The truth about vaccines

For some of us, getting vaccines for our children is just part of raising kids. For others, the issue of vaccination is terrifying. Unfortunately, a great deal of information that parents find in the media, including online, perpetuates myths and fuels our fears.

The basic statistics speak for themselves - the world before vaccines and the world after vaccines are complete opposites. Before vaccines, measles, mumps, rubella, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and even chicken pox had enormous mortality and morbidity:

• Measles: risk of disease: 1 in 2, 000; risk of death: 1 in 3,000
• Mumps: risk of encephalitis: 1 in 300
• Rubella: risk of congenital rubella 1 in 4 pregnancies
• Diphtheria: risk of death 1 in 20
• Tetanus: risk of death 3 in 100
• Pertussis: risk of death 1 in 200, risk of pneumonia 1 in 8, risk of encephalitis 1 in 20

After the development of vaccines, these illnesses have been virtually eliminated in the United States but not worldwide. So, travelers to and from endemic areas can still spread these illnesses to susceptible, unimmunized people.

These vaccines are modified viruses and there have been reports of people contracting the disease from the vaccine itself. What will surprise you is how low that risk really is compared to the above listed risks of contracting these diseases in an unimmunized world:

MMR(measles-mumps-rubella): risk from vaccine encephalitis or allergic reaction – 1 in 1,000,000
DPT (diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus): risk of death – none proven; risk of encephalitis 0-10.5 in 1, 000,000; risk of seizure with full recovery: 1 in 1750; risk of crying with full recovery: 1 in 100

Vaccines are so important for public health that state laws dictate which vaccines children are required to have to enter public school. In Massachusetts, there are only two exceptions for not immunizing your children: medical and religious. A parent being “philosophically” opposed to immunizations is not a recognized reason for not immunizing their children.

The main reasons for parents declining immunizations for their children turn out to be myths.

• Myth: hygiene and better sanitation helped eliminate these diseases even before the shots.
  Reality: these factors helped indirectly but the real dramatic decline in these diseases started with the initiation of routine immunization for all.
• Myth: there are bad vaccine lots that have caused more side effects.
  Reality: not true – no lots have been shown to be defective or harmful.
• Myth: vaccines cause horrible side effects including death.
  Reality: multiple studies have proven that DPT does not cause SIDS; MMR does not cause autism, and Thimerosol is not dangerous.
• Myth: vaccine-preventable diseases have nearly been eliminated from the USA so shots are no longer needed.
  Reality: As discussed above, these diseases are still present and can come into our country via travel placing unimmunized people at risk.
• Myth: giving a child multiple vaccines increases the chance they will have side effects.
  Reality: There is no interaction between vaccines and no increase in side effects by giving child multiple shots at each visit

If you desire more information, start with the American Academy of Pediatrics immunization web site: www.cispimmunize.org. This site has the latest vaccine information including links to the CDC and other national immunizations organizations.

Finally, remember that we are not just immunizing your children but our children as well. We in the medical community would never subject our kids or your kids to anything harmful. We took an Oath that we all take very seriously! Only by working together will we arrive at the day when vaccines may not be needed – we are just not there yet.

© 2005 Pediatrics Now.
All rights reserved. PEDIATRICS NOW is a trademark of Pediatrics Now.

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