Why am I pressing for vaccine law changes in Arizona? It's about better serving patients
As a legislator, I have promoted greater access to vaccines through broader scope-of-practice laws enabling pharmacists to administer them. As parents, we vaccinated our daughters and believe they benefited from them.
But our kids grew up when the number of recommended vaccines was only 23 doses of seven vaccines in 1983. Parents today face three times that number.
By 2017, the CDC’s recommended number skyrocketed to 69 doses of 16 vaccines — 50 doses given before age 6. This is the schedule validated by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the one most pediatricians follow. For Arizona school attendance, a student must receive a minimum of 29 doses.
A fraction of injuries are reported
Parents are frustrated. Not because they would spare their child the discomfort of more needles and perhaps a subsequent adverse side effect such as a sore arm or mild fever.
Many parents, like Tiffany Schoonover of Tucson, previously vaccinated their kids. She recently wrote, “My son was fully vaccinated as was my daughter until October of 2012. My 4-month-old daughter was taken in for her shots and five days later I was in the ER saying goodbye. That’s when I stopped vaccinating.”
Tiffany and others learned the hard way that vaccination is not appropriate for every individual due to one’s genetic disposition, autoimmune deficiency, allergy or other circumstance. Furthermore, parents opting to exempt their children from mandates are increasingly at risk, despite their legitimate concerns.
While some claim vaccine injuries are rare, the CDC-funded Harvard Pilgrim Project’s findings that less than 1 percent are ever reported to VAERS, the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, are alarming. And if it happens to you or your child, it is a crisis. It is also avoidable.
We must do more to acknowledge risk
Pharmaceuticals save lives every day, but none are 100 percent safe, including vaccines. Medical professionals would never claim that because a certain drug or therapy was approved for most people, everyone should be subject to it — but with vaccine injury, the clinical evidence does not seem to apply.
Despite patient experiences or specific warnings on each vaccine insert, there is an unwillingness to acknowledge the risk for some individuals — and discuss them with their patients.
These are preventable injuries, and we can do better. Thorough informed consent, as described in House Bill 2471, is a critical component to ensuring vaccination is as safe and effective as possible.
It is also foundational guidance, per the CDC — but it is not happening. If it were, the dire consequences of inappropriate vaccine administration could be avoided. Claims that “too much information” would be difficult for doctors to provide or “confusing” for parents is elitist and condescending to parents.
Let’s find a way.
Doctors have exceptions. Shouldn't patients?
This bill also improves vaccine safety by increasing knowledge of VAERS, so parents can make sure vaccine reactions are reported and tracked to spot safety issues with particular vaccines. Taxpayers – not liability-free pharmaceutical companies – have paid patients $4 billion for their injuries or death through the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program since 1988, but most families that have experiences with vaccine reactions were never notified beforehand of either program.
HB 2470 ensures a person’s religious beliefs are respected through K-12, not just through preschool as current law allows. Both measures should become law, as they serve different purposes. Certain ingredients in vaccinations, including chemicals, human, animal, and insect DNA and RNA, are abhorrent to some for religious or ethical reasons. Mandated vaccination should not force someone to compromise their beliefs.
The American Medical Association’s code of ethics affirms the right to both religious and philosophical exceptions for physicians themselves to not be vaccinated. The same standard should apply to their patients.
Finally, HB 2472 informs patients of the option to obtain a titer test in certain circumstances to see if they already have antibodies against a particular virus. This is especially important for those who have more severe reactions to vaccinations. Any lab costs would be the patient’s responsibility.
Vaccines can be key to preventing communicable diseases, but we must protect those for whom vaccination can trigger even worse outcomes. These bills can better serve every patient and strengthen our vaccination programs for the future.
State Rep. Nancy Barto is a Republican representing Legislative District 15, which covers parts of Phoenix and Glendale.