Mandatory Vaccination Unwarranted In Netherlands Despite Outbreaks.(Brief Article)

2001 APR 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) --

by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Global eradication of poliomyelitis is the only reasonable way to prevent outbreaks among religious groups who refuse the polio vaccine, assert researchers in The Netherlands.

M.A.E. Conyn-Van Spaendonck and colleagues noted that although outbreaks of poliomyelitis have been reported among adherents of the Orthodox Reformed religion, immunity is high enough in the general population that mandatory vaccination cannot be justified.

"Despite a vaccination coverage rate of 97%, several poliomyelitis outbreaks occurred in The Netherlands during the last three decades, all among sociogeographically clustered, unvaccinated persons," reported Conyn-Van Spaendonck et al.

The research team tested 9,274 serum samples from the general population and from unvaccinated Orthodox Reformed adherents for antibodies against poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3 ("Immunity to poliomyelitis in The Netherlands," American Journal of Epidemiology, 2001;153(3):207-214).

Antibody prevalence in the general population was 96.6%, 93.4%, and 89.7% for types 1, 2, and 3, respectively, and antibodies persisted for long periods in people with natural immunity and those who had been vaccinated.

In samples from Orthodox Reformed groups, the antibody prevalence of poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3 was 65.0%, 59.0%, and 68.7%, respectively. The recent outbreaks had clearly affected the antibody profiles of Orthodox Reformed ...