More parents resist child vaccinations

Associated Press

SEATTLE — Doctors are concerned at the growing number of Washington state parents who are choosing not to fully vaccinate their school-age children.

In 1995, 1 percent of parents did not to get their kindergarten-age children immunized against mumps, measles, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio, said Steve McInelly, who works on immunization with the state Department of Health.

Today, that number has grown to about 3 percent of families, he said, and doctors are scrambling to figure out why.

It’s a relatively small number. But doctors are worried it may be part of a growing trend.

"What’s interesting is there’s been more of a decline in urban areas nationwide," said Dr. Jeff Duchin, chief of communicable diseases for Public Health-Seattle and King County.

His department plans to launch a study, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to investigate the rising numbers of parents opting not to vaccinate.

Cynthia Voth of Seattle has never vaccinated her two children, ages 2 and 4, against any disease.

She said because of her family’s medical history of seizures and allergies, she and her husband are working to strengthen their children’s immunity through natural means such as diet.

"I think it’s up to every parent to evaluate and understand the risks for their own children," Voth said.

Washington, along with about half the states, allow parents to get an exemption from required vaccinations for philosophical reasons, said Dr. Edgar Marcuse, associate medical director at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center and the University of Washington.

Some states only allow exemptions for medical reasons such as allergies.

The rise of children not being vaccinated also could be related to a drop in federal funding for immunization or a lack of coordination within the health care system, Duchin said.

"Health care providers may not be able to keep up with all the new vaccines and requirements," Duchin said.

Before the measles vaccine, about 60 kids in Washington state every year got brain inflammation because of measles, and about 10 percent of those, or six children, died or suffered permanent brain damage, Marcuse said.

Failing to vaccinate children endangers their health and the health of children around them, he said.

"There’s this phenomenon called risk compression at work here," Marcuse said. "That’s a fancy way of saying we tend to overestimate rare risks and underestimate common risks."