Local opinion: Changes to children’s vaccination schedules could do more harm than good

Re: the April 20 article “Children’s vaccination schedule changes could be harmful.”

Dr. Philip Williams’ article warns of a looming threat to vaccine defense — the distrust in vaccination schedules for children. In a world with an overwhelming amount of misinformation, the consequences of such skepticism extend far beyond individual health, threatening our community’s well-being.

Vaccines are like the armor of our body. Vaccines train the immune system to recognize dangerous pathogens to prepare the body to fight an infection without getting sick. The immune system is like an orchestra. It has many different players and instruments that must work together to defend the body against invading pathogens. When a pathogen infects the body, the immune system dispatches an army of different cells to clear the infection from the body. Two types of immune cells make up this army — B cells and T cells — are particularly important for the development of vaccines.

Dr. Williams made a great point in his recent article in the Arizona Daily Star: Public trust in vaccinations is declining, and a sudden change to scheduling will enhance this. A constantly changing vaccination schedule will make it appear that our scientists and providers lack an understanding of how vaccinations should be administered and may be guessing. Patient hesitancy to vaccinations will increase. In addition, removing the pneumococcal booster for 16-year-olds will provide less protection to pneumococcal diseases in children, an especially vulnerable population. These factors could result in decreased vaccination rates and the revival of preventable illnesses, as with measles, as well as an increase in health care costs. The patient-provider relationship is key to preventative health and should not be injured by a change in vaccine scheduling.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has experienced a surge of medical mistrust and misinformation, especially surrounding the topic of vaccines. This sudden increase of mistrust is due to an increase of unreliable information and sources spreading misinformation that is easily accessible to the public. Since not everyone has the knowledge to distinguish between a reliable and unreliable source, concepts of misinformation have been accepted to be true by some of society. Dr. Williams explains how health misinformation threatens vaccination rates by increasing ideas of vaccine hesitancy among the public, which can ultimately lead to a resurgence of vaccine preventable illnesses throughout society in the future.

As Dr. Williams mentions, it is important for adolescents to be vaccinated against meningococcal meningitis because they are at the highest risk for meningococcal disease. While the incidence of the disease is low, the consequences of infection are dire. According to the CDC, the risks are severe morbidity and death. It is also noted that survivors of the disease may be subject to long-term disabilities which include deafness, brain damage, nervous system problems, and loss of one or possibly more limbs. To continue, the treatment for meningococcal disease is prompt administration of effective antibiotics when there is suspicion of someone having an infection. Because of the severity of the disease and the risk of not obtaining proper treatment in time if there is an infection, it further shows the importance of getting vaccinated. Especially, on a proper schedule that has scientific evidence to back it up.

In the face of increasing medical mistrust, the importance of adhering to evidence-based vaccination schedules cannot be overlooked. As Dr. Williams underscores, the dire consequences of diseases like meningococcal meningitis pose significant public health concerns. Thus, upholding the reliability of vaccination practices is a collective effort to safeguard the health of our community. We should emphasize the importance of preventing misinformation and prioritizing the health of our community by adhering to proven vaccination protocols.