Members of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee heard a number of scary stories Monday during testimony on several bills to change Maine’s vaccination laws. While the testimony was heartfelt, only some of it was factual.
While fears persist about the dangers of vaccinations, the one study that purported a link between autism and the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination was debunked several years ago. Last month, scientists further ruled out the last possibility of an autism-vaccination link, determining that immunizations didn’t even raise autism risks among children at risk for the disorder. What scientists do agree on is that vaccinations save lives.
In 2010, California had the worst outbreak of pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, since 1947. More than 9,000 cases were reported, and 10 infants who were too young to vaccinate died during the outbreak.
Researchers who examined the outbreak concluded low vaccination rates in some areas contributed to the outbreak.
“Our findings suggest that geographic areas with high rates of [nonmedical exemptions] are associated with high rates of pertussis,” researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Emory University and the California Department of Public Health reported in a study published in the journal Pediatrics in July 2013.
Maine is among 18 states that allow parents to exempt their children from school-required immunizations for philosophical reasons. Children can also be exempted from the requirements for medical and religious reasons, although these account for a small fraction of Maine’s opt-outs. Mississippi and West Virginia are the only states that don’t allow exemptions for religious or philosophical reasons. Mississippi had the highest kindergarten vaccination rate in the country in 2012-13, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Maine, meanwhile, had the fourth highest vaccination opt-out rate in the country. Worse, Maine had the largest increase in opt-outs in the country between 2012 and 2014.
Without an exemption, kindergarten students in Maine must be vaccinated against pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella, polio and chickenpox.
A bill, LD 606 sponsored by Rep. Ralph Tucker, D-Brunswick, would do away with the philosophical exemption. Given the rise in unvaccinated children, this move makes sense. The Vermont House on Tuesday passed amended legislation to do away with the state’s philosophical exemption. The bill had previously passed the Senate. Washington and California are also considering eliminating their vaccine exemptions for philosophical reasons.
Lawmakers should forcefully reject efforts to weaken Maine’s already lax vaccination regulations. One such bill is LD 950, sponsored by Rep. David Sawicki, R-Auburn. It would make it illegal to “discriminate” against people who refuse vaccines.
“We are naturally born with a genius immune system, endowed by our creator, that has enabled the human race to grow and thrive over the eons,” Sawicki told the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee Monday. “The immune system we are born with today has evolved and improved over the centuries as our environment and way of life has changed, and we have adapted. On the other hand, the existence of the vaccine business, relative to the existence of human beings, is but a tiny blip, 50 or so years.”
Actually, vaccines have been around for more than 200 years. The first was developed in the late 1700s by Edward Jenner in England to combat smallpox, a disease that killed 400,000 Europeans a year. Building on the work of others — and word of mouth among local farmers — he learned that milkmaids who had acquired cow pox were immune to small pox. He then used cowpox to vaccinate people against small pox. The disease was eradicated in England in the early 1900s and worldwide by the 1970s.
The vaccine debate is emotional, but lawmakers must consider science, not anecdotes or general fears of government, in making decisions on these bills. Science points clearly to stricter vaccination rules.
