Even if MMR does not cause autism, there are other well-established side effects...
You get no argument from me that parents should have the option of splitting the MMR vaccine. As you posted, side-effects are marginally more likely, but more importantly, a heavy-handed insistence on giving the MMRs all at once plays to the fear mongering of the extreme, anti-vaccine quacks. There is also a risk that the vaccine will be improperly stored or improperly administered. There are cases of infants being given the adult dose or being given the wrong vaccine. As long as humans are fallible, these risks will never be eliminated.
Quite so, and ongoing testing and research for ever safer vaccination techniques is a prudent and necessary endeavor. The benefits of the MMR vaccine to an individual in the U.S. are lower than the risks because mumps, measles and rubella are extremely uncommon (only a few hundred cases per year). Moreover, although these can be serious diseases they are rarely fatal. Yes, I know, the reason the incidence rates are so low is because of the vaccine. But that doesn't change the bottom line reality: an unvaccinated child in the U.S. is extremely unlikely to get any of these three diseases.
That's principally because of herd immunity. If the parents of a million newborns a year were to forego MMR vaccines either together or seperately, we'd see a marked increase in the occurence of those diseases in the next five to 10 years. Parents who don't have their children immunized for measles, mumps, and rubella are irresponsible cheats, as far as I'm concerned. They risk not only the health of their own children, but also the greater community, and especially the unborn should their infectious child come into contact with at pregnant woman. The same agument applies for the Hepatitis B vaccine.
Like you with your first-born, I padded along with my daughter and went the full route with the Hep B vaccine, trusting that the doctors knew best. Since then, however, I've seen little to convince me that the Hep B vaccine is necessary and much to make me skeptical of the motivations for it. Unlike the other diseases targeted by child vaccination programs, Hep B has never been an infectious childhood disease, and I wouldn't authorize it again. This is a pretty good resource...
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QuackwatchSM
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Misconceptions about Immunization
Introduction
Immunizations should be part of routine health care obtained through one's personal physician (or in some instances, through one's local health department). Long-lasting protection is available against measles, mumps, German measles (rubella), poliomyelitis, tetanus (lockjaw), whooping cough (pertussis), diphtheria, chickenpox (varicella), Hemophilus influenzae b (Hib), and hepatitis B. Immunization against all of these is recommended for children by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Practice, and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
All states now require proof of immunization or other evidence of immunity against some of these diseases for admission to school. However, the requirements vary from state to state, and exemptions may be granted for medical, moral, or religious reasons.
Immunization is also important for adults. Those unprotected against any of the above diseases (except whooping cough) should consult their physicians. Tetanus boosters should be administered every ten years. Flu shots (which give only seasonal protection) and immunization against pneumococcal pneumonia are recommended for high-risk patients, elderly individuals, and certain institutional populations.
The success of vaccination programs in the United States and Europe inspired the 20th-century concept of "disease eradication" -- the idea that a selected disease can be eradicated from all human populations through global cooperation. In 1977, after a decade-long campaign involving 33 countries, smallpox was eradicated worldwide. Polio caused by wild virus has been eradicated from the Western Hemisphere; childhood vaccination levels in the United States are at an all-time high; and disease and death from diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) are at or near record lows. In April 1999, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control issued a fact sheet with some interesting statistics about the impact of vaccination on childhood diseases.
- Average annual number of smallpox cases in 1900-1904: 48,164.
United States cases per year since 1950: 0.
Worldwide cases per year since 1977: 0. - Average annual number of diphtheria cases in the U.S. in 1920-1922: 175,885.
U.S. cases in 1998: 1. - Average annual number of pertussis cases in 1922-1925: 147,271.
U.S. cases in 1998: 6,279. - Estimated average annual number of tetanus cases in 1922-1926: 1,314.
U.S. cases in 1998: 34. - Average annual number of paralytic polio cases in 1951-1954: 16,316.
U.S. cases of wild type poliovirus in 1998: 0. - Average annual number of measles cases in 1958-1962: 503,282.
U.S. cases in 1998: 89. - The number of mumps cases in 1968: 152,209.
U.S. cases in 1998: 606. - Average annual number of rubella cases in 1966-1968: 47,745.
U.S. cases in 1998: 345. - Estimated average annual number of cases of congenital rubella syndrome in 1966-1968: 823.
U.S. cases in 1998: 5. - Estimated average annual number of Hib cases before vaccine licensure: 20,000.
U.S. cases in 1998: 54.
Common Misconceptions
At least ten misconceptions can lead parents to question the wisdom of immunizing their children. If you encounter others you would like Quackwatch to address, please contact us.
- Misconception #1: because of better hygiene and sanitation, diseases had already begun to disappear before vaccines were introduced.
- Misconception #2: The majority of people who get the disease have been immunized.
- Misconception #3: There are hot lots of vaccine that have been associated with more adverse events and deaths than others. Parents should find the numbers of these lots and not allow their children to receive vaccines from them.
- Misconception #4: Vaccines cause many harmful side effects, and even death -- and may cause long-term effects we don't even know about.
- Misconception #5: DTP vaccine causes sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
- Misconception #6: Vaccine-preventable diseases have been virtually eliminated from the United States, so there is no need for my child to be vaccinated.
- Misconception #7: Giving a child more than one vaccine at a time increases the risk of harmful side effects and can overload the immune system.
- Misconception #8: There is no good reason to immunize against chickenpox (varicella) because it is a harmless disease
- Misconception #9: Vaccines cause autism.
- Misconception #10. Hepatitis B vaccine causes chronic health problems, including multiple sclerosis.
- Misconception #11. Thimerosal Causes Autism
Opposition by Chiropractors and Naturopaths
Large percentages of chiropractors and naturopaths advise parents not to immunize their children. These actions are irresponsible and can cause serious harm both to patients and to our society as a whole.
For Additional Information
Quackwatch Home Page
This page was revised on April 20, 2002.
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