Vaccines… Are They Safe?
Like many of us, I have friends and family who have warned me against trusting mainstream science; they share videos of patients having seizures, testimonials from concerned mothers with autistic children and supposed whistleblowers exposing the ‘truth’ behind Vaccine Safety. Some of these stories are very emotionally compelling.
By appealing to our emotions, these stories can cause us to suffer from cognitive dissonance, which is the uncomfortable feeling that results from processing two conflicting ideas.
Most people deal with cognitive dissonance by blindly accepting one idea and rejecting another; this kneejerk reaction can lead us to fanciful world views with little in common with reality. I put it to you that there is a better option, making an informed choice with a fair investigation of the science.
If you have stumbled upon this article looking to find a simplified explanation about Vaccine science, including a brief examining of the controversy, you are my intended reader. The following is an overview of the current science and controversies, written in ordinary language with links to peer-reviewed scientific papers, statistics and resources.
Common Misconceptions About Vaccines
Vaccines contain many ‘toxins’.
Everything is toxic at specific dosages, drink enough coffee, and it will kill you; the dose is what makes the poison. The three most contested ‘toxins’ in Vaccines are Formaldehyde, Aluminum and Mercury; are these compounds/elements toxic? Yes, but the whole truth is somewhere buried underneath the misinformation.
Formaldehyde is toxic, but our bodies also require a small amount of it to function. The Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, states that formaldehyde is;
“an essential intermediate in cellular metabolism in mammals and humans.”.
Fun Fact: Pears contain about seven times the formaldehyde than what is in a typical infants vaccine.
On average, there is more Aluminium in Breast Milk than in infant Vaccines or 12 times the Aluminium dose in a block of Cheese.
Thimerosal (Mercury) contains “ethyl mercury”, which is an organic compound less toxic than methylmercury (found in all fish);
The half-life of ethyl mercury is short (less than one week) compared to methyl mercury (1.5 months) making exposure to ethyl mercury comparatively brief. Further, ethyl mercury is actively excreted via the gut, unlike methyl mercury that accumulates in the body.
Another Fun Fact: One can of tuna provides the human body with approximately 200 times the mercury than a thimerosal-containing vaccine. Thimerosal was removed from most infant vaccines because of the theoretical risk, despite the lack of evidence for harm.
Injecting affects the body differently than consuming.
My friends and family have often argued that injecting these medicines is entirely different from ingesting them; This is also true but misleading. We are exposed to far more significant amounts of these toxins through our diet and environment; this exposure results in these very same elements reaching our bloodstream.
If your child is Vaccinated, why do I need to have my child vaccinated?
Vaccines work on suppressing an outbreak (not just by protecting the individual). Social immunity works as planned when 90–95% of the population is vaccinated, depending on the disease.
Vaccine Injury Is Common
There is some form of risk with every medication (both natural or synthetic); however, abstaining from vaccinations carries a more significant, sometimes fatal risk.
Much like wearing a seatbelt can reduce fatality risk by 47%, there are still some cases of people dying because of the seatbelt itself. During 2000–2015, measles vaccination prevented an estimated 20.3 million deaths.
The Story Behind The Antivax Fear
Fear of vaccines has existed since they first appeared in society circa 1796. In our current era, the internet has accelerated the spreading of misinformation quicker than ever.
The Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) Vaccine and Autism
The controversy first arose when Andrew Wakefield first released his small and now retracted 1998 Lancet Paper. The study was retracted after an investigation determined that Wakefield had used fraudulent research methodologies. In 2004, 10 of the 12 co-authors of the paper retracted the supposition, stating;
We wish to make it clear that in this paper, no causal link was established between MMR vaccine and autism as the data were insufficient.
Even after The Lancet retracted wakefields paper, a wave of fear swept through the general public resulting in the funding of many new studies attempting to find the link that Wakefield hypothesised.
Hundreds of studies were done from separate organisations in different countries, looking at thousands of cases, covering millions of children. In 2012, CDSR completed a systematic review, analysing;
-five randomised controlled trials,
-one controlled clinical trial,
-twenty-seven cohort studies,
-seventeen case-control studies,
-five time-series trials,
-one case-cross-over trial,
-two ecological studies,
-six self-controlled case series studies
Involving in all about 14,700,000 children. They could not find any association between the MMR vaccine and autism. The following are some of the peer-reviewed papers;
Time trends in autism and in MMR immunisation coverage in California.
“Essentially no correlation was observed between the secular trend of early childhood MMR immunisation rates in California.”
A population-based study of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination and autism.
“Of the 537,303 children in the cohort… This study provides strong evidence against the hypothesis that MMR vaccination causes autism.”
Neurologic disorders after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination.
“Of the 535 544 children who were vaccinated… We did not identify any association between MMR vaccination and encephalitis, aseptic meningitis, or autism.”
Statistics for Vaccine-Preventable Illnesses
Many anti-vaccine communities downplay the risk of the illnesses we are being protected against; let’s look at the statistics.
Measles
In 2015, there were 134 200 measles deaths globally — 15 deaths every hour. Measles vaccination resulted in a 79% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2015 worldwide. During 2000–2015, measles vaccination prevented an estimated 20.3 million deaths.
Mumps
Before the U.S. mumps vaccination program started in 1967, about 186,000 cases were reported each year. Still, the actual number of cases was likely much higher due to underreporting. There has been a 99% decrease in mumps cases in the United States since we started vaccinating against it.
Rubella
Rubella is an acute, contagious viral infection. While the illness is generally mild in children, it has severe consequences in pregnant women causing fetal death or congenital disabilities. A single vaccine dose gives more than 95% long-lasting immunity.
Chickenpox
Chickenpox used to be very common in the United States. Each year, chickenpox caused about 4 million cases, about 10,600 hospitalisations and 100 to 150 deaths. Two doses of the vaccine are about 90% effective at preventing chickenpox.
Influenza
Based on an average annual count of 74,363 for all pneumonia and influenza deaths and an average annual estimate of 6,309 deaths associated with influenza in this category, 8.5% of all pneumonia and influenza deaths were influenza-associated.
Hepatitis B
In 2015, hepatitis B resulted in 887 000 deaths, mostly from complications. A vaccine against hepatitis B has been available since 1982. The vaccine is 95% effective in preventing infection, which lowers the risk of developing a chronic disease or liver cancer.
HPV
HPV can cause cervical and other cancers, including cancer of the vulva, vagina, penis, or anus. It can also cause cancer in the back of the throat, including the base of the tongue and tonsils. Before HPV vaccines were introduced, roughly 340,000 to 360,000 women and men were affected by genital warts caused by HPV every year.
Conclusion
Fear is a powerful emotion that can sometimes fuzz the edges of our reasoning. A great example is how many people experience deliberating fear when flying, yet we know that flying is much safer than driving.
- When you are sent videos from whistleblowers, ask yourself why millions of health care professionals give vaccines to their loved ones.
- If someone claims that Vaccines are unsafe, ask why their opinion differs from the vast majority; what information do they have that other scientists do not?
- When someone rejects Vaccines because they are not natural, remind them that neither is using a toilet or brushes our teeth.
- If someone suggests that Vaccines were created by ‘big pharma’ to make money, notify them that it's not big pharma that does this research. Its competing organisations from various countries made up of many scientific teams, all of whom have loved ones as well, and all of which arrive at the same conclusion.
- If someone suggests that the CDC of America is corrupt, point them to the studies (listed above) from Denmark, The United Kingdom, Finland, Italy, Singapore, Australia or New Zealand.
As far as Vaccines go, the science is precise and clear; Vaccines should have a reputation as the ‘life-giving’ medication that they are.
