Childhood vaccination, an important topic that sparks criticism and debate among some parents of

young children, is a vital component to public health and safety. As diseases adapt and medical science
improves, more vaccines are being developed to tackle a wider range of pathogens. Providing more
protection is a good thing, but the increased number of shots leaves some parents skeptical of their
efficacy and concerned about their potential adverse effects.
Before we begin, understanding vaccines takes a little understanding of the scientific and medical
communities themselves. Scientists, researchers, and physicians review each others work, called peerreview publications, to make sure the claims they make are true. Reading about vaccines on the Center
for Disease Control's website, for example, means that you're reading tested and verified fact. It would
be pretty hard to try and hide something there if it wasn't actually true, thanks to a process called the
scientific method.
So, then, what are vaccines? Are they safe?
Vaccines greatly reduce the risk of infection by working with the bodys natural defenses to safely
develop immunity to disease.
CDC Fact Sheet: Understanding How Vaccines Work
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/patient-ed/conversations/downloads/vacsafe-understand-coloroffice.pdf
Imitating an infection, vaccines cause the immune system to generate a defensive response without
initiating the full effects of the illness. However, minor symptoms can be expected as the body builds
an immunity. It's important understand that any medicine can produce reactions in some people, but
with complications ranging from 1-per-100,000 to 1-per-1,000,000 depending on the vaccine(CDC
Fact Sheet: Understanding How Vaccines Work), they prove to be safer than most vitamin supplements,
according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Institute of Medicine, and the World Health
Organization.
In addition to stringent, peer-reviewed and government regulated testing for vaccines before they're
declared safe for use to the public, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is a joint
project of the CDC and the FDA to collect and analyze reports of licensed vaccines in the United
States. Scientists and physicians use this system to determine which events have a causal link to a
vaccine and continually review their safety and effectiveness.
You can't say the same thing for homeopathic remedies!
(Causality assessment of adverse events reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System
(VAERS)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X12014181)
Should children receive all vaccines and are they all really necessary?
Thirty years ago, vaccines protected young children from only seven diseases. Today, we can protect
them from at least 14 dangerous diseases because of medical advances.
Vaccine Safety Facts for Parents
http://www.whyichoose.org/vaccinesafety.html
The fact is, kids are offered more protection from dangerous diseases now than at any previous point in

history. The decline in the incidence of most vaccine-preventable diseases, from the prevaccine era to
today, ranges from 72 to 100 percent. And as the incidence of such diseases has declined, so has the
annual death toll attributable to them. The measles, for example, caused an average of about 450 deaths
a year in the United States between 1956 and 1960. The measles vaccine was introduced in 1963 and
by 1998, only 100 cases with no deaths were reported nationwide. In April 2014, the CDC estimated
that vaccines administered to children born in the past 20 years will prevent more than 700,000 deaths.
(PBS NOVA: A JOURNALISTS GUIDE TO COVERING OUTBREAKS OF VACCINEPREVENTABLE DISEASE )
(http://www.tangledbankstudios.org/sites/default/files/Documents/journalist-guide-disease-outbreakspub.pdf)
As medical advancements continue, children and adults are able to be protected from some typical
diseases to more serious ones, including protection from some forms of cancer like those caused by
Human Papillomavirus or HPV. A proven way to prevent cancer? Who wouldn't want that?!
(CDC HPV Vaccination http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/hpv/)
So even though most dangerous diseases have been wiped out, should parents still vaccinate their kids?
Even with some diseases officially eradicated. the responsibility to vaccinate remains the same.
Pathogens that cause other once-common communicable diseases still exist, and being un-vaccinated
dramatically increases one's risk of infection. If you're un-vaccinated for measles, for example, you
experience a 22-fold greater chance of contracting the disease with the serious consequences remaining
the same. Childhood vaccination is as important now as it has ever been.
(JAMA, Individual and Community Risks of Measles and Pertussis Associated With Personal
Exemptions to Immunization. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=193407)
Vaccines also protect communities, not just individuals. The greater the number of vaccinated
individuals in a community, the greater the protection for people in that community, whether they are
vaccinated or not.
In a community that has reached a threshold level of vaccination (a percentage that varies on a number
of factors), that disease is unable to gain a foothold and spread, even if an occasional case occurs. This
phenomenon is known as herd immunity. For herd immunity to be effective, vaccination rates may
need to be as high as 95 percent, especially for highly infectious diseases like measles. There are some
medically valid reasons for being unvaccinated, such as age or immunocompromised status. But
people may not be fully vaccinated because cost, access, misinformation and personal choice. The
principle of herd immunity shows that the more people there are who choose not to be vaccinated or
fail to be fully vaccinated, the less likely it is that the shield of herd immunity can protect those
medically unable to be vaccinated. Remember, diseases can spread even without displaying any
symptoms. Being fully up to date on your shots can best protect you and everyone else around you.
(PBS NOVA: A JOURNALISTS GUIDE TO COVERING OUTBREAKS OF VACCINEPREVENTABLE DISEASE )
(http://www.tangledbankstudios.org/sites/default/files/Documents/journalist-guide-disease-outbreakspub.pdf)
Even though vaccines are generally safe and prevent major diseases, isn't there a link between vaccines

