My name is Ryan Whitt. I am a resident of Wilton, Maine; I am a father, and I am a pediatrician at Franklin Memorial Hospital and Franklin Health Pediatrics. I also serve as the Regional School Unit 9 school physician. As you may be aware, our state legislators recently drafted LD 798, a bill that would eliminate the current philosophical and religious exemptions for full vaccination for public school children.
I am writing to reach out to sensible, responsible parents and others in our community to urge you to learn about this bill and to act to support it to keep our public-school children safe from deadly, vaccine-preventable disease. Unfortunately, the anti-vaccination community in our state is a vocal minority that spreads fear and distrust. We need individuals who support keeping public school students safe from disease to speak up loudly and clearly.
We have all read and seen the news lately about the resurgence of deadly diseases around the country. It is not a coincidence that these outbreaks occur in areas of the country with low vaccination rates as low vaccination rates are directly related to increased likelihood of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease. For instance, 90-95 percent of a population must be immunized against measles in order to keep outbreaks from occurring. The outbreaks that we are hearing about in the news are because vaccination rates dropped below 90-95 percent. Because of such outbreaks, parents have been forced to make uncomfortable decisions about where their children should go to school or daycare and who their children should spend time with. My wife and I frequently worry about sending our son to playgroups, music classes, or swim lessons where unvaccinated children may expose him to deadly diseases. We are deeply concerned for our young niece and nephew who live in Portland, Oregon, which is currently a hotbed for measles. It is my hope that parents in our community and our state will not have to continue to worry about sending our children to public schools.
As a pediatrician, I sometimes encounter parents who have been led to question the safety of vaccinations. Unfortunately, faulty science along with fear and distrust of the medical system has led to this vaccination “debate” become mainstream. There is no debate. Vaccines are safe, effective, and safe lives. Period.
As a parent, I completely understand the deeply-rooted and instinctual urge to do everything possible to protect your child. Every decision we make as parents can have consequences for our children and every parent wants to keep their children safe and happy. However, there is overwhelming medical evidence proving the safety of vaccines. Unfortunately, a great deal of resources have gone into proving and re-proving the safety of vaccines, thus drawing valuable resources away from developing and improving potentially life-saving research. It is really not a tough decision. Immunizations are the best preventative measures parents can take to protect their children.
As a pediatrician, I have cared for tens of thousands of patients and have ordered tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of vaccinations. Yes, I have had patients who have had rashes, fevers, or fussiness following their vaccines, as one might expect given that all interventions have some expected side effects. However, I have seen zero reactions that have led to any long-term health issues in my patients. Zero!
On the flip side I have seen how dangerous the diseases we vaccinate against can be. I have seen outbreaks of Pertussis in Franklin County. I witnessed community hysteria after a single case of measles came through the Franklin Memorial Emergency Room in 2017. I cared for children who had meningitis as infants and who, as a result, had such severe brain damage that they will never be able to walk or talk. I cried alongside parents as their child took his last breath from a vaccine preventable disease. In an era of great scientific advances, I hope to never do this again.
I know how serious these illnesses can be and that is why I work hard every day to keep these diseases away from my family and my patients. I often pose the following questions to parents who are skeptical of vaccines, “Why do you see me if you do not fully trust me? How can you trust me to treat your child’s pneumonia or ear infection if you don’t trust me on vaccines?”
The World Health Organization has recently ranked vaccine hesitancy — the growing resistance to widely available lifesaving vaccines — as one of the top 10 health threats in the world for 2019. In 2017-2018, Maine had the 7th highest non-medical vaccine exemption rate in the country, at 5.3 percent. Low vaccination rates put Maine children at risk for diseases that are entirely preventable and high community immunity rates are essential for protecting our children.
The good news is that it is possible to reduce the risk of exposing our children to vaccine-preventable diseases. LD798 was drafted as a preventative measure. As written, the bill will continue to allow for medical exemptions for vaccines for patients who are unable to get vaccines due to underlying medical conditions. It simply removes the wording allowing parents to continue to send their children to school as long as they sign that they have a religious or philosophical exemption.
There are some who claim that this bill will exclude children from public education. This is simply not true. In the state of Maine, children who do not attend brick and mortar public schools will still have opportunities to engage in a free and appropriate public education through public virtual schools and academies. If children have a legitimate chronic disease such as cancer or an underlying immunodeficiency, they are still able to attend brick and mortar public schools with a medical exemption. The legislation will help keep these children and our vaccinated population safe when attending school.
There are several important steps that you can take to advance LD798. First, if you are not fully convinced of the safety of vaccinations, I would encourage you to find reliable resources on the topic. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has a wonderful website on vaccine safety which can be found at https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center. You can also talk to your child’s doctor or your own doctor about the safety of vaccines.
Second, you can advocate for vaccines amongst your friends and families, especially those who may question the safety of vaccines. Making sure our community is safe from deadly disease is everyone’s responsibility.
Third, you can add your name to the list of parents who support vaccination on the following website: https://www.mainefamiliesforvaccines.com
Fourth, you can write your legislators and encourage them to follow through on passing the upcoming legislation. Unfortunately the anti-vaccination community is a very vocal minority. We need more input from those who understand the importance of vaccination and to encourage our leaders to act to protect our children.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you can submit written testimony or provide public testimony to the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee.
Public schools must be a safe place to learn for all children and cannot be continually disrupted by disease outbreaks that are preventable. This pediatrician and father is imploring our leaders and community to take action. Ensuring that children are immunized as a condition of school entry is common-sense, constitutional, and critical measure for protecting our great community!
Ryan Whitt, MD
Franklin Health Pediatrics
Resident of Wilton
