Tazewell County health officials worry that a growing number of vaccine-deniers could lead to outbreaks of preventable diseases and infant deaths.
The CDC doesn’t record regional data on vaccine coverage. But Tazewell County Director of Clinical Services Angie Phillips says anecdotally, she’s seeing parents, particularly with their first child, refuse vaccinations out of fear.
“Or they’ve got mom or grandma with them, and they’re saying ‘oh, you don’t want to do that to your child today,’" Phillips said. "That has a big impact on new moms that are not real confident with their own parenting skills at that point, and they’re trying to make the best decisions for their child, but they’re getting a lot of peer pressure, too.”
The vaccine for whooping cough, or pertussis, is usually administered when an infant is a few months old because infants are the most likely to die from the virus.
Phillips says she's also fighting fear with facts, as anti-vaccine campaigns get more visibility on social media.
“It’s presented very professionally, it’s presented very well, and it’s presented with a lot of compassion, so, it feels right to the new moms and dads who are reading the information ," Phillips said.
She adds, no scientific evidence supports the claim that vaccines are harmful.
Because of widespread vaccination, the measles virus was declared eliminated in 2000. But the US saw a spike of 667 cases in 2014. A Journal of the American Medicine Association study concluded refusal to vaccinate was to blame for that increase.
The Tazewell County department doesn’t collect data on the number of vaccinations being refused or administered. But surveys from the American Academy of Pediatrics show increases nationally in the number of parents refusing to vaccinate their children.