| What are the most vaccine preventable diseases in Lucas County (our county) that some tend not to get vaccinated for? |
| "Well, we have a whole set of diseases that are vaccine preventable: Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Influenza, Meningitis, certain forms of pneumonia, Hepatitis, both A and B. We have 24 types of vaccines that most people get when they are born. However, people get older [and] due to certain beliefs, some do not get all of their vaccines. It is different in different groups. In Lucas County, 70 to 80 percent of our kids get [vaccinated], mostly because they can’t get into school without it. Now, adults getting the pneumococal vaccine and influenza vaccine those are different groups and those vary between 30 and 50 percent." Back to Top |
| Why don’t some people get vaccinated? |
| "There are a lot of different reasons. One very often is cost. Two is that there are misconceptions about vaccinations, some think they cause more harm than good, certain religious beliefs, and a lot of this generation of people haven’t seen these diseases so they don’t have a fear, therefore they don’t think about it. Some of it is not an awareness of how good we’ve done getting rid of these diseases, they think 'Why do I need it?'" Back to Top |
| How do you as a public health officer deal with people not getting vaccinated? |
| "We try to set up programs, we work to get money to reduce the cost issue, and we mostly educate." Back to Top |
| How important is income level to receive a vaccine? |
| "There are times when it is important, but in a lot of our vaccine programs, we, particularly in this county, have programs that no child can go without a vaccine anytime, as long as the parents will bring them to various sites." Back to Top |
| You said that some people don’t get vaccinated because they think they can get sick. Is there any evidence that vaccines that can actually happen? |
| "Certain of these diseases you can get a minor illness from, but what they are more worried about is these scary things: Attention Deficient Disorder and Autism, that are related to certain additives in the vaccine - that’s been a major scare. The one thing that was in there was mercury, which we pulled; it’s actually called thimerosal. It’s been pulled from all vaccines. The risk wasn’t proven, but to be on the safe side they don’t have that anymore. Nowadays, the risk is even less, but there is that belief that the vaccine causes other illnesses, non-related." Back to Top |
| Do you have anything else to add? |
| "No, I think we’ve prevented way more diseases than we’ve caused and had side effects for. The reason you haven’t seen a lot of these diseases in your lifetime is because we’ve been able to prevent a lot of them even though we still see them in groups that don’t get vaccinated." Back to Top |
