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S199 Briefing Sheet
The CDC
Recommended
Vaccine Schedule
is not the same as
The Vermont School Attendance Required Vaccine Schedule!(VSARVS)
When Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Harry Chen was quoted in theBurlington Free Press on January 16, 2012 lamenting:“…
only 60 percent of Vermont's young people have had full doses
of all 14 recommended
immunizations”
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20120116/NEWS03/201160307/Vermont-lawmakers-try-boost-vaccination-rates
Dr. Chen was
not talking
about the
Vermont school requirements
!Dr. Chen was talking about the CDC “Dream” schedule, and using anincredibly restrictive CDC National Immunization Survey (NIS) statistic.This statistic is so arbitrary that a child fully compliant with Vermont laws isconsidered “unvaccinated”. NIS surveys statistically “throw out” childrenwho do not have a vaccine by certain milestone ages, even if they catch uplater, or are missing even a single dose of a 5 dose series.Vermont children have 98% compliance for the Vermont School AttendanceRequired Vaccine Schedule.
(While the varicella/chicken pox vaccination rate is only88%, an additional 10% of children have natural immunity gained from having had thedisease.
)
.
See attachment 3: Health–Vermont Immunization Summary Sheet 2010/2011.
All Public Health Objectives are exceeded with 98% vaccination rates.The title of the article Dr. Chen was quoted in is
“Vermont lawmakers try to boost vaccination rates”.
Boost them to what? From 98% to 99%?There is no abuse of the Philosophical Exemption. The vaccines with lowuptake Dr. Chen would like to see increased do not require an exemption
because they are not required
.
Changing the exemption rule will have noeffect on them.
If the intent is to boost those rates another action is needed.
The Vermont School Attendance Required Vaccine Schedule
requires 9vaccines for K-12 attendance (not 14).
They are Polio, MMR (measles,mumps, rubella combo), DTaP (Diptheria, Tetanus Pertussis combo),Hepatitis B, and Varicella (Chicken Pox). Children 0 to 5 years old that areenrolled in a state licensed daycare or pre-school have the additional
requirement of PCV and Hib.
See attachment 1, the Vermont School Attendance RequiredVaccine Schedule.
The Vermont Department of Health measures and publishes the K-12vaccination rates for the VSARVS annually. The report for 2010/2011 isattachment 3. Students who don’t have their records in order or are in the process of catching up any missed doses by the annual report cutoff date(December 31 of each year), but who do vaccinate are classified“Temporarily Exempt”. Students with a “Philosophical Exemption” do notnecessarily opt out of all vaccines.Students who are opting out of any single dose of any of the requiredvaccines will have an Exemption on file for that dose. For example a childwho has all of the traditional vaccines but whose parents don’t agree with therecent addition of Chicken Pox (Varicella), will show up in both places onthe form: as vaccinated for MMR, Polio, DTaP, and Hepatitis B categories;and also as an Exemption due to the missing Chicken Pox.This explains why in the charts below, the total of the rates for PhilosophicalExemptions and Temporary Exemptions, when added to the Vaccination ratefor Polio, DTaP, MMR, or Hep B exceeds 100%. The Varicella / ChickenPox vaccination rate looks lower because it is a recent addition and any childwho has naturally contracted chicken pox does not require the vaccination ashe has a naturally acquired immunity.
Health
—
Vermont Immunization Summary Sheet 2010/2011
GradeTemp ExPhil ExPolioMMRHep BDTaPVaricella
Kinder 10.44% 5.08% 91.89% 91.28% 95.49% 91.55% 88.38%^7
th
12.96%* 2.43%
98.55%98.72%98.27%98.25%*
88.62%^
*
A 5
th
dose of DTaP is a 7
th
grade requirement, the Temp Ex rate is students without documentation or late for their last of 5 doses. Percentage calculated using the FY08 chart listing all grades showing DTaP & Tdap to be consistently within .5% of the other “core”vaccines, so the real rate is 98.25% +or- .5. Parents who do Polio, MMR, & Hep B don’t skip Tdap.^ Chicken Pox is still circulating; children who have had the infection do not require the vaccination
.
See attachment 3 for full summary report.
Health
—
Vermont Immunization Summary Sheet 2007/2008
GradeTemp ExPhil ExPolioMMRHep BDTaPVaricella
Kinder 5.95%* 2.06% 95.99% 92.28% N/a 97.36% Not Req7
th
1.03%* 1.03%
98.85%98.48%97.11%98.55%
Not Req
*Note the lower Temporary Exemption rates in this year, resulting in higher documented rates
.
See attachment 4 for full summary report.
Any increases in the Philosophical Exemption rate from 2007/2008 caneasily be explained by the adding of the Varicella / Chicken Pox Vaccinerequirement to the schedule.
How much higher than 98% is a reasonable expectation in an entire statewide population?The recent Pertussis infections are unrelated to the Philosophical Exemption.First, as documented above, these infections are occurring in a 98%vaccinated population, which is evidence of vaccine failure, not lack of coverage. This is not unique to Vermont, and is happening worldwide.Scientists are investigating several explanations.One is that a strain of Pertussis has mutated so that the vaccine no longer suppresses it, as described in attachment 5, the article
REGION: Two-thirdsof local pertussis cases were vaccinated, data show: Expert says whopping cough mutating, becoming more infectious
, published in the California periodical
North County Times
.Another recent discovery is that the Pertussis vaccine appears to wear off inas little as 3 years, as detailed in the attachment 6, the
WebMD
article
Pertussis Vaccine May Not Give Long-Term Protection.
Misdiagnosis is common, as there are other conditions that have the samesymptoms as Pertussis but are not Pertussis, as detailed in attachment 7, the
NY Times
article
Faith in Quick Test Leads to Epidemic That Wasn’t
. AnyPertussis case that is not lab-confirmed is suspect.It has also been documented that Vaccinated children may be asymptomaticreservoirs for infection, as illustrated in attachment 8, the article
PertussisInfection in Fully Vaccinated Children in Day-Care Centers,
Israel published in theCDC Journal
Emerging Infectious Diseases
.In Summary, as the near 100% Vermont School Attendance RequiredVaccine Schedule rates demonstrate, this legislation is not needed, andtherefore of little utility as the maximum potential increase is only 1%.The State of Vermont is in one of the most trying economic periods of recentmemory. Is it responsible government for the proponents of these bills to tieup the legislature’s time, energy, and valuable funding to address a non-existent problem?Please do the right thing and preserve parent’s rights. Fail these Bills andkeep using a system that is working.