Undergraduate to Present
On Friday, November 20th, Tyler Luonuansuu will be presenting a seminar. Tyler is an undergraduate who will be discussing his recent investigations into vaccine adherence and compliance. Tyler is being mentored by Dr. Caguiat.
Tyler presented on analysis of vaccination schedule adherence and possible methods to increase compliance. He discussed the main reasons for vaccine non-compliance to be poverty, no access, medical exemptions, not going to the doctor, personal beliefs, or parents just refusing. California has the largest percent of non-compliance for vaccines. Due to the non-compliance in measles vaccines an outbreak occurred earlier this year and effected 24 states. However most of these cases (113) were linked to the amusement park in California. There are some possible solutions to deal with non-compliance all have pros and cons. Some solutions mentioned were mandatory vaccines, denial of services, legal ramifications, community planning, and marketing techniques. Some of the main concerns are backlash, are some of the solutions legal and ethically ok, and would some have negative ramification on the children due to the consequences like removal from parents and not being allowed to go to school. Whatever decisions are made something needs to be done because vaccine non-compliance is serious and could have negative impacts on the rest of population. Tyler mentioned he beliefs that positive and negative incentives would be the best solution for non-compliance with vaccines. Were there other incidences due to vaccine non-compliance? What solution you belief will work for non-compliance (talk about why you think this solution will work)? Do you have any other thoughts about non-compliance?
ReplyDeleteTyler is an excellent public speaker! One of the best ways to combat non-compliance may have to come from the pediatricians. Based on a survey of 1,800 parents, research indicated that “pro-vaccine” messages had no effect on the intent to vaccinate of parents to those 17 years and below in a national sample. Corrective information reduced misperceptions about the vaccine/autism link but nonetheless decreased intent to vaccinate among parents who had the least favorable attitudes toward vaccines. Because parents rank their children’s doctors as their most trusted source of vaccine information, future research should include whether and how pediatricians can be an invaluable, persuasive source (http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/public-health/vaccine-noncompliance-communications-realities-research-anti-vaccine-dynamics-mmr-outbreaks-messaging). Newer forms of communication like social media sites may also help inform and combat non-compliance and the way this information travels. An interesting article I found was about vaccine non-compliance and the fear of needles. In their study, needle fear was the main reason for non-compliance-- 7% and 8% of adults and children, respectively (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X1200686X).
ReplyDeleteOkay, third time trying to get this posted with it deleting. >:/
ReplyDelete"This rise in nonmedical exemptions has contributed to recent outbreaks and increased rates of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles, pertussis, and whooping cough. In 2008, for example, the CDC reported 131 cases of measles in the United States—more than double the yearly average from 2000 to 2007.
At the same time, pertussis—a disease that was once considered “doomed by science”—has enjoyed a renaissance. The CDC reports that there were more provisional cases reported in 2012 than in any previous year since 1955, and that 49 states and Washington, D.C., reported a rise in reported cases compared to the previous year. In 2010, a pertussis outbreak in California led to the hospitalization of 455 infants and 10 deaths.”
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/healthcare/report/2013/11/14/76471/the-effect-of-childhood-vaccine-exemptions-on-disease-outbreaks/
I believe in order to combat anti-vaccinating beliefs, parents should have to attend a mandatory class in order to educate them on why vaccines are needed. It could be both the good and the bad. After which, if the parents still believe in not vaccinating their children, then thats their call. However, perhaps states should start requiring those that are not vaccinated to be home schooled?
Vaccination compliance is critical to maintaining the health and wellbeing of society. Diseases that once frequently caused epidemics in the United States, but were nearing eradication by way of vaccination such as measles, have seen a resurgence due to an anti-vaccination movement that is placing public health in serious jeopardy. It is frustrating as a scientist at how a movement based largely on pseudoscience and ideology has garnered such a large following and influence. Despite being in opposition to my Libertarian beliefs, the only effective solution to overcoming the anti-vaccination movement an preserving public health is legislating a federal law mandating vaccinations (with the exception of documented proof of allergy). An information war has been underway for quite sometime in favor of the anti-vaccination movement whose argument strongly based on pseudoscience and fallacy. Mr. Luonuansuu mentioned during his lecture how recently he had been asked in a medical school interview on the ethical concerns associated with pediatricians refusing care to children whose parents refuse vaccination. While the parents currently do retain the right to do so, I would first counsel them to the benefits (many) and risks (very few) as should be done with any other medical treatment, so they may then make an informed decision. If they remain opposed then I would not consider it unethical to refuse such patients as would it not be more unethical to do so for any patients I may have who are medically unable to receive vaccinations. Furthermore, I believe this difference of opinion would cause detriment to the patient-doctor relationship as non-compliance to care and a lack of trust has already been demonstrated and such patients may be better cared for by another physician.
ReplyDeleteThere may be a number of ways to mitigate against the problem of vaccine non-compliance and in my opinion, the best approach would be to consider critically deferent reasons for non- compliance and then figure out the possible solutions and interventions based on this reasons Vaccine non-compliance not only increases the individual risk of disease but also increases the risk for the whole community. As a result of substantial gains in reducing vaccine-preventable diseases, several infectious diseases have faded from the public consciousness and the risk–benefit calculus seems to have shifted in favor of the perceived risks of vaccination in some parents' minds.
ReplyDeleteMajor reasons for vaccine non –compliance is lack of knowledge, lack of time due to busy schedule, non-compliant spouse, security conditions, religious taboos, lack of trust on medical facilities, missed opportunities, fear of side effects, accessibility problems, financial problems, vaccination not deemed necessary, physician advising against vaccination, vaccination not considered effective, poor previous experience with physicians, fear of exposing child to needles and being single parent.
