Vaccination for or against?

After having my first child I was presented with the very important question of whether I was going to vaccinate or not.  My initial reaction to vaccinating my child was in opposition, but I then began to think these medicines are in use for a reason and I should probably know these reasons. Being from a family that was against vaccinating I suddenly was forced to make my own decision on the matter. I wanted to know what the big deal was about vaccinating children. Whenever I would ask my mom what was wrong with vaccines she would always tell me it was because they contained mercury. This might have been true 23 years ago but I thought surely they had removed this ingredient by now. I decided to do some research on the current controversies of vaccination to make an up to date decision on the matter, after all it is my job to protect my baby I needed to know what the best way of doing that would be.

I decided to begin my research by familiarizing myself with the current concerns about vaccines. I chose a text titled “What Your Doctor May Not Tell You about Children’s Vaccinations” By Stephanie Cave M.D., because it seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. Cave begins by explaining that some people are more prone to adverse reactions because of genetic make-up, social environment and medical history. Most of the adverse effects of vaccines are caused by the other ingredients such as aluminum salts benzethonium chloride, ethylene glycol, formaldehyde, gelatin, neomycin, phenol, streptomycin, and thimerosal. “ Since the introduction of mass immunization in the 1950’s there has been an increase in immune system and neurological disorders” (Cave 23). She states “there is much scientists don’t know about how vaccines work on a cellular and molecular level” (23). According to the CDC, FDA, and AAP vaccines are safe and “reflect the best available science”. But the truth is there is very little research on the adverse effects of vaccines because the US government does not recognize that there is any, attributing the reports of adverse effects to coincidence and refusing to fund any studies. I found this information perplexing because, how can they say it is safe without having any scientific evidence to back it up?

I decided to look further into the controversy to gain a little more incite about vaccines. I chose a book titled “The Vaccine Controversy” By Kurt Link M.D. and found the chapter labeled “The Current Controversy in Perspective”. Link began by stating that “vaccines work and are proven by epidemiological studies, clinical trials and the recurrence of a disease when a vaccine is discontinued” (39). He acknowledges that no vaccine works 100% of the time. Link then points out that autism presents itself at the same age children get vaccinated and asks if this is casualty of coincidence? Link points out that currently there are no thimerosal (mercury) containing vaccines available in the US, which is linked to cause autism. He then makes the observation, that parents today do not have to deal with the devastating effects of the diseases these vaccines prevent leaving the vaccine itself open to scrutinization. Link closes with the question, “How many infections or deaths prevented justify a death from a vaccine?” (40). I found myself rethinking my own stand point on vaccines after I read this. Naturally I would not want my child to have an adverse reaction, however I really would not want my child to contract a preventable disease because of the small chance they might have a negative reaction.

I then wanted to find out more about how common adverse reactions were, so did an advanced search using the phrase “frequency of adverse reactions to vaccines”. I then selected a module from the World Health Organization (WHO). I found a comprehensive chart that highlighted the occurrence of adverse reactions are less than 1% of all people vaccinated, and were mostly allergic reactions that were not fatal. I also observed that although the frequency of an adverse reaction might be minute, the correlating loss of confidence in the vaccine causes less people to get the vaccine. This in turn is followed by an outbreak of the disease. So the chance of suffering an adverse reaction is less than the chance you will get struck by lightning, and not getting vaccinated actually contributes to an outbreak, getting vaccinated is looking to the smarter option.

Referring back to the first text, I am left questioning what the government is contributing to the safety of vaccines. I found an article titled “History of Vaccine safety” Published by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). This article highlighted the history and protocol of vaccine safety. In response to a lawsuit against the DTP vaccine in the 1970’s the US congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA). This act coordinates the Department of Health and Human Services, the Center for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration and other organizations to share their research among each other, allowing for better research on the adverse effects of each vaccine. Thorough research is conducted consisting of animal testing, volunteer testing of a few hundred to eventually a few thousand. These studies may take up to 10 years before they are submitted to the FDA for licensing. After the vaccine has been approved and licensed for public use the manufacture must continue to submit samples of each lot to the FDA for testing. In the last 10 years the FDA has only recalled 3 lots due to mislabeling, contamination, and a manufacturing problem. If an adverse reaction is suspected, the CDC and FDA established the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) which is a database dedicated to receiving the adverse effect to be determined as “true” or coincidence. It seems to me the safety of any given vaccine is of the up most importance to the government, according to the CDCs information.

After conducting my own research on the topic of vaccinations, my original opposition has begun to sway more towards the pro side of the argument. I now understand the fears of adverse reactions being life threatening and in some cases crippling. However these cases are very rare and mostly effect people that have preexisting medical conditions. The fear of autism has been laid to rest after the discovery of the removal of mercury from vaccines. Being faced with the thought that my abstaining from vaccination might actually cause more harm than I am avoiding leads me to believe that vaccinating my child is no more dangerous than driving down the street with her in the car. I will still have to give it a little more thought before I rush off to the doctors but now I feel pretty well informed on the safety of vaccines.

 

Works Cited

 

Cave, Stephanie, and Deborah R. Mitchell. What Your Doctor May Not Tell You about Children's Vaccinations. New York: Wellness Central, 2010. Print.

Link, Kurt. "The Current Controversy: In Perspective." The Vaccine Controversy: The History, Use, and Safety of Vaccinations. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005. 38-40. Print.

"World Vaccine Safety in Immunization Programmes." MODULE 1 – Vaccine Safety in Immunization Programmes. World Health Organization, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014. <http://vaccine-safety-training.org/vaccine-safety-in-immunization-programmes.html>.

"History of Vaccine Safety." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 08 Feb. 2011. Web. 12 Oct. 2014.