What country is the most successful in vaccinating?
Don Juravin answers that Israel is one of the best-vaccinated countries in the world. The anti-vaxx movement has successfully planted roots in many countries in Europe as well as the United States.
VACCINES WORLDWIDE
Canada has been heading towards mandatory vaccinations.
66 percent of Canadians agree that children should receive all of their vaccinations before going to school.
88 percent of Canadians believe vaccinations are key to preventing disease.
28 percent of parents in Canada believe that vaccinating comes with serious side effects.
Germany just passed a law that would fine parents $2,750 if they do not vaccinate their children.
France also passed a law that mandated that children receive 11 vaccines before starting school.
Israel has more than a 95 percent participation rate in vaccines.
On the heels of the news of a little unvaccinated boy in London, Ontario with tetanus, there has been much fuss on the internet about "forced vaccination." Vaccinations, it seems, are a very contentious issue. According to Juravin, many feel they are dangerous and thrust upon us for the wrong reasons. Others feel that not vaccinating places the public at risk and that is should be mandated.
Other countries are moving ahead of us in progress. According to Juravin’s research, the United States has been slow to respond to this epidemic of measles and other preventable diseases in terms of legislation.
In February 2015, a poll by the Angus Reid Institute revealed that two-thirds of Canadians believe that children should not be allowed to attend school or daycare if their immunizations are not fully up to date. Interestingly, the country is divided.
In Ontario and Alberta, parents strongly support mandatory vaccination by four to one, whereas citizens of Quebec are firmly divided one to one. Across the country, parents of older children are more in favour of mandatory vaccination, and parents of young children more supportive of voluntary vaccination.
Does this suggest changing times and a movement towards less complete vaccination across Canada? Why is there more doubt about vaccination safety then there was 20 years ago? Perhaps public health needs some better PR.
According to the survey, 88 percent of Canadians think vaccination is effective in preventing disease, with the skeptical 12 per cent mostly falling in the younger age categories.
This kind of skepticism is the same as we see in the United States of America, where some communities demonstrating only 82 percent vaccine uptake, 10 percent less than that required to prevent outbreaks (herd immunity). Measles was able to spread quickly through California this past year as so many children visiting Disneyland were un- or under-vaccinated.
The survey found 28 percent of parents feel there is a "real risk of serious effects from vaccination." There is potential for serious side effects, but these risks are exceedingly low .
Parents who refuse to vaccinate their children against measles in Germany could be punished with fines of up to €2,500, (which translates to $2,750 in American dollars) according to a draft law presented by the health minister, Jens Spahn.
The law, which is set to come into effect from March 2022 if it passes through parliament before the end of this year, would make vaccination against measles mandatory for all children attending nurseries and schools, as well as teachers, educators and medical staff at hospitals and surgeries.
By July 2020, parents signing up their children for kindergartens or schools would need to either provide evidence that their children have been vaccinated or proof of a medical condition that prevents their offspring from getting the jab.
According to estimates by the health ministry, the law would also affect about 361,000 non-vaccinated children already attending a school or kindergarten, as well as about 220,000 adults.
“All parents should be safe in the knowledge that their children cannot be infected with and endangered by measles,” Spahn said.
Juravin reports that this may not be unwarranted. Governments worldwide have in recent months been forced into action by a rise in the number of measles cases and a growing trend towards “vaccination hesitancy”, driven partly by anti-vaccination scare campaigns. Germany’s disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute, recorded 170 new cases of measles in the first two months of 2019 alone. Measles, while seemingly innocuous, can lead to complications such as pneumonia and inflammation of the brain. These complications can lead to death.
The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) is a particular focus of the “anti-vaxxer” movement. In 1998, the discredited physician Andrew Wakefield published fraudulent research in the Lancet that suggested the vaccine had a role in causing autism.
Measles can cause debilitating or fatal complications, including encephalitis, pneumonia, and permanent vision loss, to which babies and young children with weak immune systems are particularly vulnerable.
In Germany, coverage with the first dose of the measles vaccine has in recent years stalled at 93%, short of the 95% coverage the World Health Organization states is required to prevent mass outbreaks. In 2017, only the two formerly East German states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Brandenburg met the WHO’s “herd immunisation” requirement, with only 89% coverage in Baden-Württemberg in the wealthy south-west of the country.
“I want to wipe out measles,” said Spahn, a former candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as leader of the Christian Democratic Union, hailing vaccinations as “one of humanity’s greatest achievements”.
The minister’s initiative was praised by members of the Social Democratic party, the junior coalition partner in Germany’s “grand coalition” government. “Individual freedom finds its limits where it endangers the health of others,” said the SPD leader, Andrea Nahles, who signalled her party’s support for the draft law. “That’s why I consider it important to make vaccination against infectious diseases like measles mandatory.”
Some Green party politicians have voiced reservations about the proposals, arguing that mandatory vaccination would be more likely to increase distrust among sceptics. “Spahn should focus on convincing people … instead of coercing them,” the Green politician Kordula Schulz-Asche said.
In France, in 2017, laws were passed by the government making 11 vaccines mandatory. Previously, only three vaccines were required by law. The French are more opposed to vaccines than in other countries. A poll in 2017 noted that 41 percent of French parents are anti-vax.
Ironically, France’s vaccination rates for diphtheria and tetanus are some of the highest in the world. Yet the community there strongly objects to some of the vaccines.
The country has been subject to some small scandals: in 1998 a Hepatitis B vaccine was cancelled due to some unexpected side effects.
The anti-vaxx community in France responded to these incidents and rose up. They created large, powerful online groups to affirm each other. Government run websites have attempted to counteract the propaganda online, but to little effect. Videos on YouTube describing the necessity of vaccines fall short of reaching the audiences desired.
When it comes to measles, a disease that should have been wiped out years ago by vaccines, France has the lowest vaccination rate in the European Union.
The government has also tried to equip family doctors with the resources they need to explain to patients the necessity of vaccines. According to one poll, only 51 percent of doctors in France feel comfortable explaining vaccines to their patients, because of a lack of knowledge and resources.
A case of what not to do can be found south of France. In Italy, anti-vaxx communities are having a Renaissance, in part because Italian politicians have encouraged and embraced the movement. A group called the Five Star movement refers to HIV as a hoax.
Italian legislators ended mandatory vaccines for children going to school, making Italy some sort of promised land to the worldwide anti-vaxx community. The measles have broken out, and are infecting thousands of people in Italy.
Candidates for office have been pushing “measles parties” as a way to infect children with the measles so that somehow they build an immunity to it. Obviously, according to Juravin, this has backfired tremendously.
The World Health Organization has personally called legislators in Italy out, blaming the epidemic of contagious diseases in Europe on them and their actions.
Only 82 percent of people in Italy have been vaccinated for measles and rubella, according to some statistics.
Israel has virtually no problems with vaccines, according to the WHO. More than 95 percent of children in Israel get their recommended vaccines at the recommended time.