August is National Immunization Month

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vaccine hesitancy―the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines―is now a top-10 international public health threat. Vaccinations, says WHO, prevent 2.3 million deaths a year, a number that could increase by 1.5 million if global vaccination rates increased.

Vaccine hesitancy is a major factor driving the recent uptick in measles cases around the U.S. and other parts of the world. WHO reports that measles, a disease the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared eliminated in 2000, has increased by 30 percent around the globe.

“Some countries are in the middle of a measles outbreak,” said Dr. Karen Liller, a USF College of Public Health professor and an injury prevention researcher.  “Spikes have occurred in Israel, Thailand and Tunisia, according to WHO. And as individuals fear getting the MMR vaccine for measles, there is concern, certainly, that other diseases will increase as well.”

In fact, late last year there was a chicken pox outbreak at a school in North Carolina that had a high percentage of unvaccinated students. However, it’s measles, with its strong infectious nature, that is particularly concerning, said Liller. The CDC reports that one person with the virus can infect 90 percent of the people around him or her who do not have immunity.

WHO pinpoints several reasons for vaccine hesitancy―including complacency, inconvenience in accessing vaccines and a lack of confidence that they will help prevent disease.

The latter is particularly distressing.

“Vaccines are great public health achievements,” said Liller, who also directs the Activist Lab, a COPH initiative that provides advocacy and leadership education to future public health leaders and the community. “Vaccination is truly one of the safest and most cost-effective ways to prevent disease. With regard to measles, the vaccine is very safe and its link to autism has been thoroughly debunked. It is important to remember that unvaccinated children, for example, not only put themselves at risk, but also the population at large. For us in public health, this is totally unacceptable.”

So what’s the solution?

Vaccine hesitancy is a complex problem, and solving it will take a multidisciplinary approach.

Calling it a “man-made and wholly unnecessary” problem, some public health researchers are advocating for:

• Media outlets to better scrutinize their information to stop the spread of inaccurate vaccine information.
• Health professionals to band together to correct misleading statements and channel accurate information to the media.
• Policymakers to enforce laws limiting exemptions for mandatory vaccinations.

According to Liller, the Activist Lab will continue to be a strong voice for vaccinations. In addition to providing information about the FRED Florida measles simulator, an online measles simulator developed in partnership with experts at the University of Pittsburgh that can show how fast cases can grow in an area when vaccination rates drop by just 10 percent, the Activist Lab plans to work on legislative and other strategies that will promote vaccine use.

“We [public health researchers] need to be a persistent voice for vaccines and not let our message get lost with the often-loud voices of the anti-vaccination movement,” remarked Liller. “Science must always guide us, and we need to work with communities so that vaccines are available for all.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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