The Growing Anti-Vaccination Movement in Suceava County and Its Impact on Child Immunization

The anti-vaccinist current is gaining ground in Suceava county and the number of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children, including the vaccines from the National Immunization Program, which ensure prevention against tuberculosis, hepatitis B, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, is increasing , rubella and mumps. Through the National Immunization Plan, children are provided with these vaccines free of charge, which are administered according to a predetermined calendar.

The most common reasons that lead parents to refuse to immunize their children are of a religious nature, lack of trust in the quality of vaccines or fear of adverse reactions, maintained by the anti-vaccine movements that expanded and amplified during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The figures regarding the refusal of vaccines administered to babies in the maternity ward immediately after birth, which were communicated to us by the spokesperson of the Suceava Public Health Directorate, Gabriela Băncilă, show that from the beginning of this year until now in Suceava county, recorded 180 refusals for vaccination of newborns against hepatitis B and 130 refusals for BCG vaccination, against tuberculosis, in a number of approximately 4,000 newborns. For the other vaccines, the situation is not yet finalized.

Most cases of vaccination refusal were for children who were born at the maternity hospital of the “Sfântul Ioan cel Nou” Emergency Clinical Hospital in Suceava, which is also the largest in the county. Hospital spokesman Dr. Dan Teodorovici said that since the beginning of the year, 129 children have not been immunized for hepatitis B and 109 children have not been immunized for tuberculosis due to parental refusal, out of a total of 2,626 children born here. Dr. Teodorovici stated that, according to the regulations in force, mothers are asked if they accept the vaccination and there are quite a few who refuse. “They consulted with the family and decided that it is better to refuse the vaccination,” said Dr. Teodorovici.

This, given that in recent years there has been an increase in the number of TB cases in the county: from 170 TB patients on record in August 2021, to 203 patients in August 2022 and 215 patients in August 2023, according to the doctor primary pulmonologist county coordinator of the National Program for prevention, surveillance and control of tuberculosis and other mycobacteriosis, Dr. Mirela Grămada. The doctor also said that, in the last 2 years, “we are facing very serious cases of tuberculosis” and that in the first 6 months of this year, 6 cases of TB were recorded in children.

“Not to vaccinate a child in this day and age, not to protect the child, when the vaccine is given to you for free, then you are a criminal!”

In Romania, vaccinating children is not mandatory, and schools, nurseries and kindergartens do not require the enrollment of children to be vaccinated from the National Immunization Program. Theoretically, to ensure collective immunity, vaccination is a requirement for enrolling in an educational unit, but practically no school or kindergarten director can refuse to enroll an unvaccinated child, nor can he force the family to vaccinate him.

However, when enrolling in a new cycle of education (nursery, kindergarten, preparatory class and 9th grade) parents must present an epidemiological opinion and vaccination record issued by the school doctor or the family doctor, and this because the vaccination it is not only an individual choice but also a public health issue. Vaccinated children cannot infect other children and offer safety to those who are still too young for the vaccine, such as for example for the measles immunization, usually not recommended for children under 12 months.

These vaccination sheets are requested because if outbreaks of disease occur in kindergarten or school, unvaccinated children must stay at home until the outbreak is over, in order to be protected.

In reality, nobody or almost nobody looks at these vaccination records, and in some educational institutions they are not even required anymore. The director of a school in a commune near the municipality of Suceava told us that she did not ask for these documents because the educational unit “does not have an extended program” and no school doctor to deal with such files.

A well-known family doctor from the county, Dr. Florentin Haidamac, confirmed that for schools the vaccination records are just a formality. “They just want to have a piece of paper in hand, no one looks at the vaccination records. Those at the schools should know the vaccination calendar in order to figure out if a student is fully vaccinated, that is, there should be someone competent in this matter, how many schools in the county have a school doctor?”, the doctor asks rhetorically.

Regarding parents’ refusal to vaccinate their children according to the national immunization schedule, Dr. Haidamac was very blunt: “I refuse to enroll parents who do not vaccinate their children. Let them find another doctor, I don’t accept them. I don’t want to be an accessory to murder. Not to vaccinate a child in the current times, with so many risk factors, not to protect the child, when the vaccine is offered to you for free, then you are a criminal and I did not do Medicine to be your accomplice. As for tuberculosis, if the child gets TB, the parents who made the decision not to vaccinate him are to blame.”

The doctor showed that diseases that can be prevented by vaccination are serious and can lead to death and recalled that in 2019, for example, 64 children died of measles. “No investigation was done, but the real criminals are their parents, who refused to vaccinate them,” said Dr. Haidamac, appreciating that if there are as many doctors as possible who will not agree to enroll in their lists of patient parents who refuse to vaccinate their children according to the national immunization program, the situation would be resolved more quickly.

Recommendations for parents of unvaccinated children

It should also be said that parents whose children are not vaccinated for vaccine-preventable diseases should be aware of the early signs and symptoms of these conditions and seek immediate medical help if they notice them in either the child or to a family member.

It is equally important to notify the medical staff at the office, UPU, ambulance if the child has not been vaccinated or fully vaccinated, and this before they come into contact with the child or family members. This information is needed both for the rapid and appropriate treatment of the child, as well as for the prevention of the spread of the disease to other people.

We note that according to the vaccination calendar for 2023, the BCG vaccine against tuberculosis and the anti-hepatitis B vaccine are administered in the maternity ward, in the first 24 hours, up to 2-7 days. The BCG vaccine was discovered in 1920 and remains the only one available against TB. It is given to newborns to prevent more serious forms of the disease. The hexavalent diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-acellular-polio-Haemophilus B-hepatitis B vaccine and the pneumococcal vaccine are given at 2 months, 4 months and 11 months of age at the family doctor. The measles-rubella-urlian (MMR) vaccine is administered at 12 months and at 5-7 years, at the family doctor; tetravalent diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-acellular-polio vaccine – at 6 years old, at the family doctor; the polio vaccine – at 8 years old, at the family doctor; the acellular diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis DTPa vaccine for adults – at 14 years old, at the family doctor.

2023-09-13 06:02:14
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