MOH warns against Vaccine snub

The Ministry of Health has again cautioned against parents refusing vaccinations for their children as it noted a sharp decline in inoculation against serious childhood diseases, measles, mumps and rubella.

As a two-day child health workshop opened, Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George noted that the main indicators of wellness among infants and children were vaccination coverage rates and incidence of vaccine preventable diseases.

But over the last decade, he said, global vaccination rates had been affected by a more modern threat – vaccine hesitancy that resulted in increasing numbers of people choosing not to vaccinate their children.

The health ministry said it was particularly concerned about declining numbers taking the second dose of the MMR (mumps, measles and rubella) vaccine.

He said that while immunization coverage for children under one-year-old should be over 90 per cent, Barbados recorded a rate of 74 per cent last year.

Much of this reluctance among parents, he explained, was related to misinformation about a rumoured link between the vaccine and the onset of autism.

The Chief Medical Officer said that an expanded programme on immunization, the Ministry would continue to work tirelessly to ensure that all children were fully shielded from the illnesses.

Addressing another modern threat to child health, obesity, Dr George said that work was ongoing on the implementation of a national action plan for childhood obesity prevention and control.

Citing a 2012 World Health Organization study of 26 schools in Barbados, which indicated 31.5 per cent of children were overweight and a 14.4 per cent obese, he said the action plan aimed to reduce this prevalence.

The multi-sectoral plan incorporates five strategic actions – strengthening coordination and management of obesity prevention; strengthening breastfeeding practices; promoting physical activity; developing and implementing dietary, regulatory and fiscal policies; and implementing health-promoting school initiatives.