I’ve been honored to write a quarterly column, “Vaccine News You Can Use” for the Colorado Family Physician journal for a number of years. Below is the Winter 2024 edition of CFP:
VIEW THE TEXT BELOW:
According to an article published in the CDC’s MMWR, the percentage of kindergarteners who had received all of their state-required vaccines declined from 95% in the 2019-20 school year to 93% in the 2021-22 term and held steady at 93% in the 2022-23 school year.
Colorado is one of 12 states reporting <90%. In Colorado, only 87% had 2 doses of MMR, 5 doses of DTap, and 4 doses of polio, while only 86% had 2 doses of VAR – based upon state date from over 65,000 kindergarteners.
Colorado had only about 0.3% medical exemptions, but nonmedical exemptions rose from about 3.2% in 2021-2022 to about 4.3% in 2022-2023.
The CDC says, “Exemptions >5% limit the level of achievable vaccination coverage, which increases the risk for outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.” The AAP noted, “There is a rising distrust in the health care system. Vaccine exemptions have unfortunately trended upward with it.”
A survey of more than 1,500 adults in the US found that a larger percentage question vaccines’ safety and efficacy now than in April 2021, and more also believe that vaccines can cause autism, cancer, flu, or COVID.
The number of Americans who think vaccines approved for use in the US are safe dropped from 77% to 71%, while those don’t think vaccines approved in the US are safe grew to 16% from 9%.
People who rely on mainstream media for news were most likely to trust public health experts, understand vaccination, and be vaccinated against COVID than people who rely on other sources for news.
“There are warning signs in these data that we ignore at our peril,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center and director of the survey. “Growing numbers now distrust health-protecting, life-saving vaccines.”
The survey reported that
In a national survey, almost half of US adults said they “definitely” or “probably” will receive the updated COVID vaccine, but less than 40% plan to get it for their children, and more people plan to get flu or respiratory syncytial virus shots than COVID vaccines. The poll also showed sharp differences along political lines in the proportions of adults who plan to get the COVID vaccine.
Influenza vaccination was linked to a 20% reduced risk for major cardiovascular events (particularly MIs) and death according to researchers who “conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of five studies” and found that “overall, there were 517 cases of major cardiovascular events among patients who received influenza vaccination, compared with 621 cases among those who received placebo.” The researchers encouraged HCPs to “target patients with CVD for vaccination to mitigate risks.” The study was published in Scientific Reports.
HealthDay quoted a researcher opining that “COVID vaccines saved the lives and health of countless babies by preventing their premature births.” This was based on a study which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . “COVID initially caused an alarming surge in premature birth rates, but those returned to pre-pandemic levels following the introduction of vaccines, researchers found.” Researcher Jenna Nobles added in a university press release, “These findings should help allay vaccine hesitancy among pregnant women … The results here are compelling evidence that what will actually harm the fetus is not getting vaccinated. That’s a message practitioners can share with concerned patients.”
CDC research published in MMWR shows that receiving a COVID vaccine during pregnancy can pass on protection that will last during the infant’s vulnerable first months after birth. Investigators examined data from 26 pediatric hospitals and found that during the past season, maternal vaccination offered 54% effectiveness against COVID hospitalization for babies under 3 months of age.
ACIP recommended that expectant mothers get an RSV vaccine to protect their newborns from the potentially deadly respiratory disease. The recommendation for the vaccine was for women “who are between 32 and 36 weeks pregnant and who will give birth during the fall and winter, when RSV cases usually spike,” adding that the protection “likely drops after 6 months of age, so the shot is for use between September and January in most of the US.”
ACIP also recommended a new vaccine to protect teens against meningococcal disease, which “can cause hearing loss, severe neurological damage, the loss of limbs, and, in many cases, death.” Previously, there were “two types of vaccines licensed in the United States: One that targets A, C, W, and Y serotypes of meningococcal disease (Nimenrix) and another that targets the B serotype (Trumenba).” Now, “the new pentavalent vaccine (Penbraya) requires only two doses and protects against the five most common disease serotypes: A, B, C, W and Y.” The FDA approved the vaccine “for ages 10 through 25,” but ACIP voted to add the new vaccine option for people 16 through 23.”
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© Copyright WLL, INC. 2023. This blog provides healthcare tips and advice you can trust about a wide variety of general health information only and is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment from your regular physician. If you are concerned about your health, take what you learn from this blog and meet with your personal doctor to discuss your concerns.