Nurses and promoting better rates of vaccination

[jeastridge]

Measles outbreak: How a decades old, fraudulent anti-vaccine study still affects public health - National | Globalnews.ca

It is disturbing how we are seeing vaccination rates dropping around the globe. This dip predicts, with frightful accuracy, a spike in childhood deaths from preventable disease. What can we do, as nurses, to turn the tide?

Edited to Add:

For a related article about this topic, See:

Vaccinations Rock! How to Get Parents to Think So

[Buckeye.nurse]

My great grandmother lost the use of her legs due to polio. She died when I was 13. She was WC bound (which I must admit, I though was awesome as a little kid). I remember seeing photos of her with leg braces and crutches when she was a child. She was my favorite person. She talked very frankly about the horrors of polio and all that she went though because of it. She marveled at the fact that her grandchildren could be protected against such a disease. Society has had the privilege of living in a time where these diseases are not evident in our daily life, which is a wonderful medical advancement, but has left people unaware of the very real threat that vaccine-preventable diseases pose.

This is indeed a paradox of our modern age. We are so well protected from the real, dangerous threats that vaccine-preventable diseases pose that some people don't realize the actual threat, and thereby leave themselves open to these threats.

I work with a population who is *extremely* immuno-compromised, and they depend on herd protection. We make sure they up are up to date on inactive vaccines, but they can't receive any vaccines that contain live viruses. All I can do (outside work) is lead by example, and quietly push evidence when my friends bring up the topic of vaccination.

[Have Nurse, ADN, RN]

Educate them. Then have them watch the PBS documentary about the Influenza Pandemic that nearly wiped North America in 1918. When I saw this movie, I was incensed that we weren't taught about this in school, as it is part of our history. It's very sobering, because it can happen again.

[nehneh14]

I would just love to see a nationwide ban on allowing unvaccinated children into the public school system, as well as pediatricians refusing to take on patients who are unvaccinated. The instances of a child being unable to be vaccinated due to a health concern (which should be the ONLY allowable reason) are pretty rare and should be scrupulously monitored and reported before admittance is allowed. Until our health care practitioners stop promoting vaccines as "optional" by their weak and ineffectual response in the face of pushback by ignorant parents/guardians, there is no incentive for the ill-informed to vaccinate. It should also be mandated for insurance coverage.

[cleback]

THIS is the problem - uneducated 'experts' filling the minds of the public with fallacies and blatant incorrect information.

Thimerosal in Vaccines Thimerosal | Concerns | Vaccine Safety | CDC

Thimerosal is not dangerous - nor is it in childhood vaccines. I beg of people - before using your LPN/RN credential to educate the public, please get the facts!

This.

Unfortunately, I think we assume because we're nurses, we will be properly educated on this topic. The actuality is we're not. And we behave mostly like the rest of the population when it comes to vaccination.

Vaccines are complicated. Talking about risks and benefits is also a complicated discussion. In general, I believe the benefits outweigh the risks *

(for most routine vaccinations) but I think healthcare workers should be able to objectively answer concerns in a knowledgeable manner. Our education does not prepare us to do that, honestly.

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

This.

Unfortunately, I think we assume because we're nurses, we will be properly educated on this topic. The actuality is we're not. And we behave mostly like the rest of the population when it comes to vaccination.

Vaccines are complicated. Talking about risks and benefits is also a complicated discussion. In general, I believe the benefits outweigh the risks but I think healthcare workers should be able to objectively answer concerns in a knowledgeable manner. Our education does not prepare us to do that, honestly.

And what is even worse, education received by the majority of MDs/DOs/allied health providers (since I passionately hate term "mid-level") doesn't prepare them, either. Even when they technically know the stuff, they not always able to discuss it with lay people who cannot care less for the civilization's benefits.

[UrbanHealthRN, BSN, RN]

I work with pregnant women and mothers of infants and toddlers, and some of these moms are so young that their own vaccination history looks very similar to the vaccines their children will receive. I'm still working on the wording, but I've been trying to point this out to young parents: they were vaccinated and didn't wind up with autism or purple skin or whatever, and their kids probably won't either. Furthermore, it seems a bit selfish to me that these parents are personally protected from multiple deadly diseases, but they're not giving their children the same benefits.

[nursej22, MSN, RN]

The topic of vaccines has become emotionally charged, which makes overcoming resistance incredibly hard. Many parents are not so much resistant, as they are hesitant and need reassurance, that yes, indeed, they are doing the best thing for their child when they immunize on time.

There is a lot of research going on around this, but health care professionals should listen to and acknowledge concerns and address them in simple, everyday language. Don't talk about statistical risks or theories, but assure parents that vaccines are safe and effective. Use personal stories, if you have them: I vaccinate my children, or my uncle had polio, for example.

Here is a Frontline episode that I recommend watching. Vaccines—Calling the Shots | NOVA | PBS

As for Thimerosal, this has been debunked a bazillion times. And as per a previous poster, it has been removed from nearly all childhood vaccines, it is only in multidose vials.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

S

Sorry I did not catch the mis spelling, i ment thiomersal....... EDTA is a less toxic preservative......but it is not used........

I promised when I was injured by a craany cow, laceration from hoof, very contaminated......and it had been 11 years since my last tetorifice .......I wanted that tetorifice vaccine, no matter what the preservatives were.......

Thimerosal was removed from pediatric vaccines a decade ago. Presently only used in some of the influenza vaccines.

[cayenne06, MSN, CNM]

It is so depressing to see health care providers spread incorrect information about the risks/benefits of vaccines.

Vaccines are a victim of their own success. Most of us have never lived in a time when children routinely died and suffered from vaccine-preventable diseases; we don't understand how profoundly routine vaccination has affected our lives, how many children have been saved. Vaccines are actually one of- if not THE- safest medications we use. But no medical intervention is without risk. We have to agree, as a society, that in this case the public health implications vastly outweigh that slight personal risk. Like donating blood.

I also find it annoying that people seem to think that either:

A) Pediatricians are willfully injecting children with poison, OR

B) You are more knowledgeable about immunology and vaccination than your child's pediatrician.

Both of these scenarios are highly unlikely. Talk with your PCP or child's pediatrician about vaccinations- Ask questions, and let them explain it to you. You'll be surprised how much they know.

*ETA* I am speaking to the general "you." Not trying to single anyone out!

[tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN]

For a related article about this topic, See:

Vaccinations Rock! How to Get Parents to Think So