Vaccine

Steven L. Salzberg's response to Margaret Dunkle's vaccination op-ed is itself a study in fear-mongering and ignorance ("Sun prints dangerous anti-vaccination op-ed," July 14). It is precisely because of the condescending and uninformed views of Dr. Salzberg that parents are losing confidence in the CDC mandated vaccination program. Salzberg is "deeply concerned" that the op-ed piece will lead to decreased uptake of vaccination and increased morbidity due to vaccine-preventable infectious diseases.

Margaret Dunkle's op-ed ("We don't know enough about childhood vaccines," July 11) is a dangerously misguided attempt to scare people away from vaccinating their children. Despite the fact that science has debunked Ms. Dunkle's claims, I am deeply concerned that presenting her views in The Sun will give them credibility they do not deserve and will lead parents to withhold vaccines from their children. The consequences may cause serious harm to the public. Ten children died in an outbreak of whooping cough in California last year, and outbreaks of measles and meningitis have occurred elsewhere, including Maryland.

The topics of vaccines and vaccine safety spark emotional outbursts at scientific meetings and family dinner tables alike. But many of these debates are remarkably fact-free. Surprisingly few people — not just concerned parents but also doctors, policymakers and even immunization experts — can answer this seemingly simple question: How many immunizations does the federal government recommend for every child during the first two years of life? The answer is important because most states, including Maryland, faithfully follow the recommendations of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, codifying CDC guidelines into requirements for children to enroll in school, kindergarten, preschool and child care.

Last month, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported the first case of measles in the state since 2009. This development demonstrates that even Maryland, which has one of the highest vaccination rates in the U.S., is not immune to a larger trend facing the nation. This past year, the U.S. has seen the largest increase in measles cases in almost two decades, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rise in measles cases over the first half of this year is double the rate typically seen compared with previous years.

The Obama administration's recent commitment to the GAVI Alliance should be applauded ("Donors pledge $4.3 billion for vaccines for poor," June 13). The United States' pledge will help vaccinate 250 million children and save more than 4 million lives. Now it's up to Congress to fulfill this commitment to millions of the world's poorest children. The United States continues to spend less than 1 percent of the federal budget on foreign aid. In a world where more than 10 million children per year die before the age of five, we must step up. Darby Hull, Baltimore

In 1980, I moved my family from Maryland to the White Mountain Apache Reservation in Arizona to work on an issue most people are not comfortable talking about — diarrhea. At the time, diarrhea, which is preventable and treatable, was rampantly killing children on the reservation at a rate seven times the national average. Working hand-in-hand with tribal leadership, we introduced oral rehydration solution (ORS) — a mixture of sugar, salt and water — to treat the deadly dehydration diarrhea can cause.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged Americans traveling or living abroad with their children to be sure the kids are vaccinated against measles, even those as young as 6 months. Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000. But cases are still turning up among Americans — especially unvaccinated children — returning from overseas travel. The CDC said Thursday that 29 Americans came down with measles in the U.S. in January and February, seven of them young children.

My husband says he doesn't need a flu shot because he's never had the flu. Which, if you think about it, is a lot like saying you don't need to use contraception because you've never gotten pregnant. He didn't give me a scientific reason for not getting a flu shot, unless you consider superstition a branch of medicine. Like too many Americans, he thinks a flu shot renders you vulnerable to the flu. Cosmically, if not physically. It is like you are testing fate. A flu shot, he reasons, will cause his lucky streak of flu-less winters to come to an end. It is a hard argument to counter, especially when it is made by a guy who thinks winning at video poker is a matter of talent.

Childhood immunizations are victims of their own success. The dreadful diseases against which they protect our children are distant memories. We have forgotten polio, or that measles, mumps and rubella — the MMR of vaccine language — could cause deafness, blindness, brain damage or seizures. So, in 1998, when a British study purported to link the mysterious condition known as autism to those vaccinations, it was easy for parents to decide to err on the side of caution.

The woman, a Nigerian mother named Busayo, fought back tears as she recalled going into debt in a futile attempt to treat her infant son's pneumonia. After Busayo spent all of her family's savings — she even sold the family cell phone — the 2-month-old died. Speaking just above a whisper, the woman was sitting in a small rural church in Nigeria talking with Dr. Orin Levine, who was being featured in the British documentary "Kill or Cure?" "That really stuck with me," said Levine, the 44-year-old executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC)