Children’s vaccinations have been greatly debated over recent decades and the topic is back in the news again. It all started back in the 90s with the claim by Andrew Wakefield, a former British surgeon, that the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine was linked to the development of autism and bowel disorders in children. The research, published in the Lancet in 1998 resulted in a mass drop out of babies from effective vaccination programs across the globe for potentially life threatening diseases.

The MMR vaccine was developed by Merck and introduced in the U.S. in 1971—single immunizations were available earlier—and is still sold today by Merck, GSK and Sanofi Pasteur. It generally forms part of the childhood vaccination program and is given to children at around the age of one with a booster administered just prior to starting school at age 4-5. The WHO recommends at least 95% of children should be immunized against preventable diseases, however this level dropped to 79.9% in 2003-2004 following on from Wakefields’ claims several years earlier. Although completely publically discredited by the Lancet several years later it has taken 15 years to reach the level of 92.7% in the UK, according to the last published data in 2013-2014, however still remains below the WHO recommended level. In the U.S. in 2013-2014 the reported levels of uptake for the MMR were 94.7% having also recovered from the dip.

The effect of this has been measles outbreaks of unprecedented levels including the Disneyland Outbreak in California in April this year when 111 cases were reported, supposedly from a foreign visitor bringing the virus, and in 2014 a large outbreak of 383 cases was reported primarily in an unvaccinated Amish community in Ohio. Although none of these cases proved fatal the U.S. reported their first death from measles in 12 years in July in a lady not linked to the two previous large outbreaks. This is on the back of the WHO reporting 22,000 cases of measles worldwide in 2014, followed by the death of an 18-month-old boy in Germany earlier in 2015. The UK has seen similar patterns with over 2,000 cases reported in 2012 and due to lack of uptake this still remains a threat.

The vaccine is cheap and widely available but yet there remains a consensus, seemingly increasing to avoid vaccination on the back of discredited information and those arguing for an ethical choice of what they have injected into their bodies. The 5-in-1 vaccine—diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and hemophilus influenza—normally given at 12 weeks and then 3 and 4 months has also dipped below 95% to 94.3% in 2013-2014 in the UK. These are all life threatening or debilitating diseases that can be avoided.

From a slightly different angle tuberculosis (TB) is also on the increase, but potentially for a different reason. Tuberculosis or tubercle bacillus (TB) is primarily a lung infection that is serious and often fatal most commonly found in the developing world in people with immunodeficiency from HIV, but is also found in the developed world. In the UK the BCG (Bacille de Calmette et Guérin) vaccine has been used to prevent the spread of TB. It was given from 1963 to 2005 to all children entering high school but was stopped due to the decrease in prevalence and lack of cost effectiveness. However there were still almost 8,000 cases of TB in the UK in 2014—12.3 cases per 100,000 of population—an incidence far higher that you would expect from a developed country.
The U.S. has never had a mass immunization program and it’s much more common to treat the condition rather than prevent it, however the incidence of TB in the States is only 3.0 cases per 100,000 and on the decline, seemingly presenting as much less of a threat than other countries.

Up until now we’ve only considered vaccinations for infectious diseases, but many vaccines are in research stages for many other diseases including cancer. The HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccine may prevent various conditions including cervical cancer, genital warts and other types of cancer. It is also thought to be effective in males in preventing genital warts, other HPV infections and anal cancer.

A global vaccination program has been set away to vaccinate teenage girls and subsequently in some countries teenage boys, Australia being the first in 2007 to introduce a nationally funded female vaccination program extended in 2012 to include males. Many other countries have followed in a close time frame to include the U.S. who extended the program to males in 2011 and the UK; however the UK only extends the vaccination to girls. It’s estimated that around a third of teenagers in the U.S. have had some of the recommended vaccination doses for the virus, and the uptake in the UK was at 89.5% for 12-13 year olds in 2013-2013 for the first dose and 79.7% for all doses.

And on it goes. Work is focused now on diseases such as malaria, Ebola, HIV and other types of cancers with Pharma companies investing billions of dollars in order to prevent these diseases. Yet even when the vaccines are proven to prevent serious conditions there is still descent in the ranks. And this isn’t just from parents claiming that their child has autism induced by the MMR but from clinical professionals who argue that vaccination programs simply aren’t effective.

I came across a Health Letter recently written by Vernon Colemans, a former general practicioner from the UK who for decades has argued that vaccination programs are pointless and that eradication of conditions such as smallpox, and decreased incidence of polio and other diseases is purely a result of better sanitation and general hygiene. In fact in his letter he covers practically every single offered immunization with vehement insistence that vaccinations cause more harm than good. And he isn’t the only one. U.S. celebrity Jenny McCarthy is a loud voice in the argument against the MMR vaccine arguing that it triggers autism. Jim Carrey is also part of the ‘Green our Vaccines’ parade.

With all these publically vocal people supporting the abstinence from vaccination, even with new innovative preventative therapies, diseases that had been previously eradicated and held at bay are coming back with force and making many individuals incredibly ill or even killing them. Seeing this with measles is simply tragic and avoidable. Maybe the Disneyland outbreak will give people food for thought. Remember when people refused to use tan lotion? It makes me wonder, what will it take to make the tide turn?