TRI In The News

In Light of Mingo Case, Officials Stress Importance of Vaccines

From The Charleston Gazette
Original Article Available Here.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- School and health officials say that when it comes to immunizations, public health is more important than individual freedoms.

That's why they're pleased with the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to not hear the case of a West Virginia woman who wanted her daughter exempted from immunization requirements because of religious reasons.

"[Vaccines] are one thing we can do for our kids," said Rebecca King, a coordinator in the state Department of Education's Office of Healthy Schools. "It's a public health issue and threat. It moves away from all those issues that we may feel are more about individual rights because we could cause harm to other kids [if students are not vaccinated]."

The court declined to hear the case of Jennifer Workman vs. the Mingo County Board of Education. Workman, the mother of an elementary student, sued the school board to keep her daughter from receiving state-mandated vaccinations. The woman first argued for a medical exemption, which the Department of Health and Human Resources' State Health Officer recommended against.

Workman also argued against the immunizations on religious grounds. Her Christian Bapticostal beliefs would require her to protect her daughter from harm and illness and immunization would violate those beliefs, she argued.

By choosing not to hear the case, the Supreme Court let stand a previous ruling from U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin that said the girl should be immunized before going to school.

The Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties organization, represented Workman in the appeal to the Supreme Court.

Rita Dunaway, a staff attorney for the Rutherford Institute, said the organization was interested in Workman's case because it would show how seriously the court takes religious freedoms.

"We think here that the state should have been required to show some compelling reason for denying [Workman's religious exemption] in light of the fact that the law specifically allows for medical exemptions," Dunaway said.

The last Dunaway had heard, Workman was going to "great expense" to send her daughter to school in Kentucky to avoid having the girl immunized.

West Virginia is one of the few states where religious exemptions to vaccine are not allowed. Medical exemptions, however, are allowed. Health officials say there's good reason to not allow religious exemptions.

The more children who are immunized, the smaller the chance that an outbreak of a communicable disease will occur, said Brenda Isaac, Kanawha County's lead school nurse.

"If you can get 90 percent of a population immunized, you dramatically decrease the instances of communicable diseases," Isaac said, adding that the concept is called herd immunity. "And you protect everyone, including those who have medical reasons not to be immunized."

Isaac said vaccines have failure rates, and for a small percentage of students, they won't work. Having the rest of the population immunized protects those whose vaccinations did not take, she said.

The nature and environment of schools also make vaccines a priority, King said. Children and teachers are together in close proximity for seven and eight hours each day, she pointed out.

"They're all together with limited space and we start to worry about respiratory droplets that are transmitted, whether it's a cough or a close contact," King said.

Currently, before entering kindergarten, West Virginia students are required to be immunized with a tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (TDAP) vaccine, as well as vaccines to prevent polio, hepatitis B, chicken pox (or a documented case of the illness) and a vaccine to prevent measles, mumps and rubella.

Beginning in the 2012-2013 school year, the state will enforce a new requirement for students in the seventh and 12th grades. Seventh graders will have to show proof of a TDAP booster shot and a dose of a meningitis vaccine. Twelfth graders also must show proof of a TDAP booster plus the meningitis vaccine booster -- if the meningitis vaccine was administered before the student's 16th birthday. If the first dose was given after the 16th birthday, the booster isn't required.

Dr. Rahul Gupta, health officer and executive director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, said immunizations are important because although the diseases they help prevent are largely eradicated in the United States, travelers may encounter them in other countries and bring them home.

West Virginia and Mississippi have the strongest laws when it comes to immunizations, Gupta said.

"We're proud of the strong attitude toward vaccinations and keeping the population immunized," Gupta said. "It's so critical and important."

Last year in California, a whooping cough outbreak killed 10 infants, all of whom were under 3 months old. Infants who are vaccinated are not fully protected from the illness until they're 6 months old. The illness is not serious in adults but is it is for young children.

Situations like that make it important that everyone who is medically able be vaccinated against such illnesses, Gupta said.

Contrary to what some may believe, there is not a connection between autism and vaccinations, Gupta said. A British medical study that linked autism and immunizations has been discredited and retracted. Still, Gupta said occasionally people are reluctant to have them because of the perceived association.

"It's difficult because misinformation has been spread," Gupta said. "Because of that it's difficult to convince people that it's not the case. It's a challenge to convince people. I can tell you that as far as scientific knowledge goes, there is no link."