Utah immunization rates rank near the bottom in the nation

Updated: 9/28/2011 7:47 am | Published: 9/27/2011 5:52 pm

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) –Utah ranks 35th in the nation for childhood immunization. 66.7 percent of children, who should be fully immunized by age two, actually are. Health officials say that is leaving Utah kids open to disease.

Dr. Kathryn Gibson, a University of Utah family physician says she is shocked by how many Utah children are not being immunized. "There are so many complications that are real, and documented, from not getting vaccines."

Rich Lake, from the Utah Department of Health says Utah’s low numbers it's partly due to the World Wide Web. "Parents may get on there, and they may not get shots based on information that immunizations could cause autism or diabetes which it does not."

Dr. Gibson says there was only one study that ever linked vaccines to autism and it was not only revoked, but has also been repeatedly disproven. "There’s no link in the scientific literature between autism and MMR or autism and any other vaccines."

Nina Lefau, a Utah mother of four, says she thinks other moms wait because of a false sense of security. "It’s kind of one of those things where people never think anything is going to happen to them, and when you least expect it, something bad happens and then your whole life is upside down."

Her daughter 18-month-old daughter Sialei is up to date on her immunizations. "More and more disease are happening and not just in other countries they are happening here."

Dr. Gibson and Lake agree not immunizing Utah children sets up the community for possible outbreaks. "Immunization our kids is really beneficial for the entire community."

For maximum effectiveness, experts say kids should be immunized by two. Statistics show parents wait until kindergarten when it becomes a school requirement. Three percent opt-out altogether for religious, personal, or health reasons.

Heath officials also believe the economy could be a factor; the State offers has a program to immunize all children at no or low cost if money is an issue. To find out more about that you can visit http://www.immunize-utah.org

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DixieDiva - 10/4/2011 3:01 PM

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Page 11 of the Tripedia vaccine package label lists A U T I S M as a potential adverse reaction in post marketing data. Read it for yourself and then ask your Pediatrician if they still need a "study" to prove a "scientific" link: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/UCM101580.pdf The labels are the only thing one can trust at this point and even then, you still need to verify. Doctors need to be held accountable for misleading people into thinking vaccines are no big deal, just go to the grocery store and get shot up with toxins ... at your own risk.

JenJas - 10/3/2011 10:05 PM

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If vaccines don't cause Autism, then why is the federal government secretly paying out Millions of dollars to families in The Federal Vaccine Compensation program. Over 2200 cases have been awarded since 1986, with over 2.6 Billion dollars paid. Who pays for this....well guess what, you do. Every time you take your child to the pediatrician to get jabbed, you are charged a subtax on your vaccine. That $$ goes to the federal government and is awarded to families who win their cases in Vaccine Court. Because, the federal government, and your pediatrician cannot be sued (Thanks President Reagan). So they have no accountability. Someone commented that vaccines go through extensive testing before they are released. Depends what you call extensive. Four week follow up trials for Measles. Gimme a break, the incubation period can be as long as 3 weeks). This is how they are tested. Look it up if you don't believe me. They take 10 monkeys. Inject the attenuated live virus vaccine (MMR) into their brains. Then a few days later, they sacrifice them. They evaluate the brains specimens for signs of inflammation, live virus, etc. If a monkey dies, they replace it. If more than 20% of the Monkeys die, they can start all over & no reporting of an adverse effect is necessary. Does that sound extensive to you? Heres the best part. When they evaluated the MMR vaccine (The only shot out of 12 vaccines to be studies for a link) to see if their was an association with Autism, they compared children who had all their vaccines/full mercury load vs. those that received only half their vaccines (or less). They never compared these children to unvaccinated children. Would have been easy to do. And surprise, they found no link. Well that's like comparing a 2 pack a day smoker to a 1 pack a day smoker, and saying that theirs no difference in lung cancer rates. These studies were done so poorly, and anybody who takes the time to read them would know this.

