The Tribune

By JEFFARAH GIBSON

Tribune Features Writer

jgibson@tribunemedia.net

IN KEEPING with its mission to educate parents on their children’s health, local store Sandbox continued with its Family Talks series.

Parents who are seeking answers got them during “Family Talks”, the latest of which featured a lecture and discussion led by Dr Carlos Thomas.

Sandbox’s “Family Talks” is a series of educational and informational sessions designed for busy parents to discuss and learn about a wide range of family related topics.

During the “Family Talk”, Dr Thomas explored the topic of child vaccines.

“One of the most important public health advances over the past few centuries is the development of vaccines,” he said.

“The idea that vaccines prevent illnesses in the future is an old one. I am told that hundreds of years ago, Buddhist monks used to actually drink snake venom. The idea of drinking snake venom was used to try and prevent them from becoming seriously ill if they were bitten in the future. In the late 1700s, a man named Edward Jenner was the first to inject cowpox into someone to try and prevent smallpox. Within two years, we had a smallpox vaccination. One thing that is undeniable in public health history is that many, many diseases that were prevalent in the forties, fifties, are no longer seen across the world in large amounts because of the usefulness of vaccinations.”

Dr Thomas explained that there are two ways to be protected against future exposure to diseases.

“The way I can protect myself from getting chickenpox disease next year, is either by getting chickenpox now, or by getting the vaccination. When the doctor gives a vaccine to your baby, they are giving a medicine made from a small part of the germ into your baby’s body, usually the arm. In response to this, the body makes some proteins called antibodies. These antibodies are used to protect yourself from future exposure.

“I like to use chickenpox as an example. The vaccine has only been around since 1994. When it first came out, it was an optional vaccine in America, so I would say to my patients, ‘There’s a new vaccine out, against chickenpox, do you want it?’ Some would say, ‘yes,’ and others would decline,” he said.

Though vaccines have been proven to be medically significant, Dr Thomas said there has been a contemporary challenge about its usefulness.

“So because we don’t see the diseases, we wonder whether we even need vaccines. Are they still important? There’s a very interesting observation that whenever vaccine rates decline in any community, disease rates start to go up. For example, in 1998 in the UK, there was a report in the media that the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine was a bad idea, that it was causing autism. As a result, in the UK, the vaccine rates declined from the mid-90 percent to maybe a seventy-something percentage. And within a few months, measles was on the rise. So sometimes people ask me, ‘Why are we still giving vaccines? There are no more diseases around.’ Well, when you stop giving them, you start to see the emergence of more diseases,” he said.

One of the biggest concerns, Dr Thomas said about vaccines today, is the link between immunisations and autism.

“As doctors and nurses, we spend a lot of time encouraging parents to have vaccines done on time. In The Bahamas, vaccines are available free of cost at all our community clinics. We start vaccinating as early as two months.

“Let me say something else. From the time you get pregnant, you can start to improve your baby’s health by having a healthy maternal lifestyle, by eating healthily. And because you have been vaccinated in the past, you confer some of antibodies to your baby. Some of these proteins to which you’ve been exposed previously pass through the placenta into the baby. Another thing you can do to strongly enhance your baby’s protection is to breastfeed, which also passes on passive immunities,” he said.

In a meet-and-greet prior to the forum, Dr Thomas shared that his calling was formed at an early age.

“Apparently, I told my family that I wanted to be a doctor when I was six years old,” he said.

The physician moved to The Bahamas in 1991 upon completion of his medical degree. During a four-year internship at PMH, he was initially conflicted about whether to specialise in women’s or children’s health. Then a close colleague remarked upon his unusual rapport with children. Pediatrics requires a unique skill set, the ability to relate well to children as well as their parents. Here, the doctor found his niche.