Running head: REVIEW OF VACCINES EFFICACY AND SAFENESS 1

Review of Vaccines Efficacy and Safeness

Rebeca A. Garcia Vazquez

Kayla E. Fabela

Nicole O. Matos

Brenda V. Aguilar

Adan E. Valdez

Jonathan Rocha

The University of Texas at El Paso

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Abstract

Vaccines have been a topic of discussion in recent years due to the believe that they cause

diseases. This belief lead parents to stop vaccinating their children and outbreaks of illnesses

like measles started happening. In this paper, we will discuss if vaccines actually go through

enough safety tests in order to avoid side effects and keep protecting humans from lethal

diseases. Even though side effects are said to be mild, people, especially children can go

through discomfort, swelling, redness and fever. It is also evaluated the consequences of not

vaccinating children. It is proven that there are many consequences of avoiding vaccinations

since children’s immunological system are more vulnerable than adults. Therefore, they are

susceptible to the disease and more likely to suffer. Related articles from primary and

secondary sources are consulted in this paper to give a better understanding of the safety,

reliability, and efficiency of vaccines.

Keywords: vaccines, disease, outbreaks, autism

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Review of Vaccines Efficacy and Safeness

A vaccine is a substance used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide

immunity against one or several diseases, prepared from the causative agent of a disease, its

products, or a synthetic substitute, treated to act as an antigen without inducing the disease.

Over the recent years, more people have become skeptical of vaccines and the “side effects”

that come along with them. It is not infrequent to hear arguments against vaccines saying

that they are dangerous, and can cause “autism”, or other fatal side effects. These accusations

against vaccines are exactly what causes people to stay away from them. This debate has

become so prevalent in society that it raises another debate of whether vaccines should be

mandatory in the country or not. Lower vaccination rates within the United States have

reversed decades of scientific progress toward eliminating diseases. Though this is a debate

everyone in this country has, we will narrow down our research to the city of El Paso. In our

essay, we will answer a series of questions that allow us to explore consequences our society

faces with and without vaccinations.

1. Is there enough safety testing with vaccines?

2. What have been the consequences of avoiding vaccinations?

3. Is natural immunity better than vaccine acquired immunity?

Literature Review

First, to talk about vaccination safety and its implications in human health requires to

analyze a large set of factors. For example, it is necessary to know how the immune system

functions, and what happens when the immune system is not sufficient to control an infection

ongoing in the human body. Also, it is important to address pharmacology and how drugs

interact with human body cells, and microbiology to better understand: Why is it that some

microorganisms infect humans and cause fatalities?

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Although vaccinations have achieved to protect humans from diseases that would kill

large amounts of the population, there is still an ongoing fear of the side effects that vaccines

can have on people, especially children. In a study conducted by Gidengil, Chen, Parker,

Nowak and Matthews (2019), “some parents remain hesitant to vaccinate their children,

which has led to outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases” (p. 6793). ]Gidengil et al.,

(2019), found out the reasons why most parents don’t want to vaccinate their children was

due to the belief that vaccines cause disease. Some other reasons include: natural immunity is

more effective, religious beliefs, conspiracy theories, herd immunity, and the idea that

vaccines should be elective procedures not mandated.

Second, it is somewhat controversial to clarify if vaccination rates are being successful in

the communities or not. A study by Kimmel, Burss and Zimmerman (2003) addresses how

the vaccination rates in the year 2000 increased for vaccines like hepatitis B, but decreased

for vaccines like diphtheriae from 78% to 76% . Kimmel et al. (2003) further explained how

it is not only misinformation that prevents vaccination for children, but there are other

barriers like costs of vaccines and lack of medical awareness that cause the rates of

vaccination to diminish.

Not vaccinating children, despite what “anti-vaxx” people can say, showed important

repercussions in the health field. A study by Ziv (2015), pointed out how an outbreak of

measles that started in Southern California, has spread to 17 states, proving that the lack of

vaccination actually has serious consequences. From a study done in 1998, there is a graph

that correlated what happens when vaccination rates fall below a certain percentage causing

an outbreak. This can be appreciated in Figure 1 below, from the study of Chen & Hibbs, B.

