By Megan Avallone
Looking back through modern history, there is no question that one of the greatest scientific achievements, with nearly immeasurable societal benefit, is the development, introduction and global use of vaccines.
By any account, literally hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved and millions more have been spared awful, debilitating disease in this country, alone, due to the prescient work of scientists, medical practitioners and public health professionals. Perhaps, most dramatically, vaccines have – through distribution, education and consistent legislation – virtually eliminated the widespread risk of childhood preventable diseases in particular.
It is not so long ago that deadly global scourges of disease were not the exception but the rule, but our world is stunningly different now, because of the protection of immunizations. During the well documented influenza pandemic of 1918, an estimated 50 million people died globally, with 675,000 succumbing in the United States. But 1918 was a century ago, and the minority that stands in opposition to vaccination would have others believe that vaccine preventable diseases are a thing of the past, posing no substantive threat in the Garden State. As public health professionals, who prepare for, respond to and mitigate outbreaks, we are here to tell you that vaccine naysayers are simply wrong. Dead wrong.
During a time when false information is propagated and the results may be deadly, health professionals offer some enlightening truth regarding the results when vaccines are not widely available or when people choose not to vaccinate themselves or their children. In 1988, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that there were 350,000 worldwide cases of polio. These cases of disease did not occur in the United States, but rather in places where vaccination was elusive or unavailable. The World Health Organization estimates that in 2015, 257 million people worldwide are infected with Hepatitis B and 887,000 deaths resulted from the disease.
When portions of a community choose not to immunize despite the availability of licensed, safe vaccines, the consequences can be horrifying. During a seven-month period in 1991, our neighbors in Philadelphia saw 1,400 cases of measles and nine deaths among children. The disease was able to spread so rapidly due to religious opposition to the vaccine. Samoa made headlines just a few months ago when nearly 5,700 individuals became infected with measles in a nation with a population of 200,874. The measles state of emergency continues and to date, 83 have died – most of whom were children. Samoan authorities arrested a noted anti-vaccination activist for spreading false information that is believed to have led to the spread of the outbreak.
The fact is, New Jersey is better than this. Our elected officials and public health practitioners have a sacred obligation to protect the health of residents in this great state. We are urging legislators in both chambers to pass A-3818 and S-2173, respectfully. While these corresponding legislative bills could be more comprehensive, they are a good, essential start. After contending with multiple outbreaks and 19 confirmed cases of measles last year, health officials ask how many more cases or community-wide outbreaks our residents will suffer before something is done? There is no need to wait for a child to die when our lawmakers can support these bills and prevent further disease. New Jersey is at the tipping point and the time to act is now.
Megan Avallone is president of the New Jersey Association of County and City Health Officials. This opinion piece was also signed by:
- Linda Brown, president of the New Jersey Society for Public Health Education
- Lynette Medeiros, president of the New Jersey Environmental Health Association
- Paschal Nwako, president of the New Jersey Public Health Association
- Juliet Leonard, president of the New Jersey Association of Public Health Nurse Administrators Inc.
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