ROCKLAND COUNTY, A SUBURB OF NEW YORK, RECENT LEDECLARED AN
EMERGENCY DUE TO AN OUTBREAK OF MEASLES.
VACCINATIONS HAVE UNDER SCRUTINY.
AS A RESULT SOME PARENTS HAVE NOT HAD THEIR CHILDREN IMMUNIZED
BUT SHOULD VACCINATIONS BE MANDATORY?
I SAT DOWN WITH DR.
JOHN SNYDER WITH AMHERST PEDIATRICS WHO
SHARED HIS OWN EXPERIENCE AND HIS BELIEF IN THE IMPORTANCE OF
VACCINATIONS.
>> WELL, IN THIS CASE, IT'S MOSTLY ABOUT, UNFORTUNATELY,
POCKETS OF UNDER IMMUNIZATION.
EVERY DISEASE HAS WHAT'S CALLED A THRESHOLD LEVEL OF
VACCINATION, SO-CALLED HERD IMMUNITY THRESHOLD.
YOU NEED A CERTAIN PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE IMMUNIZED AGAINST THE
DISEASE TO PREVENT SPREAD.
SHOULD A PERSON WITH THE DISEASE ENTER THAT COMMUNITY.
AND FOR MEASLES, IT'S ABOUT 94%.
SO, IN OTHER WORDS, IF 94% OR FEWER PEOPLE IN A COMMUNITY ARE
IMMUNIZED AGAINST MEASLES, AN OUTBREAK WILL SPREAD QUICKLY
SHOULD SOMEONE WITH MEASLES ENTER THAT COMMUNITY.
SO UNFORTUNATELY WHAT WE'RE SEEING IS THAT IN CERTAIN
COMMUNITIES, THE IMMUNIZATION RATE HAS FALLEN BELOW THAT HERD
IMMUNE THRESHOLD AND THEN WE SEE OUTBREAKS.
>> IN PARTICULAR IN NEW YORK WE'RE DOING WITH THIS, ROCKLAND
COUNTY HAS HAD MORE THAN 150 MEASLES CASES AND THEY HAVE NOW
INSTITUTED SORT OF A BAN OF PEOPLE UNDER THE AGE OF 18 WHO
HAVE NOT BEEN VACCINATED FROM GOING TO PUBLIC PLACES WHICH
SOME PEOPLE MIGHT CALL EXTREME.
WHAT'S YOUR REVIEW ON THAT?
>> IT IS EXTREME.
UNFORTUNATELY, EXTREME CIRCUMSTANCES REQUIRE EXTREME
RESPONSES AND WE DO HAVE AN EXTREME CIRCUMSTANCE WHERE IN
THAT PARTICULAR COUNTY, THAT IMMUNIZATION RATE THAT I WAS
JUST REFERRNG TO NEEDS TO BE 94% FOR MEASLES.
IT HAD DIPPED TO THE BELOW 70%.
IN THAT CASE IT'S A HEALTH THREAT.
NOT JUST A THREAT, IT'S A REALITY.
SO SOMEBODY IMPORTED MEASLES FROM ANOTHER COMMUNITY, PROBABLY
EUROPE, WHERE THERE IS EVEN MORE OF A PROBLEM WITH IMMUNIZATION
RATES.
SOMEBODY CAME, HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS WITH MEASLES, AND SPREAD IT
THROUGH THE COMMUNITY WHERE THE HERD THRESHOLD WAS LOWER THAN IT
NEEDED TO BE.
SO YOU STARTED TO SEE AN OUTBREAK OF MEASLES WHICH IS
VERY DANGEROUS.
>> I KNOW AS A PEDIATRICIAN YOU'RE ANSWERING PARENTS'
QUESTIONS ALL THE TIME.
FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE NERVOUS ABOUT VACCINES, AND THERE HAVE BEEN
SOME REPORTS THROUGH THE YEARS THAT VACCINES CAUSE ALL SORTS OF
DIFFERENT ISSUES, INCLUDING AUTISM, WHICH I THINK HAS BEEN
DE DEBUNKED, BUT PEOPLE WILL COME
IN WITH SERIOUS CONCERNS.
WHAT DO YOU TELL THEM?
>> IT'S IMPORTANT TO LISTEN TO THEIR CONCERNS.
THERE ARE A LOT OF CONCERNS.
UNFORTUNATELY, THEY ARE PRETTY MUCH ALL UNFOUNDED, AND WE'VE
ALL HEARD ABOUT FAKE NEWS.
THERE IS A LOT OF FAKE NEWS ABOUT VACCINE RISK.
THE RISKS OF VACCINES, THERE ARE RISKS TO EVERYTHING IN LIFE, BUT
THE RISKS ASCRIBED TO VACCINES ARE EITHER UNTRUE OR BLOWN WAY
OUT OF PROPORTION.
FOR EXAMPLE, THE MEASLES VACCINE.
IT'S A LIVE VIRUS VACCINE.
A VACCINE THAT'S ATTENUATED SO IT CAN'T CAUSE DISEASE BUT IT
CAN GIVE YOU A FEVER.
IT CAN GIVE YOU A RASH.
IT CAN DROP YOUR PLATELET COUNT BRIEFLY BUT IT CAN'T DO OTHER
THINGS.
FOR EXAMPLE, IT CAN'T CAUSE AUTISM.
WE KNOW THAT.
WE KNOW THAT JUST AS MUCH AS WE KNOW CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL.
THE EARTH IS NOT FLAT.
SO THESE ARE THINGS THAT ARE SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN, JUST LIKE
WE KNOW THE MEASLES VACCINE DOES NOT CAUSE AUTISM.
THERE IS NOT A SINGLE CASE OF AUTISM THAT'S EVER BEEN ASCRIBED
SCIENTIFICALLY TO THE VACCINE.
