Effort launched to get more toddlers vaccinated

A new coalition is assembling to take on a complicated challenge: Getting more Union County toddlers vaccinated against a host of common ailments.

The initiative is being spearheaded by Joelene Peasley of the Center for Human Development, and Barbara Wall, an AmeriCorps VISTA member stationed for the next year at CHD.

The coalition recommends that young children be immunized against hepatitis A/B, diptheria/tetanus/pertussis (DTaP), haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal, measles/mumps/rubella, inactivated poliovirus, varicella (chicken pox), meningococcal, influenza and human papillomavirus.

Pertussis, or whooping cough, is a highly contagious infection that can be fatal for small children. While vaccines have reduced its lethality, whooping cough has been on the rise in the U.S. since the 1980s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Epidemics occur every three to five years.

Union County experienced an outbreak in the summer and fall of 2007.

“The pertussis is the urgency factor,” Wall said. “But it isn’t the main focus of the coalition. Total immunization rates increasing is the goal.”

The coalition is focusing on expanding its ranks and clarifying its focus. Earlier this month, Peasley and Wall held a lunch meeting with a number of community members who, they hope, will form the backbone of the task force.

Over a meal provided by Marcy Baker, deputy director of public health for Sanofi-Pasteur, Peasley gave a presentation to those assembled on the benefits of vaccinations, and Union County’s low rates.

According to the Oregon Department of Human Services, in 2006, Union County had a 51 percent immunization rate for 2-year-olds for the recommended series of DTaP, polio, measles/mumps/rubella, haemophilus influenzae type B, hepatitis B and varicella vaccines.

This compared to a 2006 state average immunization rate of 71 percent.

The refinement of vaccines has had an enormous impact on disease infectivity in the United States, according to the coalition. Polio, for which there is no cure, afflicted 52,000 people in 1952; in 2000, after nearly a half century of immunizations, there were no reported cases at all, according to the CDC.

Members of the coalition said that immunization rates of 75 to 80 percent are often most effective in preventing outbreaks.

Part of the coalition’s goal, she said, was to explore just why county immunizations aren’t more widespread.

“Access is a huge (reason),” she said.

She also pointed to misinformation regarding vaccines and their side effects on the unfiltered, unedited Internet. “There are some really terrible sites that are not giving scientific information,” she noted.

The coalition, responding to the concerns of a couple in the audience, acknowledged that vaccinations, especially of young children, are not without controversy. Since their development in the 19th century, vaccines have provoked opposition on religious, health and even ideological grounds.

Beginning in the late-1990s, for example, debate has raged over the possible link between vaccinations and autism in children, with some placing the blame on a mercury-based preservative, thimerosal, formerly found in many vaccines.

The CDC reports that current scientific research does not appear to support a relationship between vaccinations and autism. However, investigations are ongoing.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, “Thimerosal has been removed from or reduced to trace amounts in all vaccines routinely recommended for children 6 years of age and younger, with the exception of inactivated influenza vaccine.

“A preservative-free version of the inactivated influenza vaccine (contains trace amounts of thimerosal) is available in limited supply at this time for use in infants, children and pregnant women.”

Wall acknowledges the coalition has its work cut out for it in terms of addressing these types of doubts.

“I don’t discount concerned parents’ attitudes about not wanting to immunize their children,” she said.

But a broad-ranging dialogue is part of the coalition’s goal. Wall pointed out that not everyone needs to be directly involved in the public health field to participate in the coalition. She’s also looking for “movers and shakers” integral to a community who can motivate others.

“We need those people in order for an epidemic of information to spread,” she said.

The second coalition meeting is tentatively scheduled for July 30 in the conference room of the public library.

For more information on the coalition, or for anyone interested in attending the meeting, contact Wall at 962-8836 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Information on research into vaccines and autism may be accessed at www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/thimerosal.htm , or http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/thimerosal.htm .

More background on Oregon immunization rates can be found at www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/imm/kids/survey/index.shtml .