The recent observance of National Infant Immunization Week provided Colorado opportunities for both celebration and introspection. Celebration because the immunization status of our children has significantly improved over the past several years. Immunization rates for children under the age of 3 have risen from a low of 56 percent in 2001 to the current level of 78 percent.
There are still, however, many children who are incompletely immunized and distinctly susceptible to vaccine-preventable diseases in our cities and rural communities. Until we reach those children and have achieved and sustained a childhood immunization rate of at least 90 percent, we cannot declare victory over vaccine- preventable diseases.
Not a day goes by when a parent doesn’t ask a provider, “Is there really a need to immunize my child? There’s no more polio. Measles and chicken pox are rare. Where are diphtheria and tetanus?” Most young parents in this country today have never witnessed or experienced the diseases against which we protect their children through immunization. Many assume that these diseases no longer exist. The fact is that all vaccine-preventable diseases except smallpox are active somewhere in the world. Our country’s barrier to these diseases is our active and effective immunization program. The moment that we stop immunizing our children, these diseases will return.
Recently there were many cases of mumps in this country in unimmunized and under-immunized children and teenagers, all starting with a traveling youngster who brought it home from another country.
There are two messages to make clear:
Each day in Colorado, between 160 and 180 babies are born. The community wants them to grow up happy, healthy, safe and with the knowledge that they are loved. We secure them in child safety seats in our automobiles, we install safety latches on cabinet doors, we put potentially dangerous medications and household items out of their reach, and we teach them safety. Certainly one of the most important responsibilities that we have as parents is to protect the health of our children by ensuring that they receive all of the necessary vaccinations.
There are many challenges to maintaining a robust and effective immunization program in Colorado. We must continue to expand and improve the Colorado Immunization Information System, our statewide immunization registry that helps all providers identify those children who are in need of vaccinations and at risk for illness. Certainly state funding must be increased to ensure that we have the infrastructure as well as the vaccines needed to immunize our children in good times and bad. There will always be a need for public education programs to inform families of the importance of immunizations. To be sure, this all costs money. But studies in this country and all around the world have repeatedly shown that for each $1 invested in immunizing our children, we save $10 to $20 in medical expenses that would arise from vaccine preventable diseases.
Our children surely deserve good health and the protection offered by immunizations. Their parents also deserve the peace of mind that comes from the knowledge that their children are protected. Obviously the community benefits, both in terms of improved public health and dollars saved from reducing expenditures for the treatment of vaccine preventable diseases. This is a situation where potentially everyone wins. It starts out by protecting our children with vaccines.
Dr. James Shira is a member of the Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition.
