There was a time when people didn’t have to wear seatbelts.
That was also when we all drove around in vehicles that didn’t have passenger side mirrors, and we could turn on our headlights when we darn well decided to.
Today, seatbelts are standard equipment, as are mirrors on both sides of the vehicle. And when the ignition turns over, the headlights come on automatically.
Why did things change? Well, scientific studies and analysis concluded it is safer to have seatbelts, side mirrors, and daytime headlights — they save a lot of money and, oh yes, lives. Better safe than sorry. Better safe than poor. Better safe than dead.
This is actually a column about vaccinations — similar to seatbelts because of all the lives and money saved.
I wonder, are people getting too smart for their own good, because they have a little bit of pseudoscientific information.
At one time we accepted that getting ourselves and our families vaccinated was a good thing. More people avoided all kinds of illnesses because they got vaccinated for diseases like measles, hepatitis, whooping cough and polio. Over five or so decades, vaccinations became standard equipment.
It’s a new age now, where — largely because of the Internet — people are not so accepting. You can look anything up and find answers that suit your views. But you won’t find one modern medical association or body that suggests people should not get vaccinated. Still there seems to be a growing non-scientific movement that vaccinations are dangerous.
A few years, back bad science linked autism to vaccinations. The study has since been debunked and retracted.
I went to get a flu shot the other day. I’ve done it for years. I’ve never had the flu.
The Public Health Agency of Canada provides some pre- and post-vaccine information.
In the pre-vaccination period of 1950 to 1954, the average annual rate of cases of poliomyelitis (polio) cases was 17.3 cases per 100,000 population, with a peak annual number of 1,584 cases. Between five and 10 per cent of those paralyzed by polio died. Fast forward to the post-vaccination period of 2000 to 2004, the average annual rate of cases was zero. The disease has been eliminated in Canada.
As for measles, which can lead to serious and sometimes fatal complications, the five-year pre-vaccine period between 1950 and 1954 in Canada saw an average annual rate of 369 cases per 100,000, with a peak annual number of 61,370 cases. This compares with a post-vaccine average annual rate of 0.2 cases from 2000 to 2004, and a peak annual number of 199 cases. Measles can result in hospitalization and is easily transmitted.
One last example (there are many others): looking at the numbers for mumps, the average annual pre-vaccine rate (1950 to 54) was 369 cases but just 0.3 from 2000 to 2004 (post-vaccine). The respective peak annual comparable numbers are 43,671 cases to 202.
Similar results are reflected globally.
Alberta Health is battling an unusual measles outbreak in Lethbridge area, trying to keep it from spreading, and encouraging people to be immunized.
About 30 cases have been reported and the cause has been traced to a child who visited the Netherlands. Due to a strong travel pattern between Lethbridge County and Lacombe, a special measles immunization centre has also been established in Lacombe.
Some communities in Southern Alberta have immunization rates as low as 50 per cent, perhaps because of complacency or anti-vaccine sentiment. Now the province is scrambling to stop an outbreak across the province.
Could this happen with all the other diseases that immunization has held at bay should vaccination rates decline?
Mary-Ann Barr is Advocate assistant city editor, She can be reached by email at barr@www.reddeeradvocate.com or by phone at 403-314-4332.