every child by two, email response

[Guest guest]

I wrote a little email to this organization and look at the response I got back.

While our mission here at Every Child By Two is to protect all children from vaccine preventable diseases by raising parental awareness of the critical need for timely infant immunizations, fostering the establishment of a systematic method to locate and immunize children, and providing convenient access to immunization services into the future; and while we strongly believe that vaccines are the best defense we have against many infectious diseases we do understand that no vaccine is either 100% safe or 100% effective.  Differences in the way an individual's immune systems react to a vaccine account for rare occasions when people experience side effects, ranging from mild to serious and also account for the few cases where a vaccine does not provide the intended level of protection against the disease.  The practice of medicine is never an exact science.  Receiving a vaccine is a medical procedure and as with any medical procedure or medication, immunizations are associated with a level of risk (however small) of an adverse reaction.  Typical reactions to vaccines may include warmth, redness, and tenderness at the site of the injection, and irritability.  Rare, but potential serious reactions vary according to the type of immunization, and include the potential for seizures, damage to the brain or central nervous system, and death.  However, most reactions are minor and treatable.  There are so few deaths that could plausibly be connected to vaccine, and the risk is so small, that it is hard to assess statistically.  As a rule, the risk of contracting the disease, and of dying or suffering serious or permanent complications of that disease, is far greater than the risk of dying, or suffering serious or permanent complications from the immunization.

Before the FDA licenses vaccines, they are extensively tested in the laboratory and in human beings to ensure their safety.  If the clinical trials demonstrate that the vaccine is safe and effective, the manufacturer applies to the FDA for two licenses, one for the vaccine (product license) and one for the production plant (establishment license). During the application process, the FDA reviews the clinical trial data and proposed product labeling. In addition, the FDA inspects the plant and goes over manufacturing protocols to ensure that vaccines are produced in a safe and consistent manner. Only after the FDA is satisfied that the vaccine is safe is it licensed for use in the general population.  After a vaccine is licensed for public use, its safety is continually monitored.  The FDA requires all manufacturers to submit samples from each vaccine lot prior to its release.  In addition, the manufacturers must provide the FDA with their test results for vaccine safety, potency and purity.  In the last decade, numerous changes in vaccine production and administration have reduced the number of adverse events and resulted in safer vaccines.

Several resources are available to address the risks and benefits of vaccination.  Federal law requires a health care provider who administers a vaccine to provide the patient or guardian with a Vaccine Information Statements (VISs).  VISs are developed by CDC and contain information on the disease that the vaccine is designed to protect against as well as the risks and benefits associated with receiving that particular vaccine.  The goal of the VIS is to provide parents of children as well as adults receiving vaccines with information to be able to understand and evaluate the risks and benefits of receiving the vaccine.  ECBT provides a link to the VIS's in 24 languages from our website on the page called Vaccine Guide (http://www.ecbt.org/guide.htm).

I assure you that vaccine safety is a very real concern to Every Child By Two.  While I personally do not have children, other staff members do have children and they all have received or are receiving their vaccines following the current recommended schedule.  The grandchildren of our founders Mrs. and Mrs. Bumpers have also received their immunizations.  As an adult, I have had a Td (Tetanus/Diphtheria) and Measles/Mumps within the last 4 years and my Influenza within the last month.  We believe in the overall safety of vaccines and in the fact that the benefits generally outweigh the risks by a significant margin.

I personally believe that vaccines are the most significant medical miracle of our age.  Because of vaccines, most people today would not recognize a polio victim, do not know what an iron lung is or what it is used for, have not seen a child who's muscles have gone rigid and can't swallow from tetanus (lock jaw), have not had to experience the horror of a baby born deformed

