Clearing up misconceptions about vaccine safety

Vaccines have reduced the number of deaths and disabilities caused by diseases that were at one time considered incurable, let alone preventable. Even today, vaccine-preventable diseases still account for 1.5 million deaths worldwide.

With vaccination, these unnecessary deaths could have been avoided, yet many parents still harbour doubts about whether their children should be vaccinated.

Their worries include the possibility that their children could have adverse reactions, side effects, or even fall sick because of the vaccine.

There are many controversies surrounding vaccines, with many fanciful claims to confuse parents.

With the millions of doses already given worldwide, vaccines represent a safe and effective means to protect your child from infectious diseases, and even, some cancers (eg hepatitis B, liver cancer, HPV and cervical cancer).

1. Vaccines cause side effects (either immediate of long-term), diseases or death

Vaccines are safe. Some children may have minor symptoms after vaccination, such as a sore arm or mild fever, but adverse effects occur very rarely.

Continuous surveillance carried out by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US shows little or no evidence that the deaths reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) were due to vaccines (CDC continuous surveillance between 1990 and 1992).

2. Giving a child multiple vaccines for different illnesses at once can overburden the immune system

Combination vaccines will not be too much of a burden for children’s immune systems. Research has shown that children’s immune systems are able to cope with even more antigens than those contained in combination vaccines.

3. Some diseases have already disappeared from my country, so why vaccinate my child against it?

Certain diseases are rare in our country due to effective compulsory vaccination.

However, family or friends who travel to countries where these diseases still exist might unknowingly bring these diseases back. Having your child vaccinated helps prevent him/her from catching these diseases.

Vaccine myths and controversies

1. The MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine causes autism and bowel disease

The link between MMR and autism is completely baseless!

In 1998, British researcher Dr Andrew Wakefield published a paper in the medical journal The Lancet, claiming a link between the MMR vaccine and the development of autism and bowel disease.

This paper has since been discredited by many experts as it was based on a small case study with no controls that linked three common conditions, and relied on parental recall and beliefs.

Journalist Brian Deer subsequently showed evidence that Dr Wakefield falsified patients’ medical histories in order to support his claim of discovering a new syndrome.

Following this, 10 of the study’s authors subsequently went on to withdraw their support of the study, and it was also retracted by the editors of The Lancet.

Unfortunately, by the time the article was retracted, the damage had been done, as many parents in the UK decided not to vaccinate their children against MMR. The results were disastrous as it led to a measles outbreak in the UK that caused fatalities.

2. The polio vaccine causes paralysis

Reports of live oral polio vaccines causing vaccine-associated paralytic polio (VAPP) have been going on for many years; but despite the hype, actual occurrences are very, very rare. The Malaysian NIP administers the injected inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), which does not cause VAPP.

Vaccination is a hassle-free and cost-effective method of primary prevention for children. Compared with the risks of vaccinations, the complications of actually suffering vaccine-preventable diseases are much worse.

The bottomline is that vaccination is a simple, safe and effective way of protecting your child and yourself against diseases that can potentially cause serious illnesses, and may sometimes even lead to death.

By vaccinating your child, not only will she be protected, she will also not pass the infection on to other people, children or babies. So if your child has yet to be vaccinated, get it done now! Don’t neglect booster shots either, as they must be completed in order to effectively protect your child.

Datuk Dr Zulkifli Ismail is a consultant paediatrician and paediatric cardiologist. This article is courtesy of Positive Parenting Programme by the Malaysian Paediatric Association, supported by an educational grant from Sanofi Pasteur.

The opinions expressed in the article are the views of the author. For further information, please visit www.mypositiveparenting.org. The information provided is for educational and communication purposes only and it should not be construed as personal medical advice.

Source: The Star/Asia News Network

Category: Wellness and Complementary Therapies