(1998). Figure 1 is a line graph explaining correlation to the question “What have been the

consequences of avoiding vaccinations?” The lines represent the correlation between vaccine

coverage and the disease as it matures. As vaccine coverage increases, the amount of
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outbreaks decrease. When there is a loss of confidence, the vaccine coverage declines

resulting in an outbreak.

For the people that are still hesitant in knowing if vaccines are actually safe or not,

Autran, B., Asturias, E.J., Evans, S., Hartigan-Go, K., Hussey, G., John, J., Lambert, P., Law,

B., Midthun, K., Nohynek, H., Salmaso, S., Smith, P.G., Zuber, P.L. F., Bentsi-Enchill, A.,

Caric, A., Pfeifer, D., Duclos, P., & Wood, D. (2009), gave insight on the creation of an

organization in 1994 whose mission is to test and prove vaccine safety called: The Global

Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS). This can help give some relief to parents

that are concerned about vaccination safety in knowing that there is an institution solely

devoted to test vaccine safety.

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More importantly, talking specifically about safety vaccinations and the concern that

most parents have: do they provoke diseases or not? It is not easy and cannot be answered

only saying yes or no as research shows dividing results. For example, a study from Geier et

al., (2017) demonstrated an increased risk of atypical autism diagnosis in kids who were

vaccinated at the ages of one, two and six months of life with a vaccine containing higher

doses of mercury than the kids who were not vaccinated with this type of vaccine. On the

other hand, a study tested the efficacy of pertussis vaccine on children and found that the

biggest side effects were swelling and induration of the injected area, crying, and sometimes

fever. Other than that, the vaccine was successful against the disease (Jefferson, Rudin &

DiPietrantonj, 2003). Yes, vaccines may yield minor side effects, but the protection they

provide individually and to us as a society is a greater advantage.

The Truth About Vaccines

The research conducted, called “The Truth About Vaccines” was an interview in which

the researchers hoped to gain perspective on the risks involved with vaccines and the

community of El Paso. In addition, they intended to gain insight into the benefits and

disadvantages of natural immunity versus vaccine acquired immunity.

The research was limited to the community of El Paso, and the interview was

confined to a professional within this scope. The questions were formulated based on the

previously obtained information in order to gain more depth in our findings. They were

mainly focused on medical opinions with fact-based evidence. M.D. Brenda S. Luna is

currently at The University of Texas at El Paso conducting research in the “Molecular

Antiparasitic Therapy Laboratory”. She has 6 years of experience in her area, and helped us

answer the questions via email. The results from the interview are tabulated below in Table 1

and 2.
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Vaccine Risks and Benefits

Advantages Disadvantages

● The human body develops antibodies ● Limited testing to ensure complete

to fight the specific disease. safety.

● Eliminated diseases. ● They include common mild side

● Prevent diseases from spreading to effects: discomfort, swelling or

people with weakened immune redness at the injection site, fever,

systems. e.g. (Infants and children, skin rashes, and pain.

elderly, and patients with chronic ● Serious side effects include: allergic

illnesses) reactions and life threatening

seizures.

Table 1. A comparison of the risks and benefits to the question “Do we have enough safety

testing with vaccines?” The answers represent M.D. Luna’s expertise and knowledge on the

subject. (B. Luna, personal communication, October 29, 2019).

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Natural Immunity VS. Vaccine Immunity

Natural Immunity Vaccine Immunity

● Takes single infection to acquire ● Requires two doses to be protected

immunity. from the specific disease.

● Infectious agents in some diseases ● Allow the human body to develop

cannot be eradicated by natural antibodies to fight that specific

immunity. disease.

● More susceptible to disease. ● Helps create “herd” immunity, to

protect those who cannot protect

themselves. No contracting the

disease, therefore, no spreading it.

Table 2. Comparing natural immunity to vaccine immunity to the question “Is natural

immunity better than vaccine acquired immunity?”. (B. Luna, personal communication,

October 29, 2019).

