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At 95%, St. Lawrence County immunization rate among lowest in state

Posted 11/2/14

By CRAIG FREILICH St. Lawrence County is among the lowest one-eighth of counties in the state when it comes to the rate of school children being vaccinated against communicable diseases. That has …

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At 95%, St. Lawrence County immunization rate among lowest in state

Posted

By CRAIG FREILICH

St. Lawrence County is among the lowest one-eighth of counties in the state when it comes to the rate of school children being vaccinated against communicable diseases.

That has significance as medical authorities are warning of rising rates of preventable diseases due to a lack of immunization.

St. Lawrence County’s schoolchildren are 95 percent “completely immunized,” according to the final results from Sept. 17 of the New York State Department of Health’s 2013-2014 New York State School Immunization Survey.

That means 95 percent of school children have received seven required inoculations, for diphtheria, polio, measles, rubella, mumps, hepatitis B, and varicella. In fact the measles vaccination, at 95 percent, is the only one of the seven that was given to less than 96 percent of the school population.

Only four of the state’s 62 counties -- Montgomery, Rockland, Seneca, and Yates -- rank lower in immunization rates for school kids, and three counties match St. Lawrence County at 95 percent.

Those seeking a religious exemption to the vaccinations for their children amounted to 2.39 percent of St. Lawrence County children in the survey. Medical exemptions amounted to 0.11 percent of children.

There has been a movement of sorts among people who fear the vaccines, mainly the measles vaccine, which some people have come to believe is a cause of autism, in spite a growing body of authoritative evidence that it is not linked to autism in children.

The fear of the measles vaccine and a lower measles vaccination rate have been cited by health authorities as one possible cause for a rise in measles cases.

The state Education Department has said that since school settings have been shown to increase transmission of contagious diseases, they and other states have adopted a policy of requiring proof of immunizations before a child can be enrolled in a school.

But many states, including New York, have had to bend the rules protecting public health to protect the constitutional rights of parents to raise their children according to their religious beliefs.

To claim a religious exemption, one or both parents or a legal guardian must write and sign a statement that sincere and genuine religious beliefs are at play, according to a state Education Department web posting on the question.

This past August, Dr. Manuel Palao, executive vice president of the Medical Society of St. Lawrence County, distributed a statement from the state medical society that cited a rise in preventable diseases due to a lack of immunizations.

The aim of the statement was to encourage people to “be vigilant in keeping their immunizations up-to-date,” including flu shots or sprays to prevent influenza infection.

In light of the illnesses and deaths due to the outbreak of Ebola virus infections in West Africa, and apparent shortcomings in containing its spread, the statement of one physician in the state medical society release has more importance today than it might have had in August:

"The world is shrinking due to international travel, and vaccine preventable diseases are on the rise," said William Valenti, MD, Chair of the Infectious Disease Committee for the Medical Society of the State of NY (MSSNY). "Immunization is the best protection to prevent the spread of diseases."

The doctors stressed that not only are immunizations for school children important, but that adults need protection against diseases such as HPV, influenza, shingles, pertussis and pneumonia.

A report this fall by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, a major health insurer in New York, notes that what they consider their Central New York region, which includes St. Lawrence County and neighboring Lewis and Jefferson counties, had the highest number of vaccine-preventable disease cases – 4,236 – and the highest rate – 392.3 per 100,000 people – in the state in 2012.

Influenza incidence was highest in the Central New York region, at 358.1 per 100,000 in 2012, which is more than three times the statewide rate of 113.2 per 100,000 population.

This figures are for the whole population, not just school-aged children.

The report also shows that this region had the highest vaccination rate in 2011 among children aged 19 to 35 months, 56.4 percent, in all upstate regions for the recommended doses of several vaccines. But that rate is significantly lower than the statewide rate (65.1 percent) and national rate (68.5 percent).

The Health Department notes that all pre-K kids immunized are included in the survey, while children in a group family day care setting were not part of the survey.

More information is available at:

• www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/adult.html

• www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html

• www.cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-managers/coverage/nis/adult/index.html

• www.vaccines.gov/basics/

• https://www.health.ny.gov/prevention/prevention_agenda/2013-2017/plan/stds/