Last week at UNF, Student Health Services isolated two students who contracted the chickenpox. They have been confined to their rooms to reduce the risk of spreading the contagious illness, but it takes 10-21 days after exposure to develop symptoms of chickenpox. We may not have seen the full effects of the breakout on campus.
UNF advises students to get vaccinated against chickenpox, which is an increasingly controversial topic. More and more doctors are advising patients that they don’t need vaccinations, and more and more parents are beginning to agree.
In a recent story posted on Mother Jones, Dr. Stacia Kenet Lansman, an accredited and respected pediatrician in California, said she thinks vaccines play a role in the large number of children who are diagnosed with chronic illnesses like allergies, asthma, and autism. “We’re just messing with nature,” said Lansman.
Lansman said she prioritizes the need for vaccinations based on the patient’s risk of developing the illness. She said she and her patients live in a very healthy community. But the source of illness isn’t only the local community — it’s the person you walk by in a gas station that lives across the country, or the relative who’s visiting from out of town. There’s no way to document and control every person that comes into contact with an unvaccinated child or adult.
Some parents, Lansman included, have an issue with giving children too many shots at once, afraid that it’s too much for their immune systems to handle. But Paul Offit, a vaccine expert, said to Mother Jones, “The shots are a drop in the ocean of what your body does every single day.”
The concept known as “herd immunity” protects those who haven’t been vaccinated or who do not take well to vaccinations. When a critical mass of people within a community are vaccinated, they shield those who are more vulnerable. But when an increasing number of people choose not to vaccinate their children, it puts the community at risk.
This past year there have been several outbreaks of measles within the United States. According to Mother Jones, 36 cases have been reported in California, and 20 in New York. Additionally, in 2011 there was an outbreak of pertussis that caused the death of 10 babies.
Closer to home, there was an outbreak of meningitis at UNF in the early 2000s. And now, chickenpox is showing up in our dorms.
I’m not saying that UNF’s cases of the chickenpox were caused by parents not vaccinating their children, and Student Health Services is not saying it either. Instead, this is a great reminder of why we need to vaccinate ourselves and our children. It’s not just a personal choice, it affects public health and safety.
