Aren't Vaccines Dangerous?

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Aren't Vaccines Dangerous?

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Q.Why does my daughter need to get shots? Aren't vaccines dangerous?

A. This is a great question to help observe National Infant Immunization

Week, an annual observance that highlights the importance of timely

immunization.

Vaccines are among the 20th Century’s most successful and cost-effective

public health tools available for preventing disease and death. They not only

prevent a vaccinated individual from developing a potentially serious disease,

but

they also help protect the entire community by reducing the spread of

infectious agents.

Immunization coverage among children in the United States is higher today

than ever before for most vaccines. We have attained our goal of having 90

percent or more of infants receiving the most critical doses of most recommended

vaccines by age two. These very high immunization coverage levels translate into

record or near record low levels of vaccine-preventable diseases. For most of

the vaccine-preventable diseases, we have had reductions in morbidity of 95

percent or more.

Vaccines not only save lives, they save money. The individual and community

protection provided by vaccines help make immunization one of our most

cost-effective public health strategies. All vaccines that we recommend for

routine

use are cost savings to society when both direct and indirect costs are

considered. Importantly, most vaccines are cost-saving even if only direct

medical

costs are considered. Our country, for example, saves $8.50 in direct medical

costs for every dollar invested in diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine. When

the

savings associated with work loss, death, and disability are factored in, the

total savings increases to about $27 dollars per dollar invested in DTP

vaccine. Every dollar our nation spends on measles-mumps-rubella vaccine

generates

about $13 in total savings--- or about $4 billion each year.

Today there are far fewer visible reminders of the unnecessary suffering,

injuries, and premature deaths caused by vaccine-preventable diseases.

Polio vaccine was licensed in the United States in 1955. During 1951 to 1954,

an average of 16,316 paralytic polio cases and 1,879 deaths from polio were

reported each year. As of 1991, polio caused by wild-type viruses has been

eliminated from the Western Hemisphere, and we are on course to eradicating

polio

from the world--- hopefully by the end of the year 2000.

Smallpox used to kill millions of people each year around the world. This

virus no longer circulates. No one has been infected with smallpox since 1977.

That is the power that vaccines provide C the ability to stop a killer.

A physician entering practice today will most likely never see a case of Hib

meningitis. Before the introduction of effective vaccines, approximately one

in 200 children developed invasive Hib disease before five years of age --

about 20,000 cases annually. Hib was the leading cause of bacterial meningitis

in

children under age five C accounting for 50 to 65 percent of all cases. From

15 to 30 percent of affected children became hearing impaired and 2 to 5

percent died in spite of effective antibiotic therapy.

In the 1960s, many people witnessed first-hand, the terrible effects of the

rubella virus. During an epidemic between 1964 and 1965, about 20,000 infants

were born with deafness, blindness, heart disease, mental retardation, and

other birth defects because the rubella virus infected their pregnant mothers.

Today, thanks to an effective vaccine, the rubella virus poses little threat to

expectant mothers and their children. Much public, media, and legislative

attention in recent months has focused on vaccine safety. We welcome attention

and

interest on vaccine safety. The public should expect safe vaccines. The public

is entitled to safe vaccines. We are committed to monitoring and ensuring

vaccine safety. Our key vaccine safety messages include:

While no vaccine is 100% safe, the serious adverse events that do occur as a

result of vaccination are extremely rare.

We are committed to monitoring the serious adverse events believed to have

occurred following immunization. We seek to determine whether these events are

caused by the vaccines or are coincidental occurrences of rare illnesses that

would have happened anyway.

We strive to inform parents and the public about the risks and benefits of

vaccines so that they have the proper basis for making immunization decisions.

We carefully evaluate allegations of harmful vaccine effects and are prepared

adjust our policies if allegations prove scientifically valid.

We do not minimize the pain and suffering incurred by persons who believe

they have been harmed by a vaccine--- regardless of the role that vaccines may

or

may not have played in the illness. As public health practitioners, we also

advocate research that helps us determine the true causes of very real harms

that have been suffered. A decision to vaccinate is a decision to protect not

only an individual, but the entire community as well: a decision to not

vaccinate is to put the community at risk. When immunization programs achieve

high

levels of community immunity, the likelihood that an infected person will

transmit the disease to a susceptible individual is greatly reduced. This

creates

indirect protection. Those indirectly protected are children who may be too

young

for vaccination, yet still susceptible to the disease. For example, children

under a year-old are too young to receive the measles vaccine. Also protected

are children who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons--- such as children

with leukemia. In addition, some of the people protected by community immunity

are people who have been vaccinated. Although vaccines are very effective,

they are not 100 percent effective.

Except for smallpox, these viruses and bacteria are still circulating---

either at low levels in the United States or elsewhere in the world. Those not

circulating in this country are only a plane ride away. For example, each year

the United States is hit with multiple importations of measles. Measles is no

longer circulating in the United States, but the virus is frequently imported

from outside this country. If we let our guard down and vaccination coverage

levels drop, we will see a resurgence of measles. Just ten years ago in 1989,

the

United States was hit with a measles epidemic. The result was 55,000 cases of

measles, 11,000 hospitalizations, and more than 120 deaths between 1989 and

1991.

Vaccinations need to occur throughout our life span--- not just in childhood.

The greatest vaccine-preventable disease burden for the U.S. population today

is among adults. We estimate an average of 23,000 persons, primarily 65 and

older, die from complications of influenza illness during epidemics. Over

10,000 more die from pneumococcal infections annually. Hepatitis B causes

another

4,000 to 5,000 adult deaths each year. We have safe, effective, but highly

under-utilized vaccines that can help us reduce the $10 billion a year in

societal

costs brought about by vaccine-preventable diseases in adults.

source is the CDC National Immunization Program's Talking Points for National

Immunization Week