Una Buena Pregunta....

in case you can't read spanglish very well- there was a comment posted recently that asked what i've learned about vaccines. it's a pretty controversial topic in some circles. in school we learned about current recommendations and some of the evidence for/against giving them and how/when we give them. independently, out of curiosity, i've spoken to many of the docs i have worked with on their thoughts on immunizing children. there's all kinds of good info on the CDC website (where i got my facts) and at your state's health dept web site, if you're interested in more info. but here's a little bit that i know (mostly) off the top of my head:

we vaccinate, starting at birth and going through at least age 11 against all of the following diseases: diptheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis a and b, pneumococcal, varicella, haemophilus influenza type b, meningococcal, influenza, and human papilloma virus. most of the vaccines come in a series, they require several boosters to complete. most of them are not live vaccines. those that are, aren't given until the child has reached a year or more and their immune system is more developed and they are no longer utilizing the immunity imparted on them by the mom in utero or through breast milk.

we have almost entirely eradicated many of the above diseases....before we got rid of them, their damage ranged in severity and included birth defects, paralysis, brain damage, meningitis, pneumonia, respiratory failure, diarrhea and dehydration, liver disease, and genital warts and cervical cancer. we've had great success in preventing childhood illness and death. things that used to be assumed threats/inevitable causes of death are now a thing of the past. and we continue to invent new vaccines for devastating illnesses--even cancer!

polio, for example, caused severe disability and death in thousands of children who contracted it each year before the vaccine came out in the 50's. since then, we hardly see it/hear of it other than in the occasional older person limping by or in movies. rubella, if caught during pregnancy, causes grave birth defects and fetal mortality--it was a major cause of infant death prior to the discovery of the vaccine in the '70's- now it's all but unheard of. chicken pox (varicella) will very soon be a thing of the past. you might say- "what's the point of vaccinating against chicken pox? i had it, and i'm fine." but now that you have the uncontrolled virus in your system from your exposure in childhood, you are at risk for shingles as an elderly person. and with shingles can come nerve pain (postherpetic neuralgia) that may last years. also, chicken pox has always caused a small percentage of deaths in the children who contract it, especially those who are immunocomprimised- why not eliminate that risk now that we have a solution?

now the controversy- the threat of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and autism are the most common reasons people give for not immunizing their kids. these risks have been well investigated and at this point are considered unfounded by the medical world. the mercury-containing preservative thimerosol was speculated to be responsible for the rising rates of autism in the US, but this has never been proven. again- without any concrete evidence to its potential harm- it was still, as a precaution, removed from all vaccines around the year 2000. and the rate of autism continues to climb today. the MMR vaccine was also eyed as a culprit for the increasing rate of diagnosed autism- called out in a study in the late 90's that reviewed a tiny number of patients (something like 12) and published conclusions linking the MMR vaccine and autism. several years later, after the conclusions of that study could not be repeated and were determined invalid, 10 out of 13 of the scientists who had published the study retracted their findings. since then, large scale studies in several countries around the world have shown no link in MMR and autism. speculation i've heard from MD's as to why this myth has held on for so long is that symptoms of autism show up around the same time the vaccination is given and so appears to have caused it...and that we're diagnosing more traits under the umbrella of "autism spectrum" than we ever have before, so naturally the rates are climbing. (by the way-autism is devastating and there's much work being done to find a solution. something in our genes or environment may very well be to blame for the spike in diagnoses- everything from IQ of parents of kids with autism to high fructose corn syrup is being studied to try to find the source).

with SIDS- again, in all the studies done over the years, no link has ever been made to any component of vaccines. most SIDS deaths occur between 2-4 months of age, the same time that babies are receiving many of their early vaccines. so it's easy to see why people might make the assumption that the two are connected. but i am more impressed with the fact that since the "back to sleep" campaign started (encouraging babies <1 years old to sleep on their backs), infant mortality from SIDS went down by over 50%. which strongly supports the theory that little baby neck muscles can't always hold up giant baby heads when on their tummies and so babies suffocate in their mattress/blankets when asleep on their fronts. that's pretty good evidence to me that respiratory failure from suffocation is a primary cause of SIDS. we've never seen such persuasive data on any risk from vaccines.

this is the longest post ever, so i'm going to wrap it up. but basically, everything i've read and heard has led me to trust that vaccines do a whole lot more known good than speculated harm. of all the MD's i talked to about it- they all vaccinate their kids. even one surgeon whose son developed autism around age 2-- he was devastated and looking for answers- but still the facts led him to conclude that there is still more risk in not vaccinating. i just hope that the communities of concerned parents who aren't vaccinating their kids don't permit these epidemics to return. it would be tragic if we started dying again of things we can prevent.