My name is Colleen Morris, registered nurse and Clinic manager at Missoula City-County Health Department- here today in strong opposition of SB 368. I’ve worked in a variety of public health roles over my 17 years as a RN: immunization nurse, home visiting nurse, infectious disease nurse, and as a child care health consultant with our local resource and referral agency, Child Care Resources. When I read this bill, I can visualize with such clarity and certainty the negative impact it would have if passed on each and every area I’ve ever worked in.
It is the charge of public health programs to protect communities from the introduction and spread of communicable diseases – ensuring high vaccination rates is a step toward this goal of preventing disease spread. SB 368 would undermine the hard work being carried out by public health nurses and other experts to promote health and safety in our communities, increasing the burden and workload on our healthcare heroes. This bill would push Montana in the wrong direction – away from evidence-based science and progress, and toward an increased risk of vaccine-preventable disease in our communities.
There are children in Montana who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, including health conditions or allergies, or being too young to receive vaccinations. If such a vulnerable child attends daycare with other children who are unvaccinated because of a parent's choice, the vulnerable child's health is at risk. High vaccination rates are known to result in herd immunity, effectively eliminating vaccine-preventable diseases from our population. Every healthy person who can safely be vaccinated has a duty to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, and protect those who are unable to receive vaccines for medical reasons.
This bill would most directly harm Montana’s children. Immunizations are particularly important for children in daycare settings because children under 5 have the highest age-specific incidence of many vaccine-preventable diseases, and are at high risk of complications from those diseases. Early education and childcare settings also present unique challenges for infection control due to close interpersonal contact, shared toys and other objects, and a limited ability of young children to understand or practice good respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene. Therefore, vaccines are especially important for children of this age group.
It is essential for local public health officials, and those serving in local governments, to have the ability to respond to community members’ concerns. Upon a pertussis scare in our community and the health department receiving multiple complaints regarding safety and sanitation in unregulated drop-in childcare facilities, Missoula’s health board in 2012 adopted regulations for these facilities into our local health code. These standards, including requirements for adequate immunizations, were adopted through an open, public process, involving citizen input and participation. If the will of a community is for immunization requirements to exist for daycares, it is not clear why state law would intervene and hinder that local decision-making.
We all have a duty to protect Montana’s children, especially those who are vulnerable and cannot receive immunizations due to medical reasons or age. This bill would decrease vaccination rates in our communities, introducing unnecessary risk into childcare facilities that we trust and rely on to be safe places for our children. Let’s not go backwards. I urge you to vote ‘no’ on SB 368.
Staff testimony Feb. 26:
ReplyDeleteMr. Chair and members of the committee:
My name is Colleen Morris, registered nurse and Clinic manager at Missoula City-County Health Department- here today in strong opposition of SB 368. I’ve worked in a variety of public health roles over my 17 years as a RN: immunization nurse, home visiting nurse, infectious disease nurse, and as a child care health consultant with our local resource and referral agency, Child Care Resources. When I read this bill, I can visualize with such clarity and certainty the negative impact it would have if passed on each and every area I’ve ever worked in.
It is the charge of public health programs to protect communities from the introduction and spread of communicable diseases – ensuring high vaccination rates is a step toward this goal of preventing disease spread. SB 368 would undermine the hard work being carried out by public health nurses and other experts to promote health and safety in our communities, increasing the burden and workload on our healthcare heroes. This bill would push Montana in the wrong direction – away from evidence-based science and progress, and toward an increased risk of vaccine-preventable disease in our communities.
There are children in Montana who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, including health conditions or allergies, or being too young to receive vaccinations. If such a vulnerable child attends daycare with other children who are unvaccinated because of a parent's choice, the vulnerable child's health is at risk. High vaccination rates are known to result in herd immunity, effectively eliminating vaccine-preventable diseases from our population. Every healthy person who can safely be vaccinated has a duty to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, and protect those who are unable to receive vaccines for medical reasons.
This bill would most directly harm Montana’s children. Immunizations are particularly important for children in daycare settings because children under 5 have the highest age-specific incidence of many vaccine-preventable diseases, and are at high risk of complications from those diseases. Early education and childcare settings also present unique challenges for infection control due to close interpersonal contact, shared toys and other objects, and a limited ability of young children to understand or practice good respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene. Therefore, vaccines are especially important for children of this age group.
It is essential for local public health officials, and those serving in local governments, to have the ability to respond to community members’ concerns. Upon a pertussis scare in our community and the health department receiving multiple complaints regarding safety and sanitation in unregulated drop-in childcare facilities, Missoula’s health board in 2012 adopted regulations for these facilities into our local health code. These standards, including requirements for adequate immunizations, were adopted through an open, public process, involving citizen input and participation. If the will of a community is for immunization requirements to exist for daycares, it is not clear why state law would intervene and hinder that local decision-making.
We all have a duty to protect Montana’s children, especially those who are vulnerable and cannot receive immunizations due to medical reasons or age. This bill would decrease vaccination rates in our communities, introducing unnecessary risk into childcare facilities that we trust and rely on to be safe places for our children. Let’s not go backwards. I urge you to vote ‘no’ on SB 368.
Thank you for your time.
Colleen Morris, RN