Ohio state senators introduced a bill earlier this month that would require all students to be vaccinated for bacterial meningitis and hepatitis B if living on campus at any Ohio college or university.
Such a bill should help to improve public health - especially on disease-prone college campuses. Just last quarter, two Ohio University students were diagnosed with bacterial meningitis, a potentially life-threatening disease.
Vaccination is incredibly important to stopping the spread of disease. Although vaccines do not guarantee an individual's immunity to disease, they have proved to be remarkably effective. Consider the state of the measles virus in 1958. In that year, medical professionals recorded 763,094 cases in the United States. Since the inception of the measles vaccine, that number has plummeted. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an average of only 63 cases each year from 2000 to 2007.
It is important to remember that vaccination does more than simply safeguard the health of the individual. Because the diseases in question are contagious, being vaccinated is a matter of public health. Individuals who forgo their shots pose a great threat to the health of others. Fortunately, mass vaccination leads to a sort of herd immunity. Because vaccines are not 100 percent effective in all individuals, they are even more important, especially in a college residence hall where many dozens of students might live in such close proximity. If all individuals have relative immunity, disease doesn't stand a chance. The near eradication of the measles virus in the United States should be proof enough.
With so many good reasons to get vaccinated, why would anyone actively opt out?
One major influence is the growing anti-vaccination movement, led by a cavalcade of activists and medical quacks. The crux of the movement is a belief that trace thimerosal and mercury in vaccines are linked to the onset of disease - most notably autism. Thousands of parents have heeded the false warning and chosen not to vaccinate their children. The truth is hundreds of scientists from around the world have failed, despite their best efforts, to find any link between vaccination and autism. Last year, a New England Journal of Medicine study found no causal association between thimerosal and autism. This year, Columbia University's Center for Infection and Immunity came to the same conclusion in a similar study, as have countless others. Vaccines have proved over many decades to be safe and effective.
We applaud the efforts of senators to ensure the health and safety of Ohio students. Both OU students with meningitis did recover, but next time we might not be so lucky. Relying on medicine, instead of luck, could prevent such scares in the future.
Editorials represent the views of The Post's executive editors.
4 Opinion
Optional vaccinations endanger public, especially on campuses
