A North Vancouver dad whose son nearly died after catching chicken pox while he was undergoing treatment for leukemia is urging other North Shore parents to get their kids vaccinated.
Jason Lawson recalled a terrifying 10 days in B.C. Children’s Hopsital when his son Beckett was six, after Beckett became severely ill from the disease.
At the time, Beckett was still receiving a maintenance dose of chemotherapy to kill potential cancer cells. That treatment also suppressed Beckett’s immune system.
When an unvaccinated child at the school passed on chicken pox, the consequences were dire — at one point the virus got into Beckett’s liver and started to do damage, which in some cases can be irreversible.
In the Lawson family’s case, they were fortunate. Beckett received high dosages of anti-viral drugs and managed to make a full recovery.
Today he’s a happy, healthy 10 year-old, into hockey, skiing and biking.
But Beckett’s dad says he thinks it’s important for people to know there can be consequences to not getting children vaccinated.
“It’s a preventable disease,” he said. “You vaccinate your children to protect the community.”
Lawson is speaking out as Vancouver Coastal Health is urging all families of children entering kindergarten to make sure their kids’ vaccinations are up-to-date before school starts in September.
A big part of the reason for doing that is to protect others, like Beckett, said Lawson.
“You never know who’s got cancer, or who’s taking a drug that makes them immuno-compromised.”
Dr. Mark Lysyshyn, medical health officer for the North Shore, said there are a number of people who can’t get vaccines — they may have particular cancers, HIV infection, be taking drugs for rheumatic disease, have allergies or be pregnant. Often, it’s hard to tell who might be at risk until the infection is already passed on. “That’s the problem with many of these diseases,” he said.
Vaccination rates for school-aged children on the North Shore are among the lowest in both the Vancouver Coastal Health region and the province as a whole.
On the North Shore, for instance, only 86.7 per cent of kindergarten students are protected from measles by vaccination, compared to 91.7 per cent for the Vancouver Coastal Health region as a whole.
Lysyshyn said that's concerning, particularly in light of a recent measles outbreak in parts of the Fraser Valley where immunization rates are also low.
Lysyshyn said in order to protect the population as a whole, immunization rates should be over 90 per cent.
While diseases like measles and chicken pox are mild for most children, in some cases they are severe enough to cause lingering health problems, even death.
Lysyshyn said there are different reasons why families may not have their vaccinations up to date. “Some people have the misconception vaccines aren’t safe and effective,” he said. Some oppose them on religious grounds. Still others just don’t manage to squeeze the shots into their busy schedules.
Because impacts of many old diseases aren’t seen anymore, it’s easy to get complacent, said Lawson.
“We haven’t had to deal with things like mass outbreaks of polio that kills whole families,” he said.
Lawson said he’s speaking out to remind families that protecting their friends and neighbours is another good reason to make the effort.