If the enormous benefits to society from vaccination are to be maintained, increased efforts will be needed to educate the public about those benefits and to increase public confidence in the systems we use to monitor and ensure vaccine safety. Since clinicians have an influence on parental decision making, it is important that they understand the benefits and risks of vaccines and anticipate questions that parents may have about safety. There are a number of sources of information on vaccines that should be useful to both clinicians and parents just to insure that parents especially are well informed about the importance of vaccines.
Vaccination is very inexpensive and successful public health interventions. Vaccines save approximately 8 million lives worldwide. In order to fight with anti vaccination beliefs, People especially parents must be trained about good and bad consequences vaccination. Let’s say one student is not vaccinated because his/her parents don’t believe in vaccines. First, her/his immune system may not be strong to fight with microbes which may cause deadly disease. Second, she/he can infect some other people especially children and older people which are vulnerable to disease. Third, she/he may not effort getting sick and cost of being unable to do anything such as being absent from school or work. For these reasons, it is very important to inform people to get vaccinated. If they know the bad consequences about not being vaccinated and still prefer not to vaccine their children or themselves, government should regulate or pass a law to save other people lives from vaccine preventable disease.
ReplyDeleteDecline of vaccination rates among children to prevent infectious diseases has been a huge topic of discussion recently. Vaccination is a way of creating immunity to certain diseases by using small amounts of a killed or weakened microorganism that causes the particular disease. It has always been a successful way of preventing some dangerous diseases. I think the reason why people think that vaccination is bad, is because they lack knowledge about vaccination. Nowadays, internet is the the primary source of information. There a lot of forums, blogs etc. where people can write what they think, which might not be necessarily true. Humans tend to believe something that sounds reasonable and most of the times they don't pay attention to scientifically proven facts. In my opinion people should be more informed about the importance of vaccination and consequences of non-compliance. I also think that information should be presented not only in text, explaining what is vaccination and why it's important, but also information has to be supported by statistical data, some visual representation. So people will realize that vaccination is not deadly threat, but one of the ways to keep population healthy.
ReplyDeleteAnother serious risk posed by non-compliance deals with the nature of some pathogens to mutate. RNA serves as an intermediate between DNA and protein in most organisms. Some viruses are composed of RNA molecules and the necessary enzymes to translate them back into cDNA for insertion into the host genome. Then, the virus is replicated through the host’s normal DNA to protein processes. The nature of RNA is that it is much more unstable compared to DNA, meaning that it is much more prone to mutation. This means that the chances for an RNA based pathogen to mutate are high and can lead to the loss of immunological memory to it, without affecting (or possibly enhancing) the symptoms of the disease. When people don’t vaccinate, they become potential hosts for the pathogen and provide an environment in which mutation is likely to occur. The pathogen could mutate and now be different enough that the vaccine will not protect against it. This leaves the population at risk for a new strain of the pathogen and requires the development and administration of an additional vaccine.
ReplyDeleteTyler really did a fantastic job speaking and explaining everything really, really well.
ReplyDeleteVaccination non-compliance is a very big problem that can now be seen in the cases of measels and mumps outbreaks in the country lately. It is crirical to teach people what vaccines are, how they work, and their importance/benefits. Vaccination compliance will not work if these people are just being told to get vaccinations without explaining what it is. Many people are fearful and uninformed when it comes to this topic in both low- and high-income areas. There needs to be a program of sorts, like mentioned by some of the previous students above, that would provide classes or information to people within communities about vaccines and the risks that accompany not getting vaccinations. It has to be emphasized that children are at a much higher risk of getting really sick without vaccination in order to incite their need to protect their family. It is also important to teach that other people can also be affected if they are originally unable to get vaccinated due to health reasons. Apart from that, if people are not getting vaccinated, the disease can mutate and can become more malignant, rendering the original vaccine obsolete and children succeptible to diseade. If people after this program still prefer to keep their family unvaccinated, the government should interfere and prevent the children from interacting with other health-compromised individuals. It is a delicate situation, but it is important to try and prevent global outbreaks of diseases even if they are small steps at a time.
Tyler gave a great presentation and did an awesome job really explaining things in detail. Vaccine compliance is indeed a big problem we face today. It is unfortunate that most of the strong beliefs associated against vaccination are not scientifically proven. I do agree with educating people however I think this would be difficult due to the mistrust in most media as well. However these outlets could still be used but we will need additional outreach to the community. I believe the best way to go about this is through healthcare workers. We need an online database that will keep track off all vaccination administered. It would be ideal for any healthcare provider to look this up. This would also be an advantage when people are going to school or participating in education to go into the healthcare field. If all healthcare providers were able to look up these vaccination records then it would be easier to fill out the school physical paperwork. In addition to the ease of searching healthcare providers are better able to advise patients to continue to keep up on vaccinations and maintain the recommended regimen.
ReplyDeleteThe noncompliance epidemic is spreading through misinformation and deceit. There is little evidence supporting the statements made by those against vaccination. A common claims about vaccines are heavy metal poisoning, which is highly unlikely because of the trace amounts that are used in each injection. Studies may not have been done yet that indicate the effects of these received amounts in our body but it is probably similar to the content consumed through our food, enriched vegetables, pesticides leaking into vegetables and fruits with thin skin and fish from the sea. It has a loss been claimed by some people that after receding a vaccination shot,they became sick and had to go to the hospital where the person late became autistic. This is impossible; autism is a genetic disorder and does not develop with an injection. Alot of the misconceptions about vaccines have been spread through forums, blogs and even doctor endorsed articles. The government need some to lead a strong initiative for vaccines,providing people with alot of information and evidence to educate the public. Also vaccines should be something that is taught at a young age due to its importance and future effect s. I hope people continue to get vaccinated and there will not be a contagion or zombie apocalypse in the future like many people are predicting.
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