Vaccines Issues in Australia

In 2015 Australian family (Hughes) suffered a loss when their 4 week old passed away from the whooping cough. The family started a petition to help raise awareness about the vaccines. This awareness wanted to make sure that all pregnant woman are vaccinated in their third trimester to help fight the disease. In Australia there has been 9 confirmed cases of meningococcal disease, which is a life threating bacterial infection of the membrane or blood that lines the spinal cord and brain. This disease is spread by coughing, sneezing, or close contact with someone who is infected. The family had the option to get the meningococcal vaccine for their newborn, but since this vaccine wasn't covered by the National Immunisation Program the cost was $125 and the recommended dosage was 4 doses. Since the cost was too high the Hughes so they refused the vaccine and only received the vaccines that were covered by the NIP.

A lot of parents in Australia are unable to vaccinate their young ones because of the cost. The federal government has still been unable to fund this vaccine in the NIP. This is why this petition was started, to help other families so their young ones won't pass from the whooping cough. Eighty children in a Brunswick North West Primary School gets infected with the chicken pox. The chickenpox started with grade 6 and it went to the grade 2 classes. Kids who were vaccinated still ended up catching the chickenpox, so even with the immunization you can still catch this virus. In Brunswick there is no law stating that your children cannot attend school without being vaccinated. The principal of the school stated that there is a 73.2 percentage of students that weren't vaccinated. In 2015 there was a measles outbreak at Disneyland in Anaheim California. Measles is a respiratory disease which is caused by a virus and is spread throughout the air.

Symptoms which includes a runny nose, coughing, red eyes and sore throats There ended up being 51 cause of the measles in the park. Children under 12 months and people who were unvaccinated were told to stay out of the park until it was safe for them to return. The deputy director of Center of Infectious Diseases stated that the park was safe for people that have been immunized. There were also 9 other cases linked to the Disneyland outbreak in other states, the states included Utah, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and the country of Mexico. In a immigrant community in Minnesota, 51 people gave been sickened with the measles. The patient's has been unvaccinated children. The cause of the parents refusing to vaccinate their children was from an activist named Andrew Wakefield. Wakefield lead the parents to belive that vaccines was causing children to become autistic, which lead Wakefield to lose his medical license for giving the parents false information. Kate Awsumb from The Minnesota Department of Health has been working with the community to clear up the misinformation that they have been given and give them more accurate information. A rare case if the polio disease was reported in Maryland.

Since 2014 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been investigating acute flaccid myelitis, this disease can cause paralization to the arms and the legs. This affects children especially children around the age of four. Five cases of AFM has been reported in the state of Maryland to children under the age of 18. And in Minnesota the Minnesota Department of Health has reported about six cases under the age of ten. The CDC also has reported 62 cases in 22 states. The symptoms of AFM can be similar to West Nile, poliovirus, and adenoviruses, which can be difficult for the doctors to diagnose. Drooping face and eyelids, difficulty eye movement, swallowing and slurred speech are the symptoms for AFM. The severe symptoms of AFM can be troubled breathing and use of a ventilator for muscle weakness. In 2017 one child has died from catching AFM. As of today there is currently no treatment for AFM.

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