Registered Nurse Orlyn Grace administers a COVID-19 booster vaccination to Jeanie Merriman at a COVID-19 vaccination clinic on April 6, 2022, in San Rafael, California. (Justin Sullivan | Getty Images)
August is National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM). NIAM raises awareness about why vaccines are important for people of all ages and how they can help prevent serious, sometimes deadly, diseases and illnesses.
As I often say and have written before, if there’s one thing West Virginia gets right, it’s the Mountain State’s vaccination and immunization law. It bears repeating, because our current laws are often under attack, despite the overwhelming abundance of science.
Gov. Jim Justice vetoed House Bill 5105 on March 27,+ which would have removed vaccination requirements for students in virtual public schools and allow private and parochial schools to set their own standards.
West Virginia continues to lead the nation among the best and safest from vaccine-preventable illness and disease, thanks to our current vaccination and immunization laws. According to state epidemiologist Shannon McBee, the Mountain State has long had an exemplary immunization model. Lawmakers must preserve this status.
West Virginia is one of only a handful of states that doesn’t allow immunization exemptions based on religious or philosophical beliefs. Children attending public school in the state are exempt from vaccinations only if there is a medical reason, such as an allergy to the vaccine. As such, the state also has one of the highest child immunization rates in the country.
Immunizations play an important role in keeping your family and your community healthy. Vaccinations are important because they not only protect the person who is receiving the vaccine, but they also help to keep diseases from spreading to others such as your family, neighbors, classmates, coworkers and other members of the community. Immunization helps protect those who are the most vulnerable to illness, such as infants, elders and those with weakened immune systems.
Vaccines are among the most successful and cost-effective public health tools available for preventing disease and death. In the United States, vaccines have greatly reduced infectious diseases that once routinely caused severe illness and death. According to the CDC, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic approximately 50,000 adults died every year from vaccine-preventable illnesses.
Why is it so important to get regular immunizations, especially for children?
Many people think that so-called natural immunity or herd immunity will keep them safe, or that many of the diseases for which we immunize don’t exist anymore. But that’s not true.
First, diseases like polio or measles are rare because generations of people were immunized against them. But outbreaks do occur all over the world; exposure is even more likely because of ubiquitous travel.
In April of this year, the West Virginia Department of Health confirmed the first case of measles since 2009 in a Monongalia County resident. The person was undervaccinated and had traveled internationally. State health officials worked closely with the Monongalia County Health Department to investigate the positive case and conduct contact tracing.
In 2024, 125 cases of the virus were reported in 18 states.
“The measles vaccine is the most effective way to protect yourself and your loved ones from this preventable disease. Those who receive the vaccine are usually considered protected for life,” said Cabinet Secretary Sherri Young, D.O., MBA, FAAFP.
Second, getting immunized protects you and those around you by limiting the spread of disease. The more people who are vaccinated, the less likely a major outbreak will occur. Immunization is key to creating herd immunity.
Lastly, vaccination is much safer than trying to develop natural immunity from a disease because some diseases can have lasting, damaging effects on your body — which can be completely avoided by getting vaccinated instead.
Busting the myths
Myths perpetuate the misinformation that vaccines make you sick, overload your immune system or even cause autism in children.
- Vaccines help our immune systems fight infection faster and more effectively.
- Vaccines are made of very small amounts of weak or dead germs: they won’t make you sick. Some people can experience mild side effects from some vaccines, such as soreness at the injection site, but these dissipate quickly.
- Vaccines spark your immune response, and train your body to recognize disease-causing germs and fight them off if they ever invade your body.
Finally, the idea that vaccines cause autism came from a long-since-discredited and retracted study that incorrectly linked the measles mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism. This connection has never been accurately confirmed.
How do we know that vaccines are safe?
Before a new vaccine is ever considered for approval by the FDA, pre-clinical and clinical studies are conducted to determine safety, effectiveness and dosing. Vaccine trials must involve even more participants than standard drug clinical trials because vaccines are intended for the entire population. Once a vaccine reaches the FDA approval phase, it is again evaluated for safety, effectiveness and consistency of batch purity and potency.
Vaccination is critically important and one of the best tools we have to prevent disease and severe illness. Widespread immunization has led to the eradication of smallpox worldwide, the elimination of polio in the United States, and the prevention of debilitating and sometimes deadly infectious diseases like measles.
Despite this extraordinary success, global vaccine administration has plateaued within the last decade , partly because of the spread of misinformation and disinformation.
A strong public health policy has allowed West Virginia to remain a leader in the nation regarding school-age vaccination rates. Having those high immunization rates have allowed us to better protect our communities.
West Virginians for Affordable Health Care encourages you to talk to your doctor, nurse, or health care professional to ensure that you and your family are protected against serious diseases by getting caught up on routine vaccinations.
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