Vaccines are a safe way to protect our neighbors: Ruth Casada – cleveland.com

Guest columnist Ruth Casada, MSN-Ed, RN, has been a nurse for 22 years, with experience in medical-surgical, obstetrics, school health and nursing education. She enjoys working with nursing students in the classroom and clinical settings, including the Baldwin Wallace University Nursing Program, to share her passion for improving patient care and outcomes.

One of the greatest accomplishments in medicine has been the discovery of vaccines to help prevent life-threatening diseases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that vaccines saved approximately $295 billion in direct costs and $1.38 trillion in costs to our public from 1994 to 2013. The CDC also estimates that immunizations will prevent 21 million hospitalizations and 732,000 deaths among those born between 1994 and 2013.

Vaccines save approximately 2.5 million children under the age of 5 each year. Because of vaccines, countless lives are saved from premature death or disfiguring effects of diseases.

Even with these staggering statistics, one in five children worldwide lacks vaccine access. An estimated 1.5 million people die yearly from vaccine-preventable diseases or complications.

Low vaccine rates create a preventable public health crisis.

Smallpox has been eradicated because of vaccines, and many adults have not personally witnessed the diseases that vaccines protect against, such as polio, diphtheria, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella and now COVID-19.

Vaccines prevent the spread of infections like chickenpox, shingles, influenza, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal disease, pneumococcal disease, rotavirus, whooping cough, meningitis and COVID-19, which can be fatal to individuals with suppressed immune systems, infants and our elderly populations.

Despite individuals in the scientific and medical professions sharing an overwhelming consensus that vaccines are safe and effective, misinformation remains in circulation, including unfounded and debunked theories concerning the dangers of vaccinations.

Social media outlets have added fuel to the fire by providing misinformation to the public regarding immunization dangers. These fabrications alarm individuals and result in them waiving vaccines and using exemptions to avoid school and employment requirements.

Some people have a valid medical reason for not being able to receive immunizations -- and those are the individuals we must protect.

But some parents are choosing not to vaccinate healthy children because they follow the misguided information linking immunizations to autism or believing that vaccines contain aborted fetus cells.

We ought to seek advice from medical providers, who utilize evidence-based practice to improve healthcare outcomes.

Vaccine exemptions should be rare and reserved for individuals with severely compromised immune systems due to scenarios like chemotherapy treatments or an allergy to vaccine components.

Moreover, policymakers must evaluate the ethical implications for strict vaccine requirements while considering the safety of all American people.

As concerned members of the community, we all want to protect others to the best of our abilities. When advocates discuss vaccine dangers, we as concerned citizens will naturally discuss the adverse effects of immunizations with others. However, we need to be careful about who we rely upon for sound medical advice.

Vaccinations are the preventative medicine we should choose to take advantage of, instead of seeking an exemption based on false information.

Our government is moving in the right direction with vaccine requirements; however, the current debate over the COVID-19 vaccine is the latest debacle to undermine the public perception of the safety and efficacy of vaccinations.

Individuals need to understand that their personal decision to opt out of immunizations has a dramatic effect on our publics health.

While this decision may not have a direct impact on their personal health, it may result in another person contracting a disease. It could lead to the death of a newborn down the street, a kind elderly neighbor or a friend battling cancer.

We all must understand our personal choices will have a lasting impact on the entire community.

Readers are invited to submit Opinion page essays on topics of regional or general interest. Send your 500-word essay for consideration to Ann Norman at anorman@cleveland.com. Essays must include a brief bio and headshot of the writer. Essays rebutting todays topics are also welcome.

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Vaccines are a safe way to protect our neighbors: Ruth Casada - cleveland.com