The Facts About Childhood Immunizations

By Ashley Olson

Immunizations (a.k.a. vaccinations or vaccines) are shots that are provided for by health care professionals as preventative measures for many infectious diseases. Immunizations provide the body with a special form of immunity against specific antigens that cause disease. By immunizing the body, these vaccines tell the body what the disease looks like so if it ever comes in to contact with that disease, the body can actively fight against the antigens that are causing the disease. There are vaccines for all types of infectious diseases including, but not limited to: measles, mumps, rubella (German measles), diptheria, tetanus, polio, pertussis (whooping cough), chickenpox, hepatitis A & B, influenza, and the human papillomavirus (HPV). Immunizations can come in two different forms depending on the disease that it is providing immunity against. They are either created with a live but weakened form of the virus or with inactivated bacteria, viruses, or toxoids. The live virus vaccines will provide longer immunity but they are more harmful to people with weakened immune systems, while the inactivated vaccines are much safer for those people with weakened immune systems. Some vaccines require booster shots to keep up the effectiveness of the vaccine, while others, like the chickenpox vaccine, do not.

Today, the majority of vaccines are developed to fight against childhood diseases and therefore are recommended to be administered early on in the child’s life. The first immunizations are recommended as early as two months after birth, while few are administered at birth. “As part of the schedule to be updated on July 1 this year, children under five can expect to receive 13 injections and numerous oral courses, making up a total of 45 vaccine doses.” [i] This is quite a large amount of vaccinations in such a short amount of time for children especially at a very young age. In addition to general safety and disease prevention, public schools all have their own policies on which vaccinations are required for entry in to the school. The major immunizations that are required in most states include a varying number of doses of the diptheria, pertussis, and tetanus vaccine, the polio vaccine, the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, and the chickenpox vaccine.

In addition to the positive aspects of these vaccines, most importantly immunity from infectious diseases, there are also some negative side affects that are caused by some vaccines. The most common side effects include swelling at the site of the injection and/or fever. Some more severe side effects, in which a doctor should be contacted if they occur, include extremely high fever, inconsolable crying, convulsions, shock, and severe allergic (anaphylactic) reaction. No vaccine is 100% safe, but most studies have shown that the risks do not outweigh the main goal of these vaccinations, immunity from disease. For women who are pregnant or who may be pregnant within the month, only inactive virus vaccines should be used, as any live virus vaccine could have adverse effects on the unborn child.

In recent years the preservative, Thimerosal, which is used in many childhood vaccines, has been getting a lot of press concerning the negative affects on children that it and the levels of mercury that it contains may produce. Thimerosal is a mercury containing preservative that has been linked to autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and a delay in speech or language development. To date, there have not been any studies that can link the type of mercury found in thimerosal (ethylmercury) to these diseases, nor has there been any study that can prove that there is no link. Ethylmercury has not been studied enough to know the full affects of it. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), if the ethylmercury found in thimerosal is found to be the same as methylmercury and is compared to the established safe levels of mercury, then the amount of thimerosal found in some childhood vaccines poses no severe risk to children. The problem now is that the multiple vaccines add up in the child’s body, as do the levels of mercury.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated that, “Today, with the exception of some influenza vaccine, none of the vaccines used to protect preschool children against 14 infectious diseases contain thimerosal as a preservative,” [ii] and if they do, it is only a trace amount. Although there are some studies linking thimerosal to autism, many studies have shown that the amount of thimerosal that could build up in a child’s body from childhood immunizations is an insignificant amount and could not overwhelm the child’s body or immune system. Newer reports that have come out of the state of California show a continuing rise in autism even though thimerosal has been banned as a preservative in childhood vaccines. The expansion of education about autism and an enlarged list of symptoms needed to diagnose autism have led to an increase in the rates of autism everywhere. The fact that signs of autism appear at the same time many of these vaccines are administered does not provide enough causal evidence to prove that there is a link.

Since there is not enough concrete research about the effects of thimerosal that could link vaccines to autism and other related diseases, it is of the utmost importance for parents to be fully informed of the issues surrounding immunizations before their children are immunized. More often than not there are little or no side affects from these vaccines, but the fact that there is a possibility is enough to cause concern for parents/guardians and a need for physicians and pharmaceutical companies to inform their patients of all of the risks. Informed consent is a must in this case, as immunizations will affect every child differently and parents and guardians have the right to know what is being put in to their child’s body. So, parents/guardians proceed with caution when it comes to immunizations and be sure to be fully informed of all the pros and cons when it comes to immunizing your children.

Some suggested reading for more information:

• National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) – http://www.909shot.com
• Immigration Action Coalition (IAC) – http://www.immunize.org
• Center for Disease Control and Prevention – http://www.cdc.gov
• Indian Health Service (IHS) – http://www.ihs.gov