By Neil C. Bhavsar
Everyday our bodies are at war — constantly defending us against predatory pathogens trying to best our natural defenses.
Humanity has made easy work of many bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi that once took lives by the hundreds of millions — making casualties inflicted by man pale in comparison. With the advent of modern medicine, we often find it hard to fathom what the world would look like if epidemics from our past came back to haunt us. But it’s a possibility that we all must consider in New Jersey at this critical juncture.
With children at the forefront of the current measles outbreak in Lakewood, it’s easy to point fingers and write nasty comments on social media, but it won’t help the children who are too young or too sick to be vaccinated. These include infants whose immune systems aren’t ready for the MMR vaccine until 12 months; children who unfortunately need chemotherapy, organ transplantation or were born with HIV; children whose immune systems are too weak for the vaccine — again through no fault of their own.
The parents of these children are terrified and holding their breath for this all to blow over.
Roughly 84 children who are medically exempt from vaccines in Ocean County are at risk of contracting measles. If this infection spreads to other counties, that can put more than 1,000 young children at risk of experiencing very serious complications from measles.
The scariest thing about measles is that it is highly contagious — and there’s no cure. Ninety percent of those exposed to someone with measles will contract it if not vaccinated. It also remains airborne for more than two hours, which is why the state Department of Health collected a list of locations to identify exactly when and where infected individuals had been when they first began noticing symptoms.
Initial symptoms include high fever, a cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. A rash may develop a few days later, beginning on the face and spreading to other parts of the body. At three weeks, if the symptoms do not subside, complications can cause patients to experience potential bacterial superinfections. This can cause diarrhea, pneumonia, ear infection, corneal ulceration and scarring, and miscarriages in pregnant women. In rare cases, it can lead to permanent brain damage and death. Who is at the highest risk for complications? Children under 5, pregnant women, and immunocompromised individuals. Measles is especially deadly in immunocompromised children.
What do you say to their parents — people who are fighting with their every breath to make sure their child survives chemotherapy only to watch them end up with an entirely preventable disease because of a growing disbelief in vaccines?
Unlike most personal medical decisions, opting out of vaccines can put many vulnerable people at risk.
Ocean County has one of the highest rates of religious exemptions from vaccines in New Jersey. This creates pockets of unvaccinated children that can lead to our current situation. With 2,000 more parents opting their children out of vaccines due to non-medical reasons in 2018, that brings the total number of non-medical vaccine exemptions in the state to around 12,000.
This exposes the most vulnerable members of our community to disease threats that were virtually nonexistent in the early 2000s. We’re talking about measles, mumps, pertussis, a few other deadly and debilitating vaccine preventable diseases.
This is a dangerous precedent that stems from a miscommunication of science and medicine. But we can clear up this misunderstanding by fostering dialogues between health care providers and vaccine-hesitant parents. At the end of the day, parents try to do what’s best for their children.
If we empower everyone with an evidence-based approach to medicine, we can drastically change how we look at vaccines.
To promote a safe and healthy environment for the next generation, we must take measures to reduce potential epidemiological and public health risks. A good start would be supporting two pieces of legislation: Assembly bill A3818 and Senate bill S2173 that are sitting in the Legislature.
This policy proposal is not a vaccine mandate, but asks that vaccine-hesitant parents have a dialogue with a physician before deciding if they want to opt-out with a non-medical vaccine exemption. This way, physicians can hear their patients’ perspectives and establish ongoing conversations that will result in better health outcomes for everyone.
That’s why I, along with other New Jersey Medical School students, came together in support of these bills, and are working on a campaign to help pass them in our state. We believe that dialogue is the best compromise and would prevent future preventable outbreaks in New Jersey.
All we are asking for is more discussion so that we can better understand what specific grievances with vaccines are, and how we as medical providers can address them.
By making a 30-second phone call to your legislators, you can help us win this battle against measles — and a host of other preventable diseases.
Neil C. Bhavsar is a second-year medical student at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
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