Utah doctor: It's 'selfish' not to get vaccinations

Utah doctor: It's 'selfish' not to get vaccinations

(Ravell Call/Deseret News)


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SALT LAKE CITY — Immunizations are most effective when given early and to as many people as possible to protect the very few who can't get them, according to one Utah health official.

"There has hardly been anything more revolutionary to the health of humans than immunizations, especially infant immunizations," said Dr. Joseph Miner, a family physician and executive director of the Utah County Health Department.

Babies are exposed to hundreds of harmful antigens in the air every day that they breathe into their lungs, he said, and the combative antigens contained in vaccines are meant to strengthen their immune systems.

Still, there are few people — though growing in number — who Miner said are "distrustful" and opt out of getting vaccinations for their children or themselves.

"We don't just immunize for ourselves or for our babies. We immunize for everybody else and all the babies," he said. "It's a selfish thing to choose not to be immunized because you're creating a danger to everybody else's unimmunized newborn babies and to those who are not able to immunize because of some medical reason or a very rare deficiency."

Ninety-five percent of school-aged kids in Utah and in Utah County are fully immunized, which Miner said provides "pretty good" herd immunity, preventing the spread of infectious disease within society. Highly contagious measles is an exception, requiring better than 95 percent herd immunity to prevent its spread.

About 5 percent of Utah parents have obtained immunization record exemptions for their kids.

"If you have a certain number of people out there unimmunized, it creates a lot of people who can spread it to very vulnerable infants," Miner said.

Despite that, immunizations have "changed infant mortality outcomes," he said, whereas fewer than five babies per 1,000 now die from vaccine-preventable diseases before age 1. The rates used to hover between 50 to 100 deaths per 1,000, which is close to 10 percent of all babies, he said.


We don't just immunize for ourselves or for our babies. We immunize for everybody else and all the babies. It's a selfish thing to choose not to be immunized because you're creating a danger to everybody else's unimmunized newborn babies and to those who are not able to immunize because of some medical reason or a very rare deficiency.

–Dr. Joseph Miner


Old cemeteries, Miner said, are replete with infant victims, and families of old couldn't always expect to raise all of their children into adulthood.

"That has changed with the advent of vaccines," he said.

Infant immunizations include a schedule of about 12 vaccines, given at intermittent dosages in the first year of life to protect them against various diseases, most of which can be fatal. More are given before kids go to school for the first time.

And this year, on the recommendation of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Utah officials added the meningococcal vaccine requirement for students to receive prior to seventh grade. It protects against several of the most common strains of meningitis, a rare but fatal brain infection.

Meningitis mostly affects teens, young adults and people living in close quarters with others. Cases are rare but are often deadly, leading to the stringent recommendation, Miner said.

Utah Valley University student Tyler Wood was recently hospitalized and quarantined because of a meningitis infection. He works around kids, so it was concerning for a time, but fortunately his infection didn't spread.

Wood, 24, had sinus surgery and possibly contracted bacterial meningitis on an airplane at some point during his recovery. He experienced unusually painful headaches that he said "got worse and worse," and eventually couldn't sleep. His joints and muscles ached and he decided to talk to his doctor, who sent him directly to the emergency room, where Wood was immediately admitted.

Wood was told if he had waited to come in, he could have experienced limb loss or a loss of movement. He ended up missing a lot of school and work, and has taken more than a month to feel normal.

"I never was immunized for it," he said, adding that it wasn't included in his primary shots as a kid. "But knowing what I know now, I would for sure go and get the shot.

"It was just awful," Wood said. "I've never felt that bad in my life."

Miner said the meningococcal vaccine is "very effective."

There are also vaccines that are not required, but are recommended in certain situations, such as the human papillomavirus vaccine for teens prior to becoming sexually active; a rabies vaccine for people who work with animals; the anthrax vaccine for members of the military; and others recommended for people who travel to tropical areas or locations of the world where certain diseases, like yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis, are more prevalent.

The health department encourages parents to obtain information about vaccinations, including the potential diseases they can impede. For more information, visit www.immunize-utah.org.

"The immune system is fantastic if it is trained to work right with vaccines," Miner said.

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