AND THE REASON PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT IS BECAUSE OF,
UNFORTUNATELY, A FRAUDULENT REPORT THAT WAS PUBLISHED IN A
SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL THAT WAS THEN RETRACTED, FOUND TO BE
COMPLETELY FRAUDULENT BUT THE DAMAGE HAD BEEN DONE BY THE TIME
THE NEWS HAD COVERED THAT REPORT AND THE FEARS SPREAD.
SO WE HAVE PEOPLE NOT VACCINATING BASED ON SORT OF
MYTH, AND THAT'S DANGEROUS AS YOU CAN SEE IN THIS COMMUNITY.
>> YOU ALSO HAVE A PERSONAL STORY TO SHARE REALLY ABOUT THE
MEASLES.
>> I DO.
IRONICALLY, I BECAME -- PARTLY BECAME INTERESTED IN THE CONCEPT
OF VACCINE MYTH, AND THE REASONS PARENTS MAKE CERTAIN DECISIONS
ABOUT VACCINES BASED ON A PERSONAL STORY WHICH IS WHEN I
WAS A MEDICAL STUDENT, MY VERY LAST ROTATION ACTUALLY, I WAS
TAKING CARE OF A PATIENT WITH MEASLES, WHO ENDED UP DYING FROM
IT. AND THEN I, 10 DAYS LATER, WHICH
IS THE INCUBATION PERIOD, 10-14 DAYS OF THE VIRUS, I CAME DOWN
WITH MEASLES, AND ALSO NEARLY DIED FROM IT.
AND IN THE PROCESS, PROBABLY SPREAD IT TO MANY OTHER PEOPLE.
THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH HAD TO TRACK EVERY STOP I TOOK, AND
FROM THEN ON, I SORT OF BECAME, YOU KNOW, ACUTELY AWARE
PERSONALLY OF HOW SERIOUS MEASLES CAN BE AND BECAME
INTERESTED IN WHY PEOPLE CHOOSE NOT TO VACCINATE.
>> SO SPEAKING OF THAT I KNOW THERE WAS A CASE RECENTLY
REPORTED, IN THE BOSTON AREA, OF MEASLES, BUT WHEN YOU TALK TO
PARENTS WHO ARE CONCERNED, I'M JUST CURIOUS, YOU KNOW, WHAT IS
THE LAW IN MASSACHUSETTS?
DO YOU HAVE TO HAVE YOUR CHILD VACCINATED?
>> SO THERE ARE REALLY ACTUALLY ONLY THREE STATES IN THE COUNTRY
WHERE YOU ARE REQUIRED BY LAW TO VACCINATE UNLESS YOU HAVE A
MEDICAL EXEMPTION.
BY THE WAY, THERE ARE VERY FEW REAL MEDICAL CONTRAINDICATIONS
TO VACCINATION.
MASSACHUSETTS HAS WHAT'S CALLED A RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION, AS DO
MANY.
SO MOST STATES EITHER HAVE A RELIGIOUS OR WHAT'S CALLED
PHILOSOPHICAL EXEMPTION.
ALL THAT MEANS IS YOU HAVE TO HAVE A SINCERELY HELD RELIGIOUS
BELIEF THAT VACCINATION IS AGAINST YOUR BELIEFS.
THERE ARE NO ACTUAL RELIGIONS THAT PROHIBIT VACCINATION, BUT
AGAIN, IT'S VERY SIMPLE IN MASSACHUSETTS TO JUST SORT OF
SIGN YOUR NAME AND SAY I DON'T WANT TO GET VACCINATED BECAUSE
OF MY RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND YOU DO NOT NEED A PHYSICIAN'S NOTE
FOR THAT AND THAT'S A BIG PROBLEM.
CALIFORNIA RECENTLY GOT RID OF ITS NONMEDICAL EXEMPTIONS AND
IT'S NOW ONLY THE THIRD STATE IN THE COUNTRY WHERE ONLY MEDICAL
EXEMPTIONS ARE PERMISSIBLE.
>> WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE MEASLES CASES, THIS IS THE SECOND
LARGEST OUTBREAK SINCE 2000 WHEN MEASLES HAD BEEN ELIMINATED,
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, ELIMINATED, IF IT WAS ELIMINATED YOU WOULD
THINK IT'S NEVER COMING BACK.
>> MOST PEOPLE DON'T REALIZE THERE IS ONLY ONE DISEASE THAT'S
EVER BEEN ERADICATED FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH AND THAT'S
SMALLPOX.
MEASLES WAS ELIMINATED FROM THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE IN 2000.
FOR THE UNITED STATES IN 2000 BUT IT'S NOT ELIMINATED
ELSEWHERE.
SO ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS, YOU KNOW, GET ON AN AIRPLANE AND
TRAVEL SOMEWHERE, WHERE THERE IS MEASLES.
AGAIN, YOU'RE CONTAGIOUS SEVERAL DAYS BEFORE YOU'RE ASYMPTOMATIC.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA YOU'LL BE ILL IN THREE OR FOUR DAYS AND YOU'RE
AT YOUR PEAK OF INFECTIOUSNESS.
YOU CAN BE SPREADING IT AND MEASLES IS THE MOST CONTAGIOUS
DISEASE KNOWN TO MAN.
IF YOU'RE IN A ROOM THREE DAYS BEFORE YOU GET SICK WITH
MEASLES, AND YOU LEVER IT, TWO HOURS LATER, SOMEONE WALKS INTO
THAT ROOM, THERE IS OVER A 90% CHANCE THAT PERSON WILL GET
MEASLES IF THEY ARE SUSCEPTIBLE, MEANING, THEY HAVEN'T BEEN
VACCINATED.