As your child grows, keeping them healthy has become your daily mission.
You ensure they have nourishing meals, outdoor playtime, and ample rest.
You attend all their well visits too, but you have questions about the vaccines. Are they necessary? Don’t they have serious side effects?
Over time, healthcare has made considerable progress in disease prevention with scientific evidence proving the benefits of vaccination.
Yet, vaccine hesitancy persists.
Let's shine a light on some of the monsters in the closet to help you make an informed decision if you have concerns.
Myths and concerns about vaccines
Monster #1: Vaccines don’t work and have harmful ingredients: Vaccines DO work. They stimulate our immune systems to get ready to fight actual infections. Unfortunately, 5-10% of people don’t have a robust immune response to vaccines and may still become ill. However, there are still benefits for this small group because of herd immunity. This means that because 90-95% of people respond well, fewer sick people are around spreading illness, which is excellent news for the 5-10%. We can’t know who’s who from a simple office visit, so all should be vaccinated. Although vaccines may contain insignificant amounts of potentially toxic ingredients, rest assured that they undergo rigorous testing and gain approval from the CDC to ensure their safety. To learn more about what’s in your vaccine, you can find answers here.
Monster #2: Too many vaccines will overload your baby’s system: Our immune systems are designed to keep us well. Daily, we naturally respond to countless numbers of microorganisms. It is almost impossible to overload a healthy immune system with vaccines beyond its ability to respond.
Monster #3: It’s better for my child to get sick naturally than to get vaccines. They’re too risky: Think on this: A few hundred microorganisms are known to infect humans, but there are only 14 routinely-recommended vaccines. Why? These 14 microorganisms have a significant impact. Consider the effects of one person with measles causing an outbreak affecting thousands. Or the impact of rubella on the pregnant woman and foetus, often causing severe birth defects. These are just a few reasons natural infection is NOT preferable to vaccination.
Monster #4: My child is not at risk of infection: Remember those 14 illnesses? The reason we can even think they are no longer a risk is because of vaccines! We no longer frequently encounter them in many developed and moderately developed countries, but there is still much work to do worldwide. All children should be vaccinated to maintain a low risk of catching a disease.
Monster #5: Vaccines cause autism spectrum disorder: Over the years, false claims proposed that vaccines cause developmental illnesses. These have been debunked. There is no evidence that vaccines cause autism or other developmental illnesses. For more information, check here.
Vaccine side effects
Now about side effects.
Remember, all medications have side effects. For vaccines, the most common ones are pain and redness at the injection site, and fever.
These are usually short-lived, and pain and fever medication quickly helps manage these issues.
More severe complications and allergic reactions must be recognised too but are not frequently seen.
The overall rate of severe reactions to vaccines is about one in every one to two million injections.
It is essential to know the risks of vaccines but remember, overall, the benefits far outweigh them.
As you plan your child’s vaccination journey, don’t be frightened of the monsters in the closet.
Reach out to your paediatrician - they’ll be happy to help clear up the facts vs fiction.