highly contagious viral disease was thought to have been wiped out in the early 2000s. Locally, two cases were reported in Merced County in 2011. Both cases were children who were not vaccinated.

The latest outbreak prompted schools to push immunizations, but a number of parents, under a personal or religious belief exemption, opted out.

On Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that requires almost all children to be vaccinated in order to attend school. Beginning with the 2016-17 school year, children will have to be home-schooled if they are not vaccinated. But medical exemptions will still be available for children who cannot be vaccinated because of serious health issues.

California now joins Mississippi and West Virginia as the only states without a personal belief exemption. In California, where it has been estimated that nearly 10 percent of kindergarten-aged children are not vaccinated, the news is a pretty big deal.

The new law is a victory – for most. According to the bill’s authors, the new law promises to protect community health. The higher the vaccination rate, the lower the risk of another outbreak.

But those who have opposed the bill since the beginning are, of course, not pleased. Their cause for concern is the supposed side effects of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

Two doses of the MMR vaccine, according to the California Department of Public Health, are more than 99 percent effective in preventing measles.

However, anti-vaccinators have argued that children’s immune systems can deal with most infections naturally. They question the vaccine’s ingredients and claim that vaccines are linked to autism – a theory that’s been discredited several times. But as Brown pointed out, with any medical intervention, there is always a risk.

This time around, health risks outweighed personal choice.

Public figures have spoken out against being required to vaccinate children. Most recently, actor Jim Carrey criticized the new vaccine law in a Twitter rant. According to his tweets, the new law only promotes the poisoning of children with poisons such as thimerasol, a mercury-containing compound.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have explained that even though there is no convincing evidence that low doses of thimerasol cause harm, the compound has not been used as a preservative in most childhood vaccines since 2001.

Studies published in medical journals have rejected the idea that vaccines are associated with the risk of autism. The CDC has also published links to research that shows no relation between vaccines and an increased risk for autistic disorders.

Sure, these parents are only doing what they believe is best for their children. Injections may not be the ideal, but with scientific evidence supporting the value of vaccines, many of us still ask why would parents risk their child becoming ill?

This story was originally published July 3, 2015 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Despite new law, vaccine discussion continues."