WDEL Blog: Allan Loudell
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Low rates for students getting the H1N1 vaccine in their schools: Likely reasons
The Delaware Division of Public Health is trying to assess why comparatively few public school students are getting the swine flu vaccine in their schools.
Doubtless, some students ARE receiving the vaccine from their physicians. For particularly at-risk students, that's the preferred way.
But not only in Delaware, but across the country, significant numbers of parents are resisting. Why?
We'll get a better picture after public health authorities can complete their surveys, but we can theorize.
1. Americans have periodically resisted universal - and sometimes involuntary - programs intended to improve public health, whether water flouridation or food fortification. The medical "big brother" approach just rubs certain people the wrong way.
2. Scandals tarnishing nearly all institutions - from big business, to big government, to organized religion - doubtless feed the distrust and apprehension. The scientific establishment has increasingly become a target in recent years.
3. When we hear about companies "rushing" to produce the H1N1 vaccine, people may legitimately fear the rush could taint the final product.
4. Add a political dimension: Some people simply distrust the Obama Administration (or worse). The same could have been said for the previous administration, but obviously the ideological poles crossed.
5. Health experts can repeat ad nauseam that the vaccine is safe for the overwhelming majority of kids. But they can never assure 100% safety and reliability. That may be enough to dissuade parents from having their kids vaccinated, even if the chances of a severe or fatal reaction are mathematically infinitesimally small.
6. In this day and age, dubious material on the Internet feeds that paranoia.
7. Periodically, material from reputable sources can fuel the distrust. The Canadian Press recently reported provincial health authorities grappling with a statistical correlation where people who received their regular flu shots LAST year seemed to be more susceptible to H1N1 flu this year. If true, that would defy medical explanation.
8. Past vaccination programs have provoked consternation and anguish. For example, no less a figure than Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has continued to insist on a link between MMR or thimerosal, and autism. Kennedy's work appeared in ROLLING STONE, and at Salon.com under the title, "Deadly Immunity".
(Thimerosal is an antiseptic or antifungal agent once used in many vaccines. Its use has declined in recent years. Some five thousand U.S. families have filed suit in Federal court, claiming an autism---vaccine link. Most of those cases are still pending.)
The scientific establishment emphatically denies such links. But, of course, a certain number of people distrust the scientific establishment.
9. Thimerosal IS present in multi-dose vials of the H1N1 vaccine (also the seasonal flu vaccine), but NOT in single dose vaccines NOR the nasal spray variety being administered to young kids.
Here's how the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) addresses the issue...
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/thimerosal_qa.htm
As I type these words, a newly-published book has come into my hands: DENIALISM: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives.
But note that subtitle, "How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives", in a way may repel the skeptics. People don't want to be told they're irrational.
Interview with author Michael Specter:
 Audio Here
Posted at 3:04pm on November 5, 2009 by Allan Loudell
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