JenJas - 10/3/2011 9:44 PM

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Wow. Talk about a physician who has not done her research. Dr. Gibson, you need to quit spending your free time at Drug Rep dinners and start doing some real research. I'm so tired of physicians who don't do the research, and go on TV telling parents that vaccines are completely safe. It's irresponsible. Quit relying on Anderson Cooper and Matt Lauer sound bites, and roll up your sleeves and start reading. I'm a physician myself. True, I'm not a pediatrician or Family practice Doc, but I've read over 50 studies and 15 books to date on vaccine safety, Autism, etc. I'm more well read than your run of the mill Pediatrician, and thats sad. Dr. Gibson, what about studies done at University of Mannitoba, SUNY @ Stoney Brook, University of Pittsburgh, etc. Should I go on, or wait for you to actually read these? They all show a link between neurodevelopemental delay and vaccines. And, hate to break it to you Shout (first commenter), Paul Offit (offit the Prophet) is the last person you should trust. This man is a pharmaceutical puppet. He designs the Rota-virus vaccine. It's pulled from the market because it contains PSV 1 & 2, a pig virus that causes an HIV skin disease in Pigs, but instead of investigating whether or not it can cause the same in children, the Federal Vaccine program, put it back on the market....saying the benefits out weighed the risks. Oh, and Offit, whose on the committee, got to vote for his own vaccine and received an estimated 35 Million dollars from Merk. Sound like a conflict of interest to you? Another bit of misinformation. Wakefields' studies have been documented in over 5 countries. You would know that Doctor Gibson if you would read the literature. We vaccinate more than any country in the world, so naturally our kids should be the healthiest, right? Were 35th in under 5 mortality. Our Autism rates are 1 in 90 (we require twice the vaccines) compared to Sweden, Norway 1 in 1500. What do they know that we don't?

Shout - 9/29/2011 4:13 PM

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You have to know what sources to trust when it comes to information on the web. I recommend you read only what is written by a reliable author, a reliable publisher, and peer reviewed by experts. Read the book: Vaccines and your child by Paul Offit. Also, CDC.gov is wonderful and has facts. Vaccines are studied extensively. They are safe. They are effective. There is absolutely no link between vaccines and autism. Read the facts!

amdachel - 9/27/2011 10:37 PM

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Parents need to educate themselves about the safety ever-expanding vaccine schedule. http://njvaccinationchoice.org/docs/genrescue.pdf See the book, Vaccine Epidemic http://www.amazon.com/Vaccine-Epidemic-Corporate-Coercive-Government/dp/1616082720 and the National Vaccine Information Center http://www.nvic.org/. Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism http://www.ageofautism.com/

amdachel - 9/27/2011 10:37 PM

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Like any medical product, vaccines can have side effects. Dr. Gibson didn't tell us that if a child is damaged by a vaccination, parents can't sue either the doctor or the vaccine maker. They have been protected by federal law. Instead, parents have to go to a special, "Vaccine Court" where they're up against government lawyers defending a government program using government money. Few parents ever get their day in "court." Despite this, the U.S. government has paid out over $2 billion for serious vaccine damage, including death, since 1986. We are now learning that the Court has recognized autism as part of the damage. Recently HDNet TV exposed the fact that while health officials continue to tell us studies show no link, the federal government has paid out millions of dollars for compensation for vaccine injuries that included autism. Seeing these children who were born healthy and were suddenly and dramatically affected by their vaccinations should give us all pause. http://www.ebcala.org/news/video Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism http://www.ageofautism.com/

amdachel - 9/27/2011 10:36 PM

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Dr. Gibson is wrong when she says that only one study has ever connected vaccines to autism. She needs to do her own research. The professional organization, SafeMinds has compiled a number of the studies linking vaccines to autism. http://www.safeminds.org/research/index.html Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism http://www.ageofautism.com/

amdachel - 9/27/2011 10:35 PM

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This very one-sided piece failed to include a single parent who disagrees with the tired mantra that vaccines don't cause autism. Tens of thousands of parents report that their children were born healthy and were developing normally until they received certain routine vaccinations. Suddenly they got sick with things like seizures, bowel disease, and sleep disorders. Many stopped talking and lost learned skills, ending up with an autism diagnosis. Doctors say autism has no known cause. The only thing they're sure of is that their ever-expanding vaccine schedule isn't to blame and they have lots of pharma-funded studies to prove it. Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism http://www.ageofautism.com/

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