Whooping Cough & Pertussis Are Not Infections of the Past

There's a vast chasm of misunderstanding between screening for medical conditions and preventing said conditions.  In fact, screening is really secondary prevention while vaccinations are true primary prevention.  The latter focuses on preventing the onset of the condition while the former focuses on detecting the condition early enough in it's manifestation to prevent illness.

I mention this because sound bites are focused on the former rather than the latter.  Worse, there is a small but growing segment of the population that doesn't believe in primary prevention in the form of vaccinations, at least not as currently scheduled by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.  Admittedly the science is way above my head, but at least there's science.  On the other hand, those against immunization point to the fact that these illnesses are very rare these days, so that the benefit is exceeded by the small but real risk.

Unfortunately, once the number of immunized drops below a certain threshold, it's quite easy for any illness to jump from unvaccinated person to unvaccinated person.  Witness the whooping cough or pertussis epidemic that is currently Washington state.  And have we so quickly forgotten about California's debacle just a few years ago?

In an offbeat way, this epidemic due to poor immunization rates reminds me of Martin Niemoller's famous quotation:

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Let's not wait for another outbreak, much less another death.  Let's get vaccinated.

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