There is a point where all good fantasies need to be put to rest. For example, Bigfoot doesn’t exist; politicians aren’t honest; Justin Bieber isn’t very bright, and vaccines are bad. I don’t care much about most of those, but the poor misguided fools who still support the idea that vaccinating your kids is a bad thing need to get a dose of reality medicine.
As I understand it, the anti-vaccine argument hinges on the idea that vaccines cause a variety of illnesses ranging from autism to autoimmune problems. The only problem with this theory is that there is absolutely no credible evidence that any of it is true. Granted, an individual may have a local reaction to an injection, or even an allergic reaction to one of the components of the vaccine, but no legitimate studies have ever shown a connection of vaccines to chronic health problems. Dr.William Schaffner, a professor, and infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt states, “We have roomfuls of evidence showing that vaccines are some of the safest medications available, but rumors and conspiracy theories still spread.” [1]
Many of these conspiracy theories are propagated by websites that clearly have an agenda or are selling a product. I found several that were promoting “vaccine alternatives” for a tidy sum of cash. Many of these products were homeopathic (which equates to worthless) and provided no scientific backing for their claims. A red flag in almost every site was their reliance on anecdotes and personal stories to propagate their message. While this is engaging and emotionally appealing, it does nothing to establish the truth of their claims.
I agree with many who say we all must take responsibility for our health decisions, but part of that responsibility is researching legitimate science and not listening to pseudo-science propaganda. The number of outright falsehoods and misinformation spewed on some webpages I researched was frightening. Statements like, “Fully vaccinated children are the unhealthiest, most chronically ill children I know”, which appears prominently on one anti-vaccine site, are illustrative of so much illogical reasoning I hesitate to even draw attention to it, but it is a great example of what is wrong with these arguments. First, there is absolutely no documentation to back up this statement. The author bases her opinion on talking to a few of her like-minded friends at playgroup yet uses this conclusion as a foundation for her disdain of vaccines. Second, she falls in the trap of personal testimony as evidence of cause and effect. If I ate Fruit Loops for breakfast yesterday and got hit by a car that afternoon, then I could correctly assert that eating Fruit Loops and car accidents are associated, but one does not cause the other. This is a classic ploy used by the anti-vaccine crowd who assume an association (a vaccine) is the cause of a condition (autism) when in reality no such cause and effect exists (as proven in many studies).
The travesty would not be so bad if the only adverse effect of not getting vaccinated was limited to those who choose that path. Unfortunately, this is not the case for two reasons. First, most vaccines are given to children who must depend on their parent's judgment and therefore they bear the brunt of a disease not prevented, not their parents. I am all for parental rights, but that is intimately tied to parental responsibilities. Second, the population as a whole suffers if a significant number of people aren’t vaccinated. It creates an environment where outbreaks of previously controlled illness (whooping cough, measles, etc) can once again proliferate.
Enough of the negative. What is there to gain from properly vaccinating you and your child? The Centers for Disease Control estimate that vaccines given over the past two decades will prevent 322 million illnesses, 21 million hospitalizations, 732,000 deaths, and save upwards of $295 billion in direct health care expenditures. [2] In an Obamacare world where prevention and cost containment is paramount, the benefits are astounding. The vaccine for HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) is one of the most recent and controversial vaccines. It is extremely effective at preventing infection by the type of HPV associated with cervical cancer. The National Cancer Institute states that “High-risk HPVs cause virtually all cervical cancers”[3], so essentially this is now a preventable disease. 12,000 women a year potentially could avoid the life-threatening agony of cervical cancer if they were vaccinated against this pathogen.
The science is clear: vaccines are safe and effective. Are there isolated instances where a person could have a reaction to the drug, of course. But the evidence is overwhelming that this bastion of modern medical preventive care should be widely and confidently accepted by us all.
