When Rachel Gammon’s two oldest children had severe reactions after being vaccinated as babies, she opted to discontinue their immunization schedule.
Gammon, of Abbotsford, said both of her kids suffered flu-like symptoms – including fevers, coughs, fatigue and runny noses – that debilitated them for a week or two.
She believed that immunization was a personal choice and parents shouldn’t be judged for whatever decision they made.
But Gammon’s views have shifted since having a baby with health conditions.
She and her partner, Andrew Taekema, have a blended family of six kids, including two that they had together. Their youngest, Joshua, was born in October 2013 with a congenital heart condition that resulted in his fourth surgery last September.
At that time, Joshua, now 15 months, received a donor artery to replace 90 per cent of his damaged one.
He is now doing well, but his tentative health precluded him from having any vaccinations, leaving him more susceptible to the conditions they protect against, such as measles, chickenpox and mumps.
Exposure to such illnesses can impact a child like Joshua, whose immunity is compromised more severely than an otherwise healthy child.
And that has Gammon rethinking her views on immunization.
“If I have a chance to give him (Joshua) even a little bit more protection, I’m going to do it,” she said.
Joshua will likely be given the go-ahead to begin immunization in March, and Gammon said her two older children will also have their vaccinations completed.
The couple’s other child together and Taekema’s two kids from a previous relationship are all fully immunized.
Gammon likens “herd immunity” – in which the majority of the population is vaccinated to protect more vulnerable people around them – as “taking one for the team.”
Another Abbotsford parent, Laura Klassen, wishes more parents would take this view into consideration.
Photo below: Rachel Gammon is shown with son Joshua in September, before he had his fourth surgery.)
She too has a child with health conditions. Her youngest son, almost 14, has a chronic kidney disease and was unable to receive any immunization for many years.
He is now fully vaccinated, but still has a weakened immune system that leaves him more vulnerable to contracting illnesses.
“My concern with people not vaccinating their children is that it puts kids like my son at a huge risk. If an outbreak happens, he is at greater risk than the average of contracting the disease, and he is also more likely to have complications,” Klassen said.
The issue of whether to immunize has become a heated debate in recent weeks following reports of a measles outbreak in Disneyland that was apparently spread by an unvaccinated California woman, and the announcement from the University of California that it will be mandatory for new students to be vaccinated for measles and other disease starting in 2017.
Last year in the Fraser Valley, a measles outbreak began at a school in Chilliwack in a community with traditionally low immunization rates.
Some people – often referred to as “anti-vaxxers” – says they are opposed to vaccination because of religious beliefs, concerns about serious potential side effects, their right to choose what they feel is best for their children, and that the vaccines are not foolproof.
“I have my doubts about one-size-fits-all medicine when we know people are unique and their bodies react differently,” one person posted on the Abbotsford News’ Facebook page, where a link to an article about immunization was posted.
Statistics from the Fraser Health region indicate that only 69 per cent of two-year-olds in Abbotsford are up to date on the standard recommended vaccinations.
That’s short of the region’s current target of at least 73 per cent and a goal of more than 80 per cent immunized by 2017. The province has a target of 90 per cent by 2023.
On Tuesday, federal health minister Rona Ambrose said she considers it “really irresponsible” to not get children vaccinated against infectious diseases.
“If you don’t immunize your child and you send them to school potentially ill or exposed another child who may be more vulnerable than your own is at even a greater risk and that’s what concerns me the most,” she told an unrelated news conference.
Medical health officer Dr. Michelle Murti doesn’t think local statistics reflect a dangerous level of ideological opposition to vaccinations.
She said 94 per cent of new parents in the region start their kids’ vaccinations at the two-month mark but many then fail to keep them up, perhaps losing track after they return to work.
“They do start but then life gets busy and we see significant drop-off over that two-year schedule, especially at the 12- and 18-month points,” Murti said.
Nor is the phenomenon new.
Fraser’s immunization rates for two-year-olds have hovered around the same level for the past five years, ranging from a low of 61 per cent in early 2010 to a high of 72 per cent in the spring of 2012.
Murti thinks technology can help parents keep track of their kids’ immunization schedules and boost rates over time.
She said parents can sign up for free text message reminders of when their baby needs to return for boosters or download a free smartphone app to record and follow the vaccination schedule.
There’s also a free child health passport that can be obtained from public health offices or downloaded online.
Links to all three resources, as well as immunization schedules and more information can be found at fraserhealth.ca/immunize.
Murti said it’s also important for newcomers to B.C. to transfer their health records so their immunizations are on file here.
– with files from Jeff Nagel