As Polio Survivor, Cohen’s Stresses Importance of Vaccinations at Latest “Building a Healthier Memphis” Wellness Event

[MEMPHIS, TN] – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus, this morning hosted the fourth event in his “Building a Healthier Memphis” series on wellness in the Ninth District at Church Health Center Wellness and highlighted the strong positive impact vaccinations can have on both public health and health of Memphis children, using his own personal experience as a polio survivor to drive the point home. Today’s event featured a broader discussion of vaccinations that helped dispel myths about their safety, and it also provided information for Ninth District citizens on how they can take advantage of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act to keep themselves, their families, and their communities healthy.

“As a polio survivor, I know first-hand what can happen when children aren’t vaccinated and physicians and health professionals agree there is no danger in vaccines—they simply do not cause autism,” said Congressman Cohen. “Medical research has led to vaccines which made it possible for us to eradicate smallpox, saving 5 million lives each year, and to very nearly end polio and several other illnesses. Vaccines have prevented nearly half a million disease diagnoses in Tennessee over the last decade, the hospitalization of an estimated 1 in 4 children and the death of roughly 1 in every 100 children. These are real results, not unsubstantiated or discredited reports like those arguing against vaccination. Every Memphian should ensure their children receive appropriate vaccinations, especially now that President Obama’s Affordable Care Act is making them more accessible than ever before, both for the health of the child and their classmates’ safety.”

A study frequently cited by those who choose not to vaccinate their children war authored by a doctor who has since had his medical license revoked, involved only a dozen people, has been disproved by countless other studies, focused on a chemical that is no longer used in vaccines, and has since been retracted by its publisher.

Congressman Cohen is a leading voice in the U.S. House of Representatives for supporting our nation’s research institutions and has long fought to reverse the devastating budget cuts of sequestration has had on biomedical research in America, especially on research funded and conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In the 113th Congress, he led a coalition of nearly 50 U.S. Representatives in urging the reversal of a decade-long slide in support for the NIH and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that has left our nation less prepared to stop the spread of viral diseases and without cures or vaccines for some of the most deadly illnesses. The Congressman also introduced the Research First Act to increase NIH funding for research by more than $1.5 billion, after that funding had been cut by sequestration.

“The National Institutes of Health are another department of defense that protects us from deadly diseases and illnesses,” said Congressman Cohen. “The likelihood of any one of us dying from a terrorist attack or weapon fired by a rogue nation is very slim, but the odds of suffering from disease are much more likely. While we more than adequately fund the Department of Defense, we have significantly cut funding for the NIH and for biomedical research, preventing critically important research for cures and treatments for diseases like Alzheimer’s, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, stroke, cancer, and Parkinson’s. We should modernize the NIH, restore the devastating cuts made by sequestration, and propel the next generation of effective cures and treatments. I will continue my efforts in Congress to ensure that we adequately fund biomedical research through the NIH.”

Church Health Center Senior Director of Integrated Health Programs Jenny Bartlett-Prescott moderated today’s panel discussion and said: “Herd immunity only works when everybody who can take the vaccine does take it.” Participants in the panel included:

• Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09)
• Dr. Helen Morrow, Shelby County Health Department, who said: “Vaccines are one of the greatest accomplishments for public health. Their use has prevented untold illness and deaths. We must continue to appreciate the personal and community benefits of vaccines and not be seduced into ignorance and complacency regarding those benefits.”
• Dr. Joanne P. Watson, MD, Church Health Center, who said: “The flu vaccine does not cause the flu. More people die of the flu each year than HIV.”
• Dr. Ken Robertson, Chief Medical Officer of LeBonheur Pediatrics, who said: “Health care providers have not seen a lot of the diseases for which there are vaccines. When babies don't get vaccinated and then get sick with these diseases, it puts the baby at risk, their families at risk and the other patients who are being treated for other illnesses at risk.”
• Dr. Elaine Tuomanen, Chair of Infectious Diseases and Director of Children's Infection Defense Center at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, who said: “As long as there are new emerging diseases, there will be new vaccines needed, especially to protect the vulnerable kids being treated for cancer.”