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My medical training didn't prepare me for this moment.
I grew up in Warren County, Pa., but now live in Buffalo and work as a hospitalist, meaning If you become a patient at the hospital and have to stay overnight or are not going straight to surgery, I am often one of the doctors taking care of you.
I recently went to speak at a conference in Lancaster, Pa., at the center of the current largest U.S. outbreak of measles, which claimed its sixth death this past week. As I prepared for that trip, I found myself pondering how to reduce my exposure.
I worried, not for myself, but for my beloved (and fully vaccinated) toddler and aging parents who love to visit their grandchild. Current vaccine guidance says my childhood vaccines likely protect me, but immunity is not always perfect, and I was headed to a high-risk area. Should I repeat my vaccination?
If you had told me in medical school (11 years ago) that I would have to plan for patients with vaccine-preventable diseases which had previously been almost completely eliminated in the United States, I would not have believed you.
I have previously written about the importance of COVID and flu vaccinations. Now I must discuss the childhood vaccination schedule as well, as people in prominent positions of leadership continue to undermine evidence and diminish the confidence people once had in vaccines.
We see real-time consequences as outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases appear across the country. They are not caused by immigrant communities, undocumented or otherwise (as one myth claims), but by American communities where vaccinations have decreased. I was glad to see several Warren-area medical professionals (including my father, a now-retired pediatrician) sign a statement encouraging vaccinations and emphasizing their importance in public health.
Some people have claimed that doctors are not taught about vaccines, which is false. We all experience a pediatrics rotation, learn about diseases vaccines prevent, and study basics of vaccine components. Still, over the past six years I have looked at vaccine inserts and ingredients with much greater scrutiny, to explain them better to people via social media and to understand what my family and I receive. I am grateful for the plethora of vaccine and disease research making that work possible.
Yet my medical training did not anticipate this. So I think about the toddler here and his grandparents in Warren, and how vaccines help us protect ourselves and also protect the vulnerable around us.
As the leaves change and people gather:
1. Talk to your child's doctor about vaccines according to the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommended schedule.
2. Talk to your own primary care provider about vaccines and their (usually rare and mild) side effects; not just COVID-19 and influenza, but pneumonia (if over 50) and childhood vaccines if you missed any.
COVID, flu, and more are rising in many places, including Warren County. More than ever, we must look out for each other and that includes getting vaccinated.
Dr. Joseph Thomas is a Clarence Center resident.