Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • 15

THE WORD COURfiflT: Immunization Campaign 'Big Shot' Fires at 'Conquered' Ills ConcernComment BIG BIRD'S 1 ESJV3E STREET CHILD ir.lKUHlZOTIOH Mi CAMPAIGN! us have held for a number of years. Namely, that Hartford has the necessary resources in terms of money and motivated citizens to tackle common problems. "Big Shot" has brought people together from many different interests and backgrounds, across color lines and party lines, from both the public and the private sector, and from different economic levels. It is worthy, and possibly instructive, to note that our childrens' interests, and our interest in their good health, have attracted us to this spirit of cooperation. This process of coming together to solve a problem should be used again and again to tackle many of the other problems that we face on a city, regional and state level.

One of these days we are going to recognize that no matter where we reside our lives are intertwined. If enough people realize this, we could become a "pilot city" for the United States in more ways than one. Pre Schoolers their well-being in terms of prevention rather than in cure. Our experience in these areas quite naturally suggested that the appeal of Sesame Street to parents and children alike could be applied to encouragement of immunization. That's why we created an experimental media campaign and joined up with community groups in Hartford to tackle the problem.

If the campaign succeeds in reaching parents and children, it could serve as a model for other communities across the nation, individually or in conjunction with such programs as the CDC's "Immunization Action Month" next October. Children who live in poverty or whose families do not regard immunization as a high priority are much less likely to get the vaccinations readily available to children who receive private care by pediatricians and family practitioners. As Dr. J. D.

Miller of HEW points out, "the problem is of greatest significance to health workers in the urban environment because the communicable disease burden is heaviest among central city dwellers, the poor and the near poor and especially blacks." The government's statistics are even more alarming when this population is considered. Consider just one set of statistics: in 1963, 84 per cent of the nation's preschoolers were adequately protected against polio with three or more doses of the oral vaccine. By 1974, the percentage had dropped to 63 per cent. Among non-white youngsters in central cities, only 47 per cent were vaccinated. "Because of the high incidence of preventable infectious diseases among central city residents, a rejuvenation of interest in disease prevention is particularly appropriate to their needs," says Dr.

Miller. CAMPAXA DE VACUKACION DE SESAME STREET By SANFORD CLOUD, JR. Hartford Task Force Big Shot' Campaign During the next 12 days Hartford will be the site of an experiment that aims to benefit our young children by immunizing them against polio, whooping cough, measles, rubella, tetanus and diptheria. These are the so-called "conquered" diseases that threaten to strike back even though vaccines exist to protect all of us against them. Studies have found that immunization levels have dropped sharply across the nation and that more than a third of the children in the one-to-four-year old age bracket are not protected against these once common illnesses.

The percentage is even higher nationally among youngsters of low income families who live in large cities. Few of our older residents will ever forget the persistent threat of polio epidemics before the life and body saving oral vaccine was developed less than two decades ago. Many others among us know from personal experience or observation that measles caused encephalitis and deaths; rubella can deform the unborn; mumps can sterilize males; diptheria, tetanus and whooping cough can kill. Thanks to vaccines, these diseases can be prevented. But for a variety of reasons none of them good many people are not being immunized.

There are some 15,000 preschool children in our city. We hope to reach as many of them as we can to "join the Big Shots" and begin the immunization process. At this point we don't know exactly now many children in Hartford don't have protection. But there is a general feeling that the Hartford Health Department has done fairly well in getting young people to have their first shots. This campaign should provide us with a better flow of information on the city's health care delivery system.

Specifically, it will be helpful to find out: How many inner-city residents are not exposed to the health care system How many existing services are not being sufficiently used by Hartford residents, including the children's clinic at the Burgdorf Health Center, the city's three major hospitals and other community health service outlets. And whether it's a case of parents just not knowing what is available or health care professionals not emphasizing various aspects of preventive medicine. The tabulated response of the pub- Since everyone likes cars so much, we're giving away more. 60 of them in our brand new Wheels of Fortune. No more Unprotected We don't know how low the levers of immunization must reach before we arrive at the kind of epidemics that were common before vaccines.

