Article published March 26, 2002
Immunize kids? When?
The constant call for parents to immunize children is threatened because there are not enough vaccines. It's unbelievable.
Health-care professionals continually urge parents to make sure their children get all the childhood shots. Vaccines protect kids from numerous diseases, among them, measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, chicken pox, and meningitis.
But while a spokesman at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that a health crisis is imminent, he said don't panic, yet. Huh?
First, the shortage is partly due to new federal rules as to how vaccines are made and the need for improvements at facilities that produce them. Plus, the increased demand for new vaccines that protect against meningitis has added to the shortage. But once manufacturers adjust to the new rules and facilities are upgraded, the public will benefit.
But in the meantime, doctors worry that the shortages of vaccines could lead to a mindset that they are insignificant. They also agonize that parents will ignore reminders to return children for vaccinations once the shortage passes. There could be a health crisis if immunizations are viewed as insignificant and parents don't take children back for shots.
Some health officials cope by giving only parts of recommended dosages. The meningitis vaccine usually requires four dosages, for instance, and except for the most vulnerable patients, all but the last dose or two is administered. But it's unacceptable to only give part of a recommended dosage. That's why there should be enough vaccines in storage to carry the public through until the supply is up again.
The government must let more firms make vaccines and ensure that an adequate supply is in storage. Otherwise, a health crisis could be in the nation's future, and it would not be parents' fault, but the government's fault.
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