Saint Monica

Vaccinations are one of the greatest public health successes of the last two hundred years. They have eradicated smallpox and massively subdued measles saving millions of lives in the process. Between 1999 and 2005 the annual death rate from measles fell from 873,000 to 345,000 as a result of widespread vaccination. How many people have these diseases killed?

• Smallpox - 300-500 million in the 20th Century alone (source),
• Measles - 150-200 million in the last 150 years (source).

How is it, when considering these figures, that vaccination is still seen in some parts of the world as an evil Western Imperialist intervention? Vaccination against Polio has reduced worldwide instances of the disease from several hundred thousand a year to around a thousand a year but objections by small-minded, ill-educated Nigerian politicians prevented the complete annihilation of this virus (in Nigeria, opponents to the vaccine spread rumours that it was part of a Western conspiracy to sterilise young women - vaccination rates plummeted, infections rose). Most outbreaks today can be traced to Nigeria, where fear of the vaccine is rampant.

The really depressing element is that the people best served by a cheap, eaily administered and virtually risk-free vaccine are those least-likely to get good medical support if they succumb to the virus. Vaccination is really their only option.

Can this sort of thing happen in the UK? It should not, of course, but this story shows just how easy it is for people to abuse their power at the expense of those whose welfare they should be protecting. In this instance, Governors at a Catholic school have prevented the administration of the HPV vaccine on their premises, significantly increasing the chances that some of their students will completely avoid the vaccine and increasing their risk of cervical cancer.

The Head Teacher, Frank McCarron, who has at least some responsibility for the health of his pupils, refused to comment; he should stand up for his pupils in the face of his Governor's ridiculous decision or hand his post to someone who will.

Bury Council also opted to ignore the situation, claiming that "each school has the right to make individual decisions regarding issues such as these". This is wrong; vaccines work best when everybody is treated so the refusal of one group of people to take action weakens the overall effect of the vaccine and directly affects the entire community. 

What next?

• The Governors should reverse their decision and do what they can to help administer the vaccine in as efficient a manner as possible.
• Bury Council should revise their policies to remove from schools the right to veto centrally-approved public health interventions.
• The Government should promote more widely the benefits of vaccination and should close the loop-holes that allow schools to dodge their responsibilities.

For more information, take a look at the Saint Monicas website: link. The front-page links to an article on the Daily Mail's site, suggesting that the Governors are not taking advice from the Government or from health professionals but from tabloid newspapers; very strange, and rather disturbing.