Dear Members and Friends -

If you live in the Boise area or know someone who does, can you make sure they consider going to Gov. Kempthorne on Tuesday and make our concerns known regarding medical experimentation on our children? He needs to know that we are sick and tired of being portrayed as neglectful parents rather than educated ones. We are also tired of Idaho Code 39-4804 not being enforced. Has anyone ever witnessed the enforcement of this statute? The Statute is below:

        Idaho Statutes                                 TITLE  39
                             HEALTH AND SAFETY
                                CHAPTER 48
                               IMMUNIZATION
39-4804.  NOTIFICATION TO PARENT OR GUARDIAN. 

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I am mostly concerned that items 1 and 3 are not being enforced. Please do what you can to notify Governor Kempthorne of our very valid concerns regarding this. Ingri
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Idaho State Journal

Why isn't childhood immunization a higher priority? 04/19/01 Email this story to a friend

Most Idahoans have probably seen those commercials with a child playing in a busy street while the parent chats with a neighbor on the sidewalk. The message: you wouldn't let your children play unattended in the street, why would you not protect them from serious diseases?

Apparently the message hasn't yet gotten across. Despite a concerted public awareness campaign aimed at boosting childhood immunization rates, Idaho ranks dead last in the nation for immunizing children.

According to a Kids Count survey, only 69 percent of Idaho's children are immunized against such diseases as measles and mumps. The national average is 78 percent, according to the second of four reports on "Growing Up Poor in Idaho" being issued by the national children's advocacy group.

Why is immunization so important?

Anyone who is old enough to remember the days when polio struck down young and old, crippling and killing some victims, can attest to what can happen when a disease becomes an epidemic. They'll remember that when the polio vaccine was developed, masses of school children lined up for their shots.

Eventually, polio became a threat of the past; but it came at a high cost. It was a hard lesson to learn. Are we doomed to repeat the lesson because of an apparent lackadaisical approach to child health care?

When Gov. Dirk Kempthorne came into office, he embraced childhood issues, including increasing immunization rates in the state, as part of his Generation of the Child campaign. The state's first lady Patricia Kempthorne has traveled statewide to deliver the message.

And on April 24, on the second floor rotunda of the State Capitol, Gov. Kempthorne will sign a proclamation for Idaho Infant Immunization Month.

Health officials from throughout the state will gather for the signing and to hear a national speaker talk about childhood immunizations. We hope they take the opportunity to sit down together and talk strategy that will help raise Idaho's dismal immunization rates.

Protecting children from harm, including disease, should be a number one priority of everyone.