Canada and Windsor vaccination rates too low

By Rhiannon Lotze

Many experts say Canada’s measles vaccination rates are too low amongst minors to prevent outbreaks of the disease from spreading.

According to the Oxford Vaccine Group 95 per cent of a population must be immunized against a certain illness to prevent it from spreading. A study conducted in 2011 by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, however, found that only 86.9 per cent of Canadians aged 17 and under were up to date on their measles vaccines.

Around 7.5 million Canadians are aged 17 and under, meaning that 975,000 are susceptible to contracting the highly contagious measles disease.

So far in 2015 there have been 159 cases of measles confirmed in Canada, with the majority found in Quebec. Two more were confirmed in high school students in Vancouver, on April 2.

Measles is spread through coughing and sneezing and is characterized by a high fever, sore eyes, white spots inside the mouth and eventually a red rash on the skin. While anyone can contract the illness, there are certain demographics that are more likely to become sick.

“Most at risk would be those who can’t be vaccinated, so the very, very young or those who don’t get the vaccines,” said Dana Boyd. Boyd is an employee of the Windsor Essex County Health Unit and also said more information about the measles can be found on the WECHU website.

Despite the risk of contracting measles if a person is not protected, some people choose not to be vaccinated or have their children vaccinated. Reasons for this decision include religion and fears of side effects they believe result from vaccines, such as autism.

“Natural immunity is designed to take on and withstand any incoming infections which threaten your survival,” said Joel Lord, founder of the Vaccine Resistance Movement. “The body can only do this when it is naturally, gradually exposed to disease and infectious agents lurking in the environment.”

Lord also said his Vaccine Resistance Movement “has upwards of 20,000 members around the world and it’s growing exponentially all the time.”

As a mother of two, Heather Brown said she is wary of vaccines and feels the vaccine schedule made by the Canadian government should be more personalized to each individual.

“Many diseases have been eradicated in our lifetime but there should be an individualized approach taken with vaccine schedules. A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for everyone,” said Brown. “If the MMR vaccine was three separate vaccines, I would consider it for my children. This is not currently offered in Canada.”

Even though there are several reasons people choose not to vaccinate, there are also many in favour.

“I feel [vaccines] are important to help prevent another outbreak. Science and medicine have been able to do amazing things,” Lorra Gallagher, 21, said. Gallagher is a mother of one and both she and her eight-month-old son have been vaccinated.

According to a statement made by the WECHU earlier in the year, Windsor’s measles vaccination rate is at 82 per cent and that is not enough to prevent an outbreak from spreading.