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San Diego Measles Outbreak: Should parents be compelled to vaccinate their children?

December 22, 2008 in Vaccinations | 6 comments

This American Life has a very interesting show about the San Diego measles outbreak.  Outbreaks decades ago were due to the fact that poor individuals often could not afford to get vaccinated or see a doctor.  Now, this is not a problem since vaccines are generally made available for free for those who cannot pay.  It was rich parents in San Diego who did not get their child vaccinated.

Most parents who do not get their child vaccinated fail to do so because they are worried about the side effects. An 1998 article in the journal Lancet claimed that there was a connection between between MMR vaccination and autism; however, this claim has been refuted and the article has been retracted.  Still, I do sympathize somewhat with these parents.  Even if there is no scientific evidence that vaccination and autism are linked, I understand the parents concern.  Further, I am sympathetic to the attitude that you shouldn’t always just do what people tell you.  However…

The story also shows the side effects of what happens when all kids aren’t vaccinated.  This American Life recounts the story of parents who’s child got the measles.  Most kids receive the MMR vaccine around 1 year of age, so babies younger than twelve months are susceptible to the disease.  The parents recount their harrowing tale of how they help their child in their arms for hours at a time, afraid if they led him lay down his heart would stop beating.  They said that they could not comment in any vaccination related debate since they would become so enraged at the individuals who did not vaccinate that they would lose their friendship.

Overall, I believe that it is right to compel parents to vaccinate their children.  Even if vaccinating would confer some small risk to individual children, the overall benefit to society from the reduction in contagious diseases far outweighs the individual costs.

This American Life Synoposis: “When they decided not to vaccinate their son against measles, two San Diego parents thought they were making the best decision for their child. But when the 7-year-old came home from an overseas trip suffering from the disease (pictured at left: measles virus), his family’s personal decision became a whole community’s problem. The resulting outbreak infected 11 children and endangered many others.“

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Minute Clinics come to San Diego

November 8, 2007 in Nonphysician Clinicians | Permalink

Looks like the convenience clinic trend is coming to my neck of the woods in Southern California.  According to the San Diego Union-Tribune (“Are retail clinics a healthy choice?“) six Minute Clinics are opening in San Diego county with ten more on the way before year’s end.

These clinics likely will lower the cost of obtaining a flu shot.  Not only will providing the flu shot be less expensive for the provider, the patient will have fewer time costs waiting for a doctor or driving to an inconvenient physician location.  These clinics are likely just as safe as a physician’s office if the patient is healthy.  However, if a patient has multiple diseases and needs a more in depth check-up, these convenience clinics will be poor substitutes in terms of quality.  There is always a tradeoff.

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San Diego Wildfires from a San Diego Resident

October 23, 2007 in Current Events | Permalink

As most of you know who have been reading the news, the wildfires in San Diego, my home, have been causing much devastation. According to San Diego’s NPR station KPBS, an “estimated 245,000 acres burned and 1200 homes destroyed in San Diego County” (reported as of 10:09am Pacific time). Over 250,000 individuals have been evacuated in San Diego County alone. Yesterday the smoke and ash from the fires was so thick at my school that it would sting your eyes just to got outside. At 11am the sun only had the strength of a newly-risen sun because of the thick cloud cover. And where I was in La Jolla was not even the worst of it.

Currently I am staying at my girlfriend’s house in Irvine, CA but even here there is a fire in Portola Hills, about 4-5 miles away. Due to evacuation traffic, it took me 3 hours and 15 minutes to travel the 65-70 miles between La Jolla and Irvine. Nevertheless, I am thankful to be safe and sound.

What I would like to write about today is the well-coordinated effort of government officials, red cross workers, emergency personal, police, firefighters and volunteers. The key to a successful emergency effort is coordination between local police and firefighters who have an detailed understanding of a city’s needs, with larger state (e.g.: Cal Fire) and federal (e.g.: FEMA) workers who bring additional capital and manpower resources to the region.

Reverse 9-1-1 calls were made for individuals who had to evacuate from their homes. Police patrolled these evacuated homes to protect them from looters. Numerous shelters were set up in the safer areas of San Diego. The city/county even had a plan so that if these shelters filled up, backup shelters were prepared to come on line. After the Virginia Tech massacre, my university (UCSD) installed text message, email and phone alert system and employed these methods to inform faculty, students and staff of wildfire risks and school closure. The evacuation of over 100 sick and elderly patients from Pomerado Hospital even seemed to take place in an orderly fashion.

This is not to say that there have been no problems. Firefighters on the ground in Orange County called for more air support to put out the flames, but high winds for much of the day yesterday made the use of water and flame retardant from the air infeasible.

While Katrina was one of the greatest disasters in U.S. history, the repercussions from that disaster have made municipalities all over the U.S. have to prepare for the worst. In San Diego, these preparations are helping to save many lives.

I wish that everyone in southern California is able to stay safe.

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