Sometimes, current events can flip upside down in unexpected and disappointing ways.
Of all the editorial board meetings I’ve participated in during a 40-plus-year career in journalism, only a few are seared into my memory banks. One of those was a visit in 2014 by Namala Mkopi, who was head of pediatric hematology in the Oncology Unit of Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
He wanted us to understand what the discovery of a vaccine against rotavirus, and the U.S. government’s help in distributing it, had meant to his country. Rotavirus is a highly infectious virus that causes severe diarrhea and vomiting in children under the age of five, leading to serious dehydration and possible death.
Mkopi described his hospital’s chaotic children’s ward before the vaccine. “You’re talking three children in every bed and on mattresses on the floor. So, it’s full, and many of them end up dead.”
The disease didn’t affect only the children of the poor. Mkopi recalled getting a 3 a.m. phone call from a mother who was desperate for someone to help her child. Not until he met her at the hospital did he realize she was a co-worker, another doctor.
But then Mkopi described his children’s ward since the 2013 introduction of the rotavirus vaccine that became widely available thanks to an international vaccine alliance called GAVI, which was funded in part by the U.S. government.
A miracle?
“One can say it’s a miracle, but it’s simple science,” he told our board. “The vaccine works. We don’t see any more young people in the wards. Sometimes you might go into the ward and there’s no child there at all. In just one year.”
Why am I remembering a meeting held 12 years ago? Because of news accounts this week that report rotavirus is surging in the United States and because doctors warn that parents who refuse to vaccinate their children could ignite a higher surge in years to come.
NBC News cited data from a program administered by Stanford and Emory universities that shows the disease gaining a foothold beginning in January. Infections are increasing particularly in the Western and Midwestern parts of the U.S.
A nation that once helped people like Dr. Mkopi experience the miracle of an empty children’s ward is turning its back on that miracle and taking chances with the health of its own children.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention makes it clear that Tanzania and other developing nations weren’t the only ones to benefit from the vaccine. In the United States it is estimated to have prevented between 40,000 and 50,000 hospitalizations of infants and young children.
Rotavirus has no medicinal cure, other than supportive care and rehydration. The disease may take up to eight days to run its course. The CDC says only 73.8% of American children are vaccinated against it, and the percentage is steadily declining. The vaccine has been shown to protect 9 out of 10 children from severe forms of the disease, while 7 of 10 will be protected from any infection at all.
Utah a measles hot spot
The increase in rotavirus cases is not the only disease surging for lack of vaccinations. The Deseret News has been reporting regularly on the recent outbreak of measles cases in Utah. The New York Times this week reported the state is the nation’s hotspot for the disease, having recorded almost 600 cases so far, with about one-third ending up in emergency rooms with extreme diarrhea and vomiting. Forty-nine patients have been admitted to hospitals. Cases have been reported in 22 of Utah’s 29 counties.
Against this backdrop, many American parents may be confused by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent attempts to change recommended immunization schedules. Among other things, parents would be advised to consult with a doctor before vaccinating against rotavirus. A judge has put these recommendations on hold.
Trade over aid
Meanwhile, the Trump administration wants to reverse America’s role as the leading provider of humanitarian assistance to developing nations, urging nations to sign a declaration calling for “trade over aid,” according to The Washington Post.
I’m not sure how the world flipped this dramatically in 12 short years. But I hate to imagine how Dr. Mkopi would feel about his children’s ward filling up again with kids suffering from preventable diseases, while desperate parents can only hope for the best.