From January 1 to August 15, 2019, 1,203 individual cases of measles have been confirmed in 30 states. This is the greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since 1992 and since measles were declared eliminated in 2000, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The majority of cases are among people who were not vaccinated against measles.
With children preparing for the new school year and amidst the highest measles outbreak in over 20 years, the decision to vaccinate or not is on the public mind. Proponents of vaccination argue that vaccines are safe. They point out that illnesses, including rubella, diphtheria, smallpox, polio and whooping cough, are now prevented by vaccination and millions of children’s lives are saved. They contend adverse reactions to vaccines are extremely rare.
Opponents to vaccination say that children’s immune systems can deal with most infections naturally, and that injecting questionable vaccine ingredients into a child may cause side effects, including seizures, paralysis and death. They contend that numerous studies prove that vaccines may trigger problems like autism, ADHD and diabetes.
The number of vaccine-hesitant families has grown so much that the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared vaccine hesitancy a global threat. According a 2016 study in the Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics, reasons expressed by parents for choosing not to vaccinate their children vary widely but can be classified into four overarching categories. These categories are religious reasons, personal beliefs or philosophical reasons, safety concerns, and a desire for more information from healthcare providers.
Safety concerns due to vaccination is potentially one of the most impactful reasons parents choose not to vaccinate. One safety concern is that vaccines may contribute to the development of autism. Dr. Margaret M. Khoury, a pediatric infectious disease specialist of Kaiser Permanente Southern California assures that vaccines are safe. “False claims about vaccine side effects, particularly by online activists, have made some parents concerned about a link between autism and immunizations. Such claims are absolutely not true, as numerous studies have found no link between vaccines and autism. In fact, most side effects from vaccines are minor, if they occur at all,” she said.
The reason some argue that vaccines have adverse effects, such as autism, can be largely attributed to two theories. The first involves a 1998 article published in The Lancet by Dr. Andrew Wakefield, a British surgeon specializing in gastrointestinal disease. In the article, Dr. Wakefield speculated that the Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) vaccine was implicated in the onset of autism. Wakefield‘s theories received widespread media attention and triggered what became an international panic over the use of the MMR vaccine.
The second theory linking vaccines to autism involves a preservative found in vaccines called thimerosal. Thimerosal contains ethyl mercury, an ingredient which was used in vaccines prior to the early 2000’s. Speculation about the effects of thimerosal, fueled in part by cautionary statements issued by reputable organizations about safe and unsafe levels of mercury, has contributed to the possibility that the preservative damages immune systems and neurological functioning.
Proponents of vaccination say vaccines save children’s lives. The American Academy of Pediatrics states that most childhood vaccines are 90-99% effective in preventing disease. The CDC estimated that childhood immunization prevented about 419 million illnesses, 26.8 million hospitalizations, and 936,000 early deaths of children born between 1994 and 2018. The measles vaccine has decreased childhood deaths from measles by 74%, according to the United Nations Foundation campaign, Shot at Life.
Opponents of vaccination say vaccines can cause serious and sometimes fatal side effects. The CDC states that all vaccines carry a risk of a life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. This occurs in one per million children. The CDC also reports that the rotavirus vaccination can cause intussusception, a type of bowel blockage that may require hospitalization, occurring in about one per 20,000 babies in the United States. Long-term seizures, coma, lowered consciousness and permanent brain damage may be associated with the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTaP) and MMR vaccines, though the CDC notes the rarity of the reaction makes it difficult to determine causation. The CDC reports that pneumonia can be caused by the chickenpox vaccine. Also, a "small possibility" exists that the flu vaccine could be associated with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a disorder in which the person’s immune system attacks parts of the peripheral nervous system, in about one or two per million people vaccinated.
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), an organization founded in 1982 by parents of vaccine injured children, says that vaccines may be linked to learning disabilities, asthma, autism, diabetes, chronic inflammation and other disabilities. The co-founder and president of NVIC, Barbara Loe Fisher, witnessed her oldest son suffer from a vaccine injury in 1980 following his fourth DPT shot. This reportedly gave him mild brain damage resulting in learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder.
One reason proponents of vaccination say vaccines work so well is that they grant the community with herd immunity, a term which means that when a "critical portion” of a population is vaccinated against a contagious disease, it is unlikely that an outbreak of the disease will occur. Therefore, most members of the community will be protected. Children and adults who cannot be vaccinated due to age, poor health or other reasons rely on herd immunity to prevent contraction of vaccine-preventable diseases. Proponents of vaccines say that the more vulnerable members of society who cannot get vaccinated will be protected due to herd immunity, but this only works if a significant number of the population is vaccinated.
Those who argue against vaccines say that vaccines contain harmful ingredients. Thimerosal is one of them, but other reportedly harmful ingredients includes aluminum, a chemical which, in excess amounts, can result in neurological harm in the body. Other arguably harmful ingredients found in vaccines include the carcinogen Formaldehyde and the disinfectant Glutaraldehyde.
Making informed decisions is crucial, especially when the health and well-being of one’s children, as well as the population as a whole, is involved. Various arguments persist both in favor and against vaccination. As the new school year approaches and while the worst outbreak of measles in 27 years continues, this hot-button topic is expected to be debated, as it has since the inception of vaccines as early as 1796.