National Infant Immunization Week spotlights need to vaccinate

Outbreaks of diseases such as measles are rare in this day and age, and much of that has to do with keeping children vaccinated.

It is National Infant Immunization Week, a week that promotes vaccine awareness not only to parents for their children, but also for adults.

One of the main reasons the United States has seen a reduction in cases of diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella and polio is because of vaccinations, said Jane Wernsman, director of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center.

Measles infected an average of 549,000 people and caused 495 deaths annually before the live measles vaccine was licensed in 1963, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2000, endemic measles was declared eliminated from the United States.

"And if you don't continue to vaccinate, [diseases] do have way of popping back up," Wernsman said, mentioning cases of measles that have been reported across the country, though none in Missouri.

A resurgence of measles from 1989 to 1991 infected 55,000 people -- including school-age children who had received a one-dose vaccine -- and caused 123 deaths. The source behind the resurgence was found to be mainly preschool children who had not been vaccinated on time with the one dose of measles vaccine, according to the CDC website. By 2001, schoolchildren were required to have two doses of the vaccine.

We live in a mobile world, Wernsman said, and someone traveling to the U.S. from another country where vaccinations are not as high of a priority increases the risk of disease outbreaks as well.

"Any of our communicable diseases are only like a plane ride away," she said.

School-age children are legally required to have certain immunizations before attending school. Parents can request an exemption for their children based on religious beliefs or medical conditions, Wernsman said. However, if there is an outbreak of the measles, for example, a child who has not been vaccinated does not have the antibodies to protect himself from its spread and that student would have to be excluded from school, she said.

People should not be worried about receiving a virus through a vaccination, Wernsman said.

Some parents worry that vaccines may cause autism in some children.

A recent study backed the conclusion of a 2004 comprehensive review by the Institute of Medicine that found no "causal relationship between certain vaccine types and autism," according to the CDC website.

The study looked at the amount of antigens, or substances in vaccines that cause the body's immune system to produce antibodies to fight disease, from vaccines received on one day of vaccination and the amount of antigens from total vaccines received during the first two years of life, according to the website. It found no connection to the development of autism spectrum disorder in children.

Though adult immunizations are not legally required or mandatory, adults "absolutely" still need to be vaccinated, Wernsman said.

Over the past few years, it has been recommended that adults receive a booster shot for pertussis, or whooping cough, because it had been found that as adults age, their immunity to the disease wanes, increasing the risk of them passing the sickness on to a child who has not been immunized, Wernsman said.

Though adults may not be sickened by whooping cough, they still may be carriers of the disease.

The Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center offers immunizations for 14 childhood diseases. In 2013, the center vaccinated more than 1,700 infants and children and nearly 1,000 adults, according to a news release from the public health center.

The clinic offers immunizations for infants, children, adolescents and adults through walk-ins, appointments and clinics.

For more information on what immunizations are needed and scheduling, visit cdc.gov or call 335-7846.

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Pertinent address:

1121 Linden St., Cape Girardeau, MO