I found a pediatrician that I trust for my soon-to-be-born infant. I planned on following all of her advice about immunizations, but a friend is now telling me to avoid immunizing my baby because of risks of autism, sudden infant death syndrome, and other disorders and illnesses that have been linked to vaccines. What should I do?
The growing trend of parents choosing to forgo routine immunizations for their children, based on unsubstantiated myths, conspiracy theories, and debunked research, poses an unnecessary (and in some cases, life-threatening) risk to their children, as well as a risk to family, friends, and communities.
To be fair, the impulse to second-guess the need for childhood immunizations is understandable. Vaccines can be painful. In rare instances, they can lead to fever, allergic reactions, or other temporary illnesses. And of course, no one enjoys seeing her baby stuck with a needle! However, the benefits of immunizing your child and sticking to the vaccination schedule far outweigh the comparatively microscopic — an in some cases, non-existent — risks.
There have always been unfounded theories about long-term negative effects of certain immunizations, but the notion that vaccines were dangerous really caught on in 1998 with a study published by a British medical researcher named Dr. Andrew Wakefield. In it, Dr. Wakefield concluded that the routine measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine was a possible cause of autism. Subsequent studies failed to reproduce or confirm Dr. Wakefield’s hypothesis, and it eventually surfaced that lawyers had paid Dr. Wakefield to conduct the study to lend credence to lawsuits against the vaccine manufacturers. In 2010, the paper that originally published the study issued a retraction. Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped the “autism myth” from sticking.
But let’s move away from the myths about vaccines, onto the proven benefits. To start, the Centers for Disease Control recommends a number of immunizations for infants in their first year of life. Those include the hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, and indeed, measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines. It is estimated that, worldwide, immunizations for those illnesses alone save more than three million lives per year. Getting your child vaccinated also protects your community from outbreaks of dangerous diseases. Though immunizations drastically reduce the risk of contracting an illness, they rarely eliminate that risk entirely. That means that (for example) should your child contract the measles, he still poses a risk to everyone around him, even those who have responsibly kept up with an immunization schedule.
As a parent, you’ll find that there’s no shortage of things to worry about when it comes to your child, but vaccines should not be among them. By keeping up with your child’s immunization schedule, and refusing to fall prey to the latest rumors about the dangers of vaccinations, you will ensure that your child has the best shot at a healthy life.
