FRANKFORT, KY – Whooping cough. Measles. Meningitis. Just hearing these words can strike
fear in most any parent or school teacher.
But it’s not just young school children who are at risk. College and university
students can also get communicable diseases says Dr. Patty Swiney, a Kentucky family
physician and mother who testified alongside House Health and Welfare Chair Addia
Wuchner, R-Florence, today in support of Wuchner’s House Bill 147. The bill would
require students to submit proof of immunization against measles, mumps, rubella and
meningococcal disease before enrolling at Kentucky public or private colleges or
universities with residential campuses starting this fall.
HB 147, also sponsored by Rep. Danny Bentley, R-Russell, a pharmacist, passed the
House Health and Welfare Committee and now goes to the House floor for
consideration.
Swiney said college students living in close quarters like dormitories are
susceptible to communicable diseases which are “vaccine-preventable.”
“They live, eat and, we all hope, study in close quarters,” said Swiney, but they
are likely to write off illness symptoms as fatigue from too much studying or
something else. She mentioned an outbreak of measles at Disneyland in 2015 in which
147 people were infected by “a single, non-vaccinated person.”
“Luckily there were no deaths, but a significant number of work and school days were
missed… and all of this was preventable,” said Swiney.
Wuchner, a trained nurse, said HB 147 would exempt students who object to medical
vaccination on religious grounds in a written sworn statement. It would also exempt
students enrolled only in online or other distance-learning classes. Others, she
explained, would have to receive what she called “catch-up” immunizations to protect
themselves and those around them.
“As a nurse, I have strong memories of the first case of meningococcal meningitis
that I ever encountered, and they will stay with you forever,” she said.