Against the grain
Local health expert warns against new vaccine recs
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HANCOCK -- Last Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order changing the vaccine recommendations for early childhood across the U.S. The order would separate the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine into three different injections, spaced out. One local expert is concerned over the new recommendations and denounces the widespread idea the MMR vaccine causes Autism.
Western Upper Peninsula Health Department Public Health Nurse Rhiannon Schmidt said she's worried about an outbreak of measles due to Houghton County's low childhood vaccination rates. "Houghton [County] has one of the worst vaccination rates for school age children in the state of Michigan," she said. "So, we are already primed for outbreaks based on the [number] of school-aged children who've had two doses of the MMR."
Critics of Trump's order said spreading out the MMR vaccine would require children to visit the doctor more often, instead of the standard two doses of MMR at one and four-years old. Schmidt said this affects poorer, working-class areas even more, due to parents not being able to take off work.
"Part of the reason why we see low compliance with vaccines is because people can't always get their kids to the doctors for multiple appointments," she said. "So, in separating these shots, what its making people do is go for more doctor's appointments, which they might not make. You're having reduced compliance which is distressing for the kids."
One Trump criticism of the current American vaccine model is there are too many shots. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pointed out Scandinavian countries' models as something the U.S. should follow, where less vaccines are used.
Schmidt said the comparison does not work. "Denmark has good paternity and maternity leave," she said. "They have better access to healthcare; they have no food insecurity or poverty. These other countries that give different vaccine schedules -- they have different issues."
Trump and Kennedy have touted a popular myth for years which vaccines (specifically MMR) cause or trigger autism in young children. Schmidt plainly said the shots do not and have not been the cause of childhood autism for kids who get them. "The science hasn't changed," she said. "It's still safe to do these shots together."
Schmidt said there has been a growing strain in the relationship between healthcare providers and their patients. Vaccine hesitancy and skepticism have played a key role in this degradation. "We'll continue to educate through social media," she said. "I'm working on some brochures right now, but we want to maintain a good relationship with the people we serve."
Schmidt added a way to mend this broken relationship is to get patients’ trust back and for patients to ignore social media posts and trust their healthcare provider. "People need to go to their doctor and have a good relationship with their doctor," she said. "We need to have a reestablishment of a primary care provider-patient relationship. When their doctor makes a recommendation, people need to trust that this doctor went to school for a long time and has the health and wellbeing of their child in mind."