from German measles, do not have to worry about keeping their children home from school or away from a swimming pool or social event because of a contagious disease epidemic.  Younger pediatricians often don't even recognize the characteristic croup of whooping cough on those rare occasions when they are confronted with it in their office because the vaccine that protects us from the disease has been so successful at eliminating the disease. But I also believe that the vaccination of a child is a medical procedure and as such that every parent and every medical provider must take a responsible approach to that procedure and make responsible personal decisions using scientifically valid information regarding the risks and benefits.  We can consult the medical and public literature and find reports of people reacting badly to medical events that each of us routinely takes for granted as safe.  I can recall a childhood friend who went in for a simple dental procedure that required anesthesia and to which he reacted negatively during the procedure.  Upon coming out of a coma, he was permanently mentally handicapped and will always require around the clock personal care.  Although tragic, his reaction was not the norm and should not be used as a reason to avoid dental work.  Similarly, death and serious injury is not the norm with regard to vaccine reactions and should not be a reason to avoid vaccinations unless the individual that is being vaccinated falls within a risk group category.  The arguments presented against Thimerosol (mercury) and formaldehyde in vaccines has no basis in current, scientifically valid research.  The decision to move to a non-thimerosal vaccine product was prompted by a widely acknowledged value of reducing overall exposure to mercury from every potential source, not because the levels of mercury in a vaccine caused a risk by themselves.  And the arguments against formaldehyde in vaccines that are presented are based on a perception of a cancer scare that the consumer product safety division indicates has no grounds for concern.  “Typical exposures to humans (of formaldehyde) are much lower; thus any risk of causing cancer is believed to be small at the level at which humans are exposed (Consumer Product Safety Commission, An Update On Formaldehyde: 1997 Revision, CPSC Document #725).  In fact, you will have a higher level of exposure to formaldehyde from the air from burning wood, kerosene or natural gas, from automobiles, from cigarettes, from paints, coatings, and cosmetics, fabrics and draperies, coated paper products, particleboard, hardwood plywood, and medium density fiberboard, low calorie sweeteners (aspartame), etc. than you would ever accumulate from a vaccination.  Formaldehyde is a naturally occurring substance that we are all exposed to on a daily basis.  Formaldehyde can affect people differently. Some people are very sensitive to formaldehyde while others may not have any noticeable reaction to the same level of exposure.  It is important to know if you are very sensitive and make your vaccine decisions accordingly. As an organization with a mission to promote the concept of vaccination of every child by the age of two, we naturally provide commentary and a pro-vaccine message within the majority of materials on our website.  We feel that we have, to date, provided our visitor with resources from which they may obtain information on vaccine safety through the various links to websites of medically recognized institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through our Resources and Contacts page (http://www.ecbt.org/resource.htm).  In reviewing our site I do feel that we could do a slightly better job of centralizing the information on vaccine safety that is available on the website.  I will not promise that I can get to it today, but I will begin the process necessary to develop a vaccine safety page on the website, referenced through a link in the table of contents on the index page that will bring together as much legitimate, science-based information on vaccine safety that we can find.

I believe in the system of delivering vaccines and monitoring their safety and I believe that it is

designed to provide a medical benefit to all of the worlds children.  I also understand that there are risks and that sometimes bad things happen to good people who were trying to do the best for their children.  I am glad to see that you are diligently examining the message that is being put

out to the public by the “pro-vaccine†organizations such as ECBT and hope that you are being as fairly critical of the “anti-vaccine†organization, and holding both sides accountable.  Just as you have pointed out that ECBT, as a pro-vaccine organization should be doing a better job of providing a resources for the issues of vaccine safety, you must also point out to the anti-vaccine

organizations that are on the web that they must provide information on the benefits and excellent safety record of vaccines in general, they must provide scientifically valid arguments for their anti-vaccine message, and they must remove messages that have been proven to be scientifically invalid by the overall body of scientific research.  You must also point out to them that using outdated rhetoric and unsubstantiated opinions veiled as research does the consumer no good as they seek to determine the scientifically valid truths regarding the issues of vaccine safety.  It is only by providing scientifically valid information to parents that they can make a truly informed decision for their children.  Scientifically understanding why reactions occur helps us better understand those unique instances when we can predetermine that a child should not receive a vaccine. 

Please continue to let me know how we can be a better resource for scientifically valid vaccine information for parents in their efforts to understand the vaccine issue and make sound decisions for their children.

Sincerely,

Rich Greenaway

Director of Programs, Acting Executive Director

Every Child By Two