or their ingredients and autism?

Absolutely not. The supposed link between vaccinations and autism can be traced back to a 1998 paper
published in the British journal, The Lancet. The now-retracted study was conducted on a sample of
only 12 children and has been accused of containing falsified data. Scientists and physicians examined
countless journals, publications, and research documents to deduce with certainty if any link between
vaccines and autism existed. With the original conclusion thoroughly debunked and better
understanding of the disorder, experts agree that autism begins during fetal development as a result of
both genetic and environmental influences-- not due to vaccination. This misinformation continues to
exist, probably due to the speed at which it can be accessed thanks to the internet.
(PBS-NOVA The Autism-Vaccine Myth http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/autism-vaccinemyth.html)
(OXFORD JOURNALS: Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses
http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/48/4/456.full)
(PBS NOVA: A JOURNALISTS GUIDE TO COVERING OUTBREAKS OF VACCINEPREVENTABLE DISEASE )
(http://www.tangledbankstudios.org/sites/default/files/Documents/journalist-guide-disease-outbreakspub.pdf)
The bottom line is, vaccinating your child is the best choice to protect his or her overall health, as well
as protecting the health of those around you. Your primary care provider can give you the most up-todate information on lifestyle choices and when and where to receive the most recent vaccines.
Being on top of your shots is important so we all may depend on herd immunity for additional
protection from diseases. Remember, some people can't get vaccines due to a compromised immune
system and rely on the public to keep up to date on their shots. You can spread a disease and infect a
bystander without knowing it.
(Start rolling source links next to me while I say the following:)
Always check your sources and make sure that thorough research can back up any claims. It's pretty
easy to believe false information on the internet. If it's not from a government publication, scientific or
other medical journal, I'd be wary of any claims that vaccines cause more harm than good.

SOURCES:
CDC Fact Sheet: Understanding How Vaccines Work
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/patient-ed/conversations/downloads/vacsafe-understand-coloroffice.pdf
(Causality assessment of adverse events reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System
(VAERS)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X12014181)
Vaccine Safety Facts for Parents
http://www.whyichoose.org/vaccinesafety.html
(PBS NOVA: A JOURNALISTS GUIDE TO COVERING OUTBREAKS OF VACCINEPREVENTABLE DISEASE )
(http://www.tangledbankstudios.org/sites/default/files/Documents/journalist-guide-disease-outbreakspub.pdf)
(CDC HPV Vaccination http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/hpv/)
(JAMA, Individual and Community Risks of Measles and Pertussis Associated With Personal
Exemptions to Immunization. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=193407)
(PBS-NOVA The Autism-Vaccine Myth http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/autism-vaccinemyth.html)
(OXFORD JOURNALS: Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses
http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/48/4/456.full)