Vaccine-wary parents spark public health worry

Some more vulnerable to vaccines
Mandatory vaccine requirements in many states endanger children who may be genetically vulnerable to reactions, essentially marginalizing their risk for the sake of the larger population, Fisher said.  

“Once you decide that individuals are expendable in the name of the greater good, how many is too many?” she said. “You can decide that it’s OK to throw some people under the bus because that’s the price of doing business.”

Skeptics' suspicions are bolstered by cases such as the recent decision that a federal vaccine agency will compensate the family of a 9-year-old autistic girl in Georgia whose parents believe her condition was caused by five simultaneous doses of vaccines. Anti-vaccine activists said the government was conceding a link between immunizations and autism, but government scientists disputed that notion, saying that it was an isolated case that established no proof of a link.

That argument doesn’t sway critics, however, including parents like Margulis, who said she relies on her own research skills for information.

“I think doctors tend to be taken back by how much I know,” she said, adding later: “I’m a public health official’s nightmare, not because I’m not responsible, but because I’m too responsible.”

Margulis said she worked hard to boost her children’s own resistance to disease. She nursed two of her kids past the age of 4 and said she makes sure they eat healthful foods and get regular exercise. She believes her children's systems are strong enough to tolerate disease — and even hopes that they'll get the chance to gain natural immunity.

“I would love for my children to have measles,” Margulis said. “Please get me chicken pox and get me measles.”

She rejects the idea that her decision endangers others.

“People say, ‘You’re putting my kid at risk, but that doesn’t make any sense at all,’” she said. “If the vaccine works, I’m just putting my child at risk.”

Video   Court to compensate autism victim March 6: A federal court that handles claims for vaccine injuries has awarded compensation to the parents of an autistic child for symptoms that indirectly resulted from childhood vaccines. NBC's Pete Williams reports. Nightly News

As a fellow Ashland parent, Isabella's mother, Vanessa Parker, said she regards the decision not to vaccinate by Margulis and many of her neighbors as “selfish.”

“When I say selfish, it’s because of all the other children that could be potentially hurt,” she said.

Part of the problem rests with the very success of vaccines, noted Peg Crowley, the director of the Community Health Center where Isabella Parker got her shots. This generation of parents doesn’t recall how sick a toddler can be with measles, so they focus on the very small risk associated with vaccines.

“One of the biggest issues is that parents think they’re safe to make this decision,” said Crowley, who recalls quarantines from her own childhood. “There’s no memory of the consequences of these diseases. We take our protection sometimes for granted.”

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