Story Published:
Dec 20, 2010 at 12:10 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Dec 20, 2010 at 12:10 PM CDT
Michele Williams, M.D. wrote a column recently in which she said that for the first time in several years, there are new immunization requirements for students entering Tennessee schools and new certificates from the state that must be included when students are registered for classes.
This will affect students in a wide range of facilities from day cares to 7th grade students and new students in Tennessee schools for the first time. Look at the outbreak of whooping cough and the reason will be clear. These highly communicable diseases must be stopped in their tracks, and when children are in close quarters these diseases are easily spread.
Parents who question the immunization process are putting all children at risk. Immunization laws are in force for a reason and must be rigorously enforced.
California is experiencing an epidemic of whooping cough and at least 7 infants have died so far this year.
Whooping cough is a respiratory illness that is characterized by violent spells of coughing that can lead to respiratory arrest or broken ribs. Adults most often serve as incubators for the illness because so few are immunized against it. Most infants are not immunized against this bacterial disease because most think whooping cough was eradicated about 50 years ago.
Current thinking has it that the disease has regenerated from the influx of illegal aliens who have flooded in for the past 15 to 20 years. Tennessee had 203 cases in 2009. The vaccine can't be given until an infant is 2 months old and wears off sometime in the middle school years with about 2 out of 3 teens getting the immunization and about 6% of adults getting it.
That means that 33% of teens and 94% of adults are at risk. An unfounded fear of autism is to blame for failure of immunization in infants. Many parents have gotten bad information relative to the dangers of Thimeresol, a preservative in vaccines. This info comes via the internet and nonmedical sources. Alot of affluent and educated parents are the ones who are uninformed.
Tennessee was ranked 23rd in 2005 as far as immunizing children, now is first in the nation according to American health rankings.