Although the results of “The Truth About Vaccines” are limited, they do agree with

what our remaining sources say. Both natural and acquired immunity present advantages and

disadvantages, but they both complement each other. Vaccine-preventable diseases require

strong antibodies that are immune system cannot develop unless given a vaccine. With

continuous trends of decreasing vaccination rates, vaccine-preventable diseases will continue

to resurface and spread.

Vaccines are a fundamental part of preventative medicine because without them, there

could be many complications to people's health. Children, elderly, and those with chronic

illnesses are critical groups because they have immune systems that are not strong enough to
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fight off diseases. These groups rely on something called “herd immunity,” a concept in

which the majority of society that are healthy and vaccinated, confers protection to the non-

vaccinated. The elder people suffer the most, since their immune system decreases their

percentage of efficiency to protect the body. At this age, diseases have no brakes, it is very

easy to get infected and this can lead to many complications. According to a study done by

Weinberger, B., Herndler-Brandstetter, D., Schwanninger, A., Weiskopf, D., & Grubeck-

Loebenstein, B., (2008)., stated that vaccines are an extra boost to help the immune system

protect the body.

Conclusion

There have been many disagreements and misconceptions about vaccines. It is clear

that if vaccination rates continue to decrease diseases are going to continue to resurface.

Apart from smallpox, many other diseases are still active in different parts of the world.

Through research, it has become evident that vaccines are there to protect society from

epidemics. Not utilizing vaccinations have serious consequences, like those in the past.

Vaccines are not just for today. Vaccines help protect surrounding people and the future

people that will live in the areas that are currently inhabited. They are also extremely useful

for those who might be vulnerable to certain diseases. They eradicate diseases that would

have once been spread. What would happen if vaccinations were not utilized? The world

might soon find itself battling epidemics of diseases one might have thought had been

conquered decades ago. On the other hand, it is important to take into account the side effects

that some vaccines may have. It is of relevance to know when it is or is not appropriate for

someone to be vaccinated. To have this knowledge, one would need to obtain their

information from a reliable source and professionals dedicated in this medical area. This
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information would not be useful if only obtained through internet research or self-proclaimed

scientists.
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References

Autran, B., Asturias, E.J., Evans, S., Hartigan-Go, K., Hussey, G., John, J., Lambert,

P., Law, B., Midthun, K., Nohynek, H., Salmaso, S., Smith, P.G., Zuber, P.L.

F., Bentsi-Enchill, A., Caric, A., Pfeifer, D., Duclos, P., & Wood, D. (2009).

Global Safety of Vaccines: strengthening systems for monitoring,

management, and the role of GACVS, Expert Review of Vaccines, (8-6). 705-

716, Retrieved from DOI:10.1586/erv.09.40

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1586/erv.09.40?journalCode=ierv20

Chen, R.T., & Hibbs, B., (1998) Vaccine Safety: current and future challenges.

Pediatric Annals, (27). 445-455, Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/13606702

_Vaccine_Safety_Current_and_Future_Challenges

Gidengil, C., Chen, C., Parker, A.M., Nowak, S., & Matthews, L. (2019). Beliefs

Around Childhood Vaccines in the United States: A Systematic Review:

Vaccine, 37 (45). 6793-6802. Retrieved from

https://doi.org/10.10.16/j.vaccines.2019.08.068

Jefferson, T., Rudin, M., & DiPietrantonj, C. (2003). Systematic review of the effects

of pertussis vaccines in children. Vaccine, 21, (17-18),2003-2014. Retrieved

from https://doi.org/10.1016/S0264-410X(02)00770-3

Kimmel, S. R., Burns, I. T., & Zimmerman, R. K. (2003). Addressing Immunization

Barriers, Benefits, and Risks. Journal of Family Practice, (52), 47-55.

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Weinberger, B., Herndler-Brandstetter, D., Schwanninger, A., Weiskopf, D., &

Grubeck-Loebenstein, B., (2008). Biology of Immune Responses to Vaccines in

Elderly Persons. Clinical Infectious Diseases, (46). 1078-1084. Retrieved from

https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/46/7/1078/291620

Ziv, S. (2015). A Deadly Shot in the Dark. Newsweek Global, (7), 12-15. Retrieved

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