Vaccination:  A National Success Story?

By Barbara Behrmann, Ph.D. 

© 2007

All parents want to protect their children from illness, disease and poor health, but what do you do when the advice you receive is full of contradiction and controversy?  Unfortunately, this is precisely the case when it comes to childhood vaccinations. 

A new study appeared recently in JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association with the good news that the number of incidents of most vaccine-preventable diseases is at an all time low.  In addition, those who have been hospitalized or died from vaccine-preventable diseases is also down significantly. 

By comparing historical pre-vaccine data on the U.S. population with contemporary U.S. data, (2006 and 2004) the authors (affiliated with the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases and the Centers for Disease control and Prevention) examined the number of cases, deaths and hospitalizations for 13 vaccine-preventable diseases.  Particularly striking were the data for diphtheria, mumps, pertussis and tetanus – diseases for which vaccination was recommended prior to 1980.  All showed a 92% decline and at least a 99% drop in deaths.  Moreover, smallpox has been eradicated around the world and endemic transmission of polio, measles and rubella viruses have been eliminated in the U.S.  The incidents of vaccine-preventable diseases targeted since 1980 have also dropped by at least 80 percent.

So What’s the Problem?

In light of these dramatic results, why do so many parents struggle with the decision of whether or not to vaccinate their children?

Anti-vaccine advocates assert that while the rates of highly contagious diseases have fallen drastically, the rates at which children are developing autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, and chronic diseases that often affect the brain and immune system  have risen dramatically.

“What does it do to a brand new immune system that has never even battled a cold, has barely battled the dust in their own homes, to have tetanus, pertussis, diptheria, polio, Hib, and hepatits B pumped in, all by the time they are 8 weeks old?” asks Lauren, a psychologist and mother of three unvaccinated children. 

“We vaccinated, but slowly, says Karen, the mother of two boys.  “I’d never vaccinate at birth or in the first year or two. There are too many developmental things happening.” 

Indeed, the list of adverse vaccine reactions parents report may seem almost as scary as the diseases the vaccines are designed to prevent.  They range from immediate and severe (e.g., screaming for hours, staring into space, twitching, restlessness) to a gradual deterioration of overall health with a wide range of symptoms (e.g, constant ear and respiratory infections, an onset of allergies, asthma or rashes, loss of development milestones, extreme fatigue, and more.)  The upshot is too many formerly healthy, intelligent children whose health and personality change drastically after vaccination.

Part of the problem may be the increase in the total number of vaccines children receive and the age at which they are given. As of 2007, the CDC (Center for Disease Control recommends the following: hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b. pneumococcal conjugate, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, influenca, hepatitis A, rotavirus,.  (Source:  http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/spec-grps/infants/downloads/rec-iz-babies.pdf). If that’s not enough, other vaccines are available for special situations. 

Barbara Loe, Fisher, founder of the National Vaccination Information Center (NVIC), a non-profit consumer group, asserts that there have never been any large, prospective long-term studies that compare the long-term health of people who have been vaccinated to those who haven’t been.  “We don’t have the background rates for chronic disease and disability in totally unvaccinated children,” she explains, referring to issues such as learning disabilities, ADHD/ADD, autism, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and other immune and brain disorders.  In short, without methodologically sound scientific studies to address these issues, universal vaccination becomes something of a social and medical experiment.

In addition to criticism concerning this lack of comparative data, criticism also centers around the government’s lack of effort to help people understand the distinction between diseases once considered a part of normal childhood, (diseases people would heal from and then have lifetime immunity -e.g., chicken pox and measles), and diseases that are potentially life threatening (e.g., polio and tetanus).  Contracting an illness as a child creates a life-time immunity, but the duration of immunity from a vaccine remains unclear.  And many diseases are more serious when a teen or adult comes down with them. 

Individuals vs. Society

Nobody wants to go back to an era when parents lived in fear that their children would contract polio, diphtheria, or other contagious, often deadly diseases.  But these diseases are kept at bay only with mass public vaccination.

“We did the vaccinations, on the regular schedule, says Caren, an ecologist with two daughters.  “We decided it was our part of a social contract, since that aspect of public health only works if everyone (or most everyone) goes along.” 

But how binding should the social contract be?  An associated press article, for example, recently reported that school officials in Prince George’s County, Maryland, have threatened parents with 10 days of jail time if they do not vaccinate their children.  It will be up to a judge to determine whether or not the parent’s can receive an exemption for their children.

Unfortunately, when it comes to schools, parents aren’t always empowered to pick and choose the vaccines they want their children to receive.  Parents can file for an exemption (be they for medical, religious, philosophical or conscientious beliefs) but the laws vary greatly from state to state.  A given exemption may be either widely or narrowly interpreted, some exemptions are easier to get than others, and just because an exemption may be theoretically possible doesn’t mean it is easily obtainable.  As it currently stands, the right to informed consent to vaccination is a myth, asserts Loe. 

What to Do?

Like so many other decisions you will make on behalf of your children, only you can decide what’s right.  Here are some things to consider: 

•  Personal and family medial history:  does it include any condition that would put your child at greater risk? 

•  Your child’s health at the time of vaccination.  If he or she is sick, you may want to wait a few weeks.

•  Your child's age.

•  The number and type of vaccinations to be given at the same time.

•  Any previous reaction to vaccines, including subsequent health problems.

•  Your family history.  Have other family members had adverse reactions?  Is there a history of autoimmune or neurological disorders?

Loe, founder of NVIC, reiterates what every other consumer health advocate says – it’s all about information and education.  She sums it up like this:  “Become educated about the risks of infectious diseases and the risks of vaccines and then make an informed decision.”  Take responsibility and don’t just trust a single source of information, she adds.  “Becoming an educated consumer is the number one thing you can do to protect your health and the health of your children.”

Good advice to apply to just about anything.

 Additional Resources and Reading

National Vaccination Information Center (www.nvic.org).  Since its founding in 1982, the organization works to educate parents, ensure informed consent, and advocate on behalf of families. NVIC maintains that the right to informed consent to any medical intervention that carries a risk of injury or death is a human right and that all citizens deserve the legal right to make informed, voluntary vaccination decisions for themselves and their children. 

Two books to consider are:  The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child by Robert W. Sears, M.D., F.A.A.P and What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations by Stephanie Cave, MD, with Deborah Mitchell. Of the two, the Sears book takes a more pro-vaccine position while the Cave and Mitchell book takes a more critical approach.

Reference:  “Historical Comparisons of Morbidity and Mortality for Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in the United States.”  Sandra W. Roush, MT, MPH; Trudy V. Murphy, MD; and the Vaccine-Preventable Disease Table Working Group.  JAMA. 2007;298(18):2155-2163.

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