Immunize All Children or Endanger Everyone

Re “Crying Out on Health Care,” editorial, Aug. 25: The Board of Supervisors has become more mystical and dangerous than Scrooge. It has transformed horrible diseases of the past into potential diseases of the future. Since when has ceasing to immunize so many children against severe communicable diseases been more cost-effective than treating even a few of these morbid diseases in our local hospitals?

And what about the children who might be forced to suffer from these illnesses in our county facilities? I have, in the past, personally attended children in county facilities suffering from polio, tetanus, diphtheria, measles, German measles and other life-threatening--yet preventable--diseases. These illnesses cost these children--and taxpayers--an unbearable and unjust price.

In very recent years I have hospitalized underimmunized children in Los Angeles for measles, chickenpox, whooping cough, Haemophilus influenza type B and pneumococcal infections (including meningitis). These horrific, preventable infections are still present in our community.

What shall I tell the noninsured mother who wants to go to a clinic to protect (immunize) her child? Where do children who then have symptoms of these and other communicable illnesses go for treatment? What sort of future can I envision for all of our underinsured and noninsured children in Los Angeles? And yes, these illnesses can spread to all of our children. As the mass of underimmunized children grows, so does the threat to all our children and all our community. Is my plea too late?

Burton Sokoloff MD

Tarzana