The Waning of Immunizations

Immunizations have been all over the news lately, even entering the political debates. A couple of the discoveries have confirmed clinical impressions, including some I shared with you before. As I mentioned in an earlier newsletter, the current whooping cough (pertusis) epidemic has been remarkable to me because, while I have had patients with whooping cough almost every year for the last 25 years, I have not had a single patient with whopping cough during what is supposedly a revolutionary epidemic. Why is that? Data now show that at least 80% of the children developing whooping cough in the current epidemic have been immunized as officially recommended. A brand new study of this outbreak, conducted in Marin, found that immunity is lasting only 3 years after completing the full 5 shot DTaP immunization series. Older, previously vaccinated children are now the most vulnerable to the disease. One public health response has been a call to vaccinate an even higher percentage of the population, because those who are not vaccinated must be spreading the disease, overwhelming the vaccination. I would think that the correct conclusion would instead be to reconsider the relationship between the vaccine and the disease. Maybe the disease is evolving to outrun the vaccine? Might there even be MORE vulnerability to whooping cough among those immunized, at least after a few years, than the rest of us? Clearly the vaccine, even five shots worth, is not doing the job. I have never been a fan of the chicken pox vaccine, and research data makes me feel like even harsher criticism is deserved. Research now indicates that immunity from the vaccine disappears after only 5 -7 years. That is a triple “ouch”, the first for the shot, the second because the shot did not protect for very long, and you can read the third in the next paragraph. Adding to the uncertainty, there are data indicating that lowering the rate of chicken pox has increased the rate of shingles suffered by adults. Projections are that as high as many as 50% of adults will develop shingles because their immune systems will not be not “reminded” about the virus, due to lack of virus exposures in daily life. Formerly the incidence was believed to be under 5%. Of course, most of us would choose to risk our health in favor of our children’s health. However the small to moderate risk of serious problems with each could make this rationale debatable. Chicken pox is usually a mild illness, and many...