Don't be complacent about immunization
The Madison Eagle
Thursday, April 22, 1999

     As we look forward to a new century, we can look back with satisfaction at the progress that has been made against vaccine-preventable diseases.
     Before the introduction of widespread immunization against childhood diseases in the United States in the early 1950s, infectious diseases killed or disabled thousands of children each year.
     Tens of thousands of cases of paralytic polio and nearly 400,000 measles cases were reported annually. Since then, immunization has reduced the level of most vaccine-preventable diseases by more than 90 persent.
     The introduction of the polio vaccine into the childhood immunization programs in 1955 led to the elimination of wild polio virus in the United States by 1979.
     In 1994, thanks to the efforts of Rotary International, the Western Hemisphere was declared "polio free." The measles vaccine, introduced in 1963, led to a 99 percent reduction in the incidence of measles. However, because many children did not get the vaccine or received only one dose, a measles epidemic struck between 1989 and 1991. This epidemic led to more than 55,000 cases of measles, 11,000 hospitalizations, and 120 deaths.
    After increased efforts to immunize against measles, the lowest number if confirmed measles cases ever recorded was achieved in 1997: a total of 138, down from almost 28,000 cases reported in 1990.

     Although it is true that disease levels are low and immunization rates are high, much remains to be done to ensure the protection of our children into the next century.
     As the measles epidemic illustrated, we cannot become complacent. Other childhood illnesses that could be prevented by immunization are still with us. In 1997, only 26 percent of children ages 19 to 35 had received the vaccine that can prevent chicken pox, and children continue to die each year from this disease.
     Cases of pertussis (whooping cough) have ranged from 3,000 to 7,500 during the 1990s. In July 1998, 68 cases of rubella (German measles) were confirmed in Texas - more than six times the number of cases reported during all of 1997. The new century is just around the corner, yet 900,000 2 year-olds are not fully protected against vaccine-preventable diseases. In New Jersey, only 78 percent of our children are age-appropriately immunized, while Connecticut has 88 percent and NewYork has 82 percent.
     A vaccine for rotavirus is a new addition to the 1999 immunization schedule. Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhea and dehydration in young children, with virtually all children having one or more rotavirus infections in the first 5 years of life.
     Rotavirus is responsible for approximately 500,000 physician visits and 50,000 hospitalizatins annually and can result in life-threatening diarrhea. Children 3 to 24 months of age have the highest rates of this disease. Annual direct medical costs are estimated at from $270 to $450 million; indirect costs, such as parental time off work, are estimated at $1 billion.
     National Infant Immunization Week of April 18 to April 24 is a time to remind parents to ask their health care provider about their children's immunizations.