CDC's Dr. Witte says that an epidemic could occur in any of the diseases except tetanus, and has warned about "outbreaks for numbers of years to come." Dr. Louis Z. Cooper of New York's Roosevelt Hospital anticipates numerous "mini-outbreaks" and isolated cases rather than widespread epidemics. For the victims, Cooper says, "it's a 100 per cent tragedy, especially when it's 100 per cent preventable.

And it's everyone's fault: government's for not providing more money and programs; the health care professionals for not pushing preventive medicine; the parents for not knowing or caring." This nation has long led other developed nations in the world in gross national product and general scientific advancement, including medical breakthroughs in disease control and surgical techniques. There is no good reason for us not to employ our skills and our resources to such a basic matter of our existence as the maintenance of our health. We have carelessly accepted communicable diseases as "conquered diseases" and treated them with the attitude that "If we ignore them, they will go away." Our children are the potential victims of this indifference. It has been suggested in another context that we should think of economics in terms of "a preventive pathology instead of a curative pathology." That would be a good approach to health care in this country, too. And it is certainly not only appropriate but imperative in the case of immunizing young children against crippling diseases.

U.S.. Paralytic Polio Cases Year 1954' 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 Number 18,308 3,697 762 106 31 6 U.S. Communicable Disease Center 183, 188 847,957 rim' i i ill llli lliltj ''li'2 'SH' ''''4 ffosfey, Kay 17, 5.3 Million By JOAN GANZ COONEY President, Children's Television Workshop Contrary to popular belief, old diseases don't die. They don't even go away. But in this post-antibiotic and post-vaccine period of our medical history, the myth persists that once perilous infectious diseases are things of the past.

The myth poses the greatest danger to the people in our country who are least able to protect themselves against communicable diseases and who are also most vulnerable to them: our children. An alarming number of young people, especially in large cities, are unnecessarily vulnerable to the crippling diseases of polio, measles, rubella, diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus. All are prevented by vaccines, but the vaccines are not being taken in sufficient quantity. The federal government's Center for Disease Control (CDC) found in a 1974 immunization study that about 5.3 million of nearly 13.2 million children aged one to four are unprotected against these illnesses. An estimated 6 million children in this same age group are not protected against mumps.

Dr. John Witte, who directs the immunization arm of the CDC, attributes the lack of outbreaks of polio partly to the use of vaccines and partly to luck. The health of our children is too important to be left to the vagaries of luck, especially when the vaccines exist. We must "think prevention" by educating parents to the need and availability of immunizations that will protect their children, and by strong community efforts to insure that our health system delivers the vaccines to as many children as possible. To do less would be unconscionable.

At the Children's Television Workshop we have been involved with preschool children, and especially those from lower income urban populations, since the late 1960s when "Sesame Street" was originated. Though our primary thrust has been in education, we became increasingly aware of health problems in the course of researching and producing a series for public television called "Feeling Good," which encouraged people to lead healthier lives and to think about The C.nnrnnt Daily Sunday The Cournnt. Connecticut' day week continue circulation. Thin moani lie to the immunization program should help pinpoint weak spots in the present system. We may find out that people are not taking advantage of existing health services because of a lack of information about what is available, indifference to specific diseases, fear of immunization, general non-awareness, concern over perceived costs, inadequate transportation, language barriers or combinations of these.

"Big Shot" gives us a rare opportunity to understand these problems. Once we isolate them, we should be able to construct vehicles for better education and leading toward constantly improving health services. The immunization effort will also help us establish the effect of a saturation-type campaign aided by the news media, civic, government and business leaders and directed at a specif ic problem. A less tangible but equally important benefit of this campaign is the confirmation of a belief that some of bonus game, colors to match, no more ticket If 55fi2 BE BIG BIRD tickets, V'' HERE'S THE LATEST: Courant Courant boot ollor toven illet hovt been added to those who have the lu dramatic climb in habit of tartlnn every day right by reading thnt thousand of lam- The Courant, A BETTER ADVERTISING INVESTMENT THAN EVER BEFORE! stubs to mail. Just match the 4-digit bonus number, and you've won $250.

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