This opinion piece by Dr. Leslie Treece was published on The Tennessean. Read more here.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – Philosopher and essayist George Santayana
This could soon be our reality, as it seems we’ve forgotten how far we’ve come in preventing serious diseases and saving lives.
Over 46% of children born in the 1800s did not make it to their fifth birthday.
Today, this number has dropped drastically, reaching its lowest point ever in 2020 where it is just seven deaths per thousand births.
Most of these deaths in the 1800s were from infectious diseases, which have also significantly declined over the last century.
Vaccine hesitancy and mistrust are growing in doctor’s offices
As you can see, we have made enormous progress in preventing childhood death.
This is in large part thanks to vaccination and antibiotics created by medical science. In fact, vaccines have saved 154 million lives, including 146 million among children younger than 5 years old. Of those, 101 million were infants younger than 1 year old.
Vaccines have dramatically improved our lives and saved so many families from devastating losses. Child death is so uncommon now that we are shocked when it happens, yet the world used to be full of tiny coffins.
I have been a pediatrician for 23 years now. I have spent my career helping children and they are a very important part of my world as a doctor and a mom.
But in the exam room, I’m seeing more and more vaccine hesitancy and mistrust. That’s why I’m asking those of you who have lost faith in vaccines to reconsider so we don’t return to a time when infant and child mortality is the norm.
Developing vaccines goes through a thorough process
Look at measles – we’re already seeing an uptick in infections after years of this illness being declared eliminated in the United States. I have not had a patient with measles and hope I never do. But this is a perfect example of what happens when we stop vaccinating against these serious diseases.
The internet and social media, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, have created the perfect storm for misinformation about vaccines. Anyone can publish their opinion that is not based on science or expertise. Many Americans are unfamiliar with how vaccines are tested and approved and the checks and balances that are built into it.
When a vaccine is developed, it is not immediately available to patients. It goes through many years of rigorous development before it is determined safe for human trials. The notable exception to this was the COVID-19 vaccine, which you can read about how the trials were safely run on the website of the National Library of Medicine. If the vaccine is successful after human trials, it then goes before the scientists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval.
The process doesn’t stop there. The vaccine will move on to be studied by a committee of experts in various fields of medicine called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
The ACIP members will carefully study the development and testing process to ensure the safety and efficacy for patients of all ages and certain groups. They will then hold a public hearing to gain input from the community before providing their final vaccine guidance to the CDC. As physicians, we depend on clear recommendations from ACIP without delay to ensure there are no gaps in protection for our most vulnerable patient populations. The CDC will decide to adopt the guidance as the highest standard of care, which is what the medical community considers the gold standard.
Complications occur, but this data is collected and reviewed
Patients can also rest assured that there is an ongoing reporting database, Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), that closely monitors for patterns and potential complications from vaccines to ensure safety. Since it’s an open database, it’s not 100% factual but an important part of the data collection process.
The bottom line is that this is a tried and tested process that has proven effective for decades. It has kept our population healthy and free of disease. We must maintain this standardized process and not allow politics or unscientific policies to dictate the patient-doctor relationship.
We no longer worry about our children catching a vaccine preventable illness because science has led us to lifesaving immunizations. Let’s not allow politics and misinformation to get in the way of our medical advancements.
We must restore community trust in the vaccines that protect the doctor-patient relationship and keep our children, families, friends and communities healthy.
Dr. Leslie Treece is a practicing pediatrician in Cookeville, Tennessee with 25 years of experience in pediatric medicine.