Kerre Woodham: Jab fears put lives at risk

While many parents are wary of vaccinations, they could save a child's life. Photo / The Aucklander

It probably won't be this measles epidemic that causes a shift in attitude. It probably won't be the next. But the day that measles claims the lives of hundreds of Kiwi kids and blinds, deafens and brain damages thousands more - that's the day that good, caring, intelligent parents will finally get it.

That's when they'll realise that garlic, echinacea, organic food and living in the nicer parts of town will not protect their children against killer diseases.

For years, parents have been complacent about vaccination. That's not to say they haven't done their homework. Every parent worth their grey hair and frown lines has pored over articles advocating the pros and cons of immunisation and agonised over whether or not to vaccinate their child with the MMR vaccine.

Those who decided to give it a miss generally did so because they were terrified of inviting autism into their child and their family and they can cite thousands of articles backing up their position. Those who decided to vaccinate can quote just as many articles supporting their position and take comfort in the fact that they've done their bit and can never be accused of backsliding.

I didn't enjoy taking my baby along to the GP and handing her over for an injection of toxins. And when she was feverish and fretful after one of the shots, I remember checking her every couple of hours, making sure she was still alert and breathing. But I'd have felt a whole lot worse if I'd had to nurse her through a life-threatening illness.

Our grandparents' generation know what that's like.

They shake their heads in disbelief and wonder why there's even debate about immunisation. For them, those diseases meant life or death.

Just about everyone I've spoken to over 70 remembers whooping cough, diphtheria, measles and polio destroying lives and leaving a lasting legacy of fear for those who survived unscathed. They are incredulous that any parent, offered the choice of protecting their child against such ravaging diseases, would choose not to immunise their child.

I don't want to sound like the scaremongers who kept swine flu in the headlines for months. Many children will get measles and whooping cough and survive relatively unscathed. But should an epidemic take hold, and some experts say it's only a matter of time, there will be thousands of kids who will suffer.

Yet, until we see the damage these epidemics can do, parents will remain unconvinced about the advantages of vaccination and our immunisation rate will remain one of the lowest in the OECD.

* www.kerrewoodham.com