The Economic Side of Vaccines

What are the real implications behind not vaccinating our children? Since the idea of "anti-vaxers" has come around, more and more parents are jumping on the anti-vaccination bandwagon. 

Is that a problem? In some cases, it may actually never be a problem for their immediate children. We may not see the effects of this movement even in our own lifetime within the United States. Or maybe we will start seeing those effects much quicker than we would like. Either way, whether it be tomorrow or 100 years from now, a movement away from vaccinations can be very detrimental to our first-world society as we know it. 

Why is that, you ask? The majority of the anti-vaxxers are placing all their bets on the concept of herd immunity to protect their children. That means that they are hoping that the fact that a large majority of parents in the United States have chosen to vaccinate their children and that will not only keep them from contracting something crazy serious like polio, but it will also protect those that haven't been vaccinated against polio as well. 

However, with a nation so full of so many immigrants from all over the world and in a nation where more and more people are becoming severely effected by poverty, a smaller and smaller percentage of the population each year is covered by immunizations. Some of that cannot be helped, such as people not having access to healthcare or the resources to pay for the vaccines. Some of that cannot be helped in illegal immigrants. And then, some of it can absolutely be prevented. Wealthy health-conscious people are placing their children in the same pit of uncertainty as many poverty-stricken immigrants find their children in. One parent by choice and one parent by force, both still have children at risk for contracting deadly, entirely preventable diseases. Where is the logic in that? 

From an economic standpoint, what does the money say? Is it more economical to not worry about the vaccines and spend the money later on medical treatment and potential funeral costs? Taking the chance that maybe your child will contract a deadly disease and maybe they will not? Is it more economical to go ahead and get the vaccines that they are supposed to receive intermittently throughout childhood and prevent the huge expenditure that contracting one of those major diseases would be? 

Is it more economical to provide free immunizations to any and all immigrants? Or is it more economical to be a reactive society, being forced to pay for the healthcare of the potential thousands of poverty-level individuals after contracting these deadly diseases? 

In one of my recent posts, I discussed the recent outbreaks of measles that we are seeing. That is actually a perfect example of what is happening when you mix lots of immigration and lots of people not vaccinating their children that otherwise have access to vaccinations. That mixture equals an outbreak of a disease that has barely been seen since the development of the MMR vaccine. 

When the government is deciding whether or not to hand out a vaccine for free, there are a few things that must be taken into consideration. Below is a graphic from the World Health Organization showcasing some of that decision making process. 

What is the real cost of not vaccinating our children? That's a hard number to predict, but the short of it is this: widespread epidemics are expensive. Is that worth it? Is that risk worth it? From a government perspective, no on would say they support anti-vaxxers when the entire nation's healthcare and lives are at stake if that becomes any more popular than it is already.

Here is a really enlightening article from the New York Post that helped shift my opinion:
https://nypost.com/2017/07/26/just-a-handful-of-anti-vaxxers-could-really-cost-us-study-finds/

The article talks about how just a few anti-vaxxers allowing these curable diseases to enter into our nation could cost us billions and billions of dollars.

And here is research from the Pediatric Journal of the American Medical Academy that states even a 5% decrease in vaccination could result in an enormous surge in cost and death. More specifically, the 5% decrease in MMR vaccinations in 2016 resulted in an increase from 48 cases in 2015 to 150 in 2016. What if that number were to begin growing exponentially? That's not even something I want to consider.

Now that I've gotten all apocalyptic on everyone, what can we do about this? INFORM OTHERS. Give your educated opinion and point them to the research. Anti-vaxxers is not trendy or cool. Its putting our nation at risk. At a HUGE risk. Evangelize the truth of vaccinations, people. It could be your life, or your child's, at stake.