Opinion: Anti-vaccine ideology doesn’t just cost lives. It drains pocketbooks.
The decision in January made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent to kneecap our national vaccine schedule — cutting protection against 17 diseases down to 10 — is a dangerous decision that puts anti-vaccine ideology ahead of the well-being of children and families.
Science, experience and common sense tell us that vaccines protect the health of kids. Less discussed is how they protect the finances of families. This is also at risk due to the diminished vaccine schedule.
For example, imagine a four-person family living here in the Bay Area, where both parents are employed. One parent is a nurse and the other, a high school math teacher. They have a 2-year-old boy and 6-month-old girl. After taxes, and using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the parents’ joint income is about $190,000 a year. Their annual cost of living is about $150,000.
What happens to their $40,000 savings if their 6-month-old daughter falls ill with rotavirus?
Before the rotavirus vaccine, 55,000 to 70,000 children were hospitalized annually for the disease. Universal vaccination slashed this number by more than 80%.
Rotavirus strikes suddenly: fever, relentless vomiting and diarrhea set in. Severe dehydration follows, evident in lethargy, dry mouth and lips, doughy skin and weak cries. By the time these parents rush their daughter to the doctor or emergency room, she may be in shock, her body struggling to keep blood flowing to vital organs. Immediate hospitalization — sometimes in a pediatric ICU — is needed for close observation and aggressive rehydration.
It is in these moments that the true financial burden of rotavirus begins to accrue.
The family’s share of their annual health insurance premium is about $7,000. Add to this a deductible of $4,000 a year, an emergency room copay of several hundred dollars, and 20% coinsurance for hospitalizations.
A hospital stay in California costs about $4,700 each day. A pediatric ICU stay could cost up 4 times more than that. After a typical two- or three-day hospital stay for a rotavirus infection, this family will be standing on the edge of a financial cliff. In the best-case scenario (their premium, copay, coinsurance for two hospital days, their deductible), their cost will be nearly $14,000. With a three-day ICU admission, $22,000 – over half of their year’s savings — would evaporate.
What hard choices will these parents have to make to get through the rest of the year?
The financial pain doesn’t end with the hospital bill.
Each or both parents will miss work — first to be at their child’s bedside, then during recovery at home, which may last five more days. Any lost wages compound the burden.
More expenses pile up: oral electrolyte solutions, extra diapers, copays for medicine to ease nausea. Employers are also affected, scrambling to cover absent nurses and teachers. And if their 2-year-old son catches rotavirus from his sister, the ordeal could repeat — more missed workdays, more medical bills, and more financial peril.
Imagine 50,000 to 70,000 children and their families facing this strain each year. All of it is avoidable. Two doses of rotavirus vaccine — given to children at no added cost — preserve what parents want most for their children: money for necessities like food, shelter and clothing, as well as for the joys of childhood — swim lessons, holiday celebrations and birthday parties.
Our children — and our wallets — deserve better than what the government has done to them. By restoring and keeping comprehensive vaccine coverage, we protect not only our kids’ health but also the financial stability and peace of mind of families everywhere.
Dr. Rahul K. Parikh is a pediatrician and writer. He lives in Walnut Creek.