Get Outside

Summer is upon us. School is out and the kids are home. With 30% of our children obese it is important to remember to get your children off the couch out into the fresh air. Even if your child is not obese, your child is in school all year, now is the time to take advantage of the weather and get them breathing the fresh air. In these economic times it may be difficult to find things to do which are educational, fun, outdoors and budget friendly. Here are some great places to take kids of all ages in the Bay Area. If you don't live in the Bay Area check your local mother's group, the local paper or ask another mom for some good ideas.

1.) Pick your own fruits! http://www.harvest4you.com/ Pick fruits with your kids! Let them learn about where their food comes from. They will enjoy it more. Then go home and cook with them.

2.) Ardenwood Farms http://www.ebparks.org/parks/ardenwood

3.) Hiking with the Kids http://www.trails.com/activity.aspx?area=15004

4.) Picnic in the park can't find time to go anywhere or have no budget for travel expenses: a picnic in the park always brings families together: bring a frisbee, bring some balls, learn how to juggle, blow bubbles, or bring a water squirt gun. But go outside!

Parental Refusal of Vaccines, are your kids safe?

You and your newborn daughter arrive to pick up your son from school. You walk into your child's school and learn that there has been an outbreak of whooping cough. You decide not to worry because your son received his vaccinations. But wait, what about your newborn girl?

Many parents feel safe from vaccine-preventable diseases like whopping cough and measles. That feeling of safety is partly because the public health initiatives to vaccinate children had been successful. In the past, most children remained unvaccinated only for medical or religious reasons. Currently, anti-vaccine advocates are dominating the news with flashy celebrities  and their misinformation on vaccine safety. That has left many parents confused about vaccines. Due to this, many parents have chosen not to vaccinate leaving many communities and schools exposed to preventable disease.

An article by the New England Journal of Medicine cites that parents in over 48 states can choose not to vaccinate their kids for any non medical reason. Did I emphasize, any non-medical reason?  The same New England Journal of Medicine article states "Major reasons for vaccine refusal in the United States are parental perceptions and concerns about vaccine safety and a low level of concern about the risk of many vaccine-preventable disease(s)." 

Parents of unvaccinated children assume that their children are safe from disease. As a pediatrician, and a mother, it seems incredible that their assumption is that whooping cough is safer than the vaccine.  These parents rely on herd immunity , the likelihood that your vaccinated children will not be ill and therefore will not pass disease along to their unvaccinated children. 

But are these unvaccinated children really safe from disease? A recent study in the June 2009 Pediatrics journal  demonstrated that children who were not vaccinated for whooping cough are 23 times more likely than the vaccinated children to get the disease.  The herd immunity works only if the entire herd is vaccinated. If you have more people in the community choosing not vaccinate the concept no longer applies. So, contrary to those parents beliefs, unvaccinated children are more likely to get whooping cough.

Parents of vaccinated children may think that their children are safe from these diseases. However, in the case of an illness such as whopping cough, the vaccines immunity can wane with time or the vaccine can fail to cause immunity. Enter an unvaccinated child with whooping cough in a large school and vaccinated children can be affected also. Now bring home a new baby brother or sister,  a grandparent or an immunosurpressed individual and the  entire community is affected with severe disease . The same New England Journal of Medicine article  states "Vaccine refusal not only increases the individual risk of disease but also increases the risk for the whole community." Recently in the US , we are experiencing the largest measles outbreaks in years partially due to the increased number of unvaccinated children. 

As a parent, it seems unfair that another parents decision not to vaccinate can have harmful consequences for my community and my family. The question many physicians and parents are asking is, does a parent have a right to refuse a vaccine for a non-medical reason?   As a parent, I do believe parents should have the right to choose for their children. However,  that right to opt out of vaccination process should come with disease and vaccine education. I will repeat myself here: the consequences of a single parents decision not to vaccinate can affect entire communities and cost innocent people their lives.  The same NEJM  study describes a proposed law in Arkansas which would  "suggest that parents seeking non medical exemptions be provided with counseling on the hazards of refusing vaccination."

Parents need to stand together to protect our children and communities.