Vaccines, also known as immunizations, are important for your baby. Vaccines will help your baby avoid future infections and diseases by building immunity. As part of routine childhood healthcare, you will take your baby to a health care provider for vaccines at select time points in your baby’s lifetime.
You may have heard other parents express worries about the safety of vaccines. Fears about the safety of vaccines are completely understandable, however, the biggest fears about vaccines are not based on facts and evidence.
Here are some facts about vaccines that should help you feel more confident in your decision to follow health care provider and national health guidelines about vaccines for your baby:
Fact #1 – Vaccination is the safest way to protect against certain diseases.
Vaccines produce an immune response similar to what is produced by the natural infection. It does not produce the risks of death or disability caused by certain diseases.
Fact #2 – Combined vaccines are safe and beneficial.
Giving vaccines at the same time adds no harmful effect on a child’s immune system. It lessens discomfort for the child. It also saves time and money. Children are exposed to more of an immune response from a common cold than they are from combined vaccines.
Fact #3 – It is always best to get vaccinated. This is true, even when you think the risk of infection is low, because if we stop vaccinations, deadly diseases will return.
Deadly diseases that seem to have been removed can come back when vaccination rates drop. By making sure each person gets vaccinated, we can decrease the presence of vaccine-preventable diseases. We all have a duty to do what we can to stop the spread of diseases. Even with better hygiene, clean living, and access to safe water, infections still spread. When people are not vaccinated, infectious diseases that have become rare can quickly rise again.
Fact #4 – There is no past or present link between vaccines and developmental disorders or disabilities.
There is no scientific proof to linking vaccination to developmental disorders or disabilities. The most common reaction to a vaccine is slight redness or a soreness that goes away in a few days without any complications. You may have heard that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine or other vaccines cause developmental disorders, like autism. This rumor started with a single study in 1998 that was quickly found to have false data. The study was removed by the journal that published it and the researcher was stripped of his medical license.
Fact #5 – A vaccine causing disease would be extremely unlikely.
Most vaccines are made from inactivated parts of a virus or bacteria. It is not possible to get the disease from the vaccine. Some vaccines can cause mild symptoms like those of the disease they protect against. But, a common mistake is that these symptoms signal infection. If there are symptoms, it is the body’s appropriate immune response to the vaccine, not the disease.
Here is a link to the CDC’s website about vaccines for children: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/index.html
References:
F Bustreo. Embrace the facts about vaccines, not the myths. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/embrace-the-facts-about-vaccines-not-the-myths
T Pongdee. Vaccines: The myths and the facts. American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology. https://www.aaaai.org/conditions-and-treatments/library/allergy-library/vaccine-myth-fact
Public Health. Vaccine myths debunked. https://www.publichealth.org/public-awareness/understanding-vaccines/vaccine-myths-debunked/
Authors: Kimberly B. Fortner MD, Oluwafemifola Onaade MPH, Bandon Hays MD, Samantha F. Ehrlich PhD, Jill M. Maples PhD
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