Re: Center Aims to Demystify Vaccines--Offit -ABC news

[Guest guest]

What a crock!

Been to CHOP and they know NOTHING.

J

In a message dated 12/17/2003 10:00:04 AM Eastern Standard Time,

redhead60707@... writes:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/Healthology/vaccines_healthday_031217.ht

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December 17, 2003HOMEPAGENEWS SUMMARYUSINTERNATIONALMONEYScopeWEATHERLOCAL

NEWS ENTERTAINMENTESPN SPORTSSCI/TECHPOLITICSHEALTHTRAVELVIDEO & AUDIO

FEATURED SERVICESRELATIONSHIPSSHOPPINGWIRELESSE-MAIL CENTERBOARDS

Terrazas, 7, as Howington, a registered nurse, prepares to

administer a flu shot on Dec. 11 in El Centro, Calif. (Cuauhtemoc Beltran,

Imperial

Valley Press/AP Photo) Center Aims to Demystify Vaccines

By Gately

HealthDay Reporter

From HealthDayNews

Dec. 17 — Those little vials containing vaccines can frighten parents —

enough, in some cases, that they don't get their children immunized.

Dr. Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at The Children's

Hospital of Philadelphia, hopes to demystify the vials and the vaccines.

" If you look at that little vial, it's mysterious — people don't know what's

in there, " he says. " We're trying to make it less frightening. "

What should scare parents more than getting vaccines for their children,

Offit says, are the consequences of not getting them — increased risk of

potentially deadly diseases such as meningitis, chicken pox and whooping cough.

The center Offit leads started in 2000 to give parents and physicians

accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date information about vaccines. Through its

Web

site, videos, printed materials and public speakers, the center strives to

dispel common misconceptions about vaccines.

" Part of our interest here was correcting misinformation out there that

parents would use in making decisions about whether to have their children

vaccinated, " says Offit, co-author of the book Vaccines: What You Should Know.

Absence of Disease Prompts Complacency

With the disappearance of many childhood diseases in the United States, some

parents have begun questioning whether vaccines are still needed. And more and

more parents worry that vaccines could cause conditions including autism,

hyperactivity, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and sudden infant death syndrome, or

SIDS.

Offit, chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital and a professor of

pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, says solid

scientific research has found no evidence that vaccines cause such health

problems.

At Children's Hospital, Offit has seen children suffering from severe

chickenpox, whooping cough and meningitis because they hadn't been vaccinated.

" It's just the saddest thing because you watch children suffer every day when

you work in a hospital. And it breaks your heart when you see something

easily and safely preventable with a vaccine, " he says. " I just find it so

upsetting that parents are misguided by this bad information. "

The Vaccine Education Center provides detailed, easily understood information

on vaccines, why they're used, when they should be given, how they're made

and how they work.

Some Side Effects Can Occur

Offit says parents sometimes erroneously assume a vaccine caused a condition —

autism, for instance — because it occurred soon after an inoculation. But

mistakenly assuming a causal connection between a vaccine and a condition isn't

new, Offit says. In 1916, for instance, the smallpox vaccine was blamed for a

polio outbreak in New York.

Offit acknowledges some vaccines have side effects. The pneumococcal vaccine,

for instance, can cause pain or swelling where the shot is given and,

occasionally, fever. The measles vaccine can cause soreness in the area of the

shot,

fever (in rare cases, higher than 103 degrees) and a mild, measles-like rash,

he says.

In an extremely rare but serious side effect, the hepatitis B vaccine can

cause a severe allergic reaction called anaphylaxis, whose symptoms include

swelling of the mouth, difficulty breathing, low blood pressure and even shock.

Anaphylaxis usually occurs within 15 minutes of receiving the vaccine, Offit

says.

But Offit stresses the benefits of vaccines far outweigh the risks, and warns

reductions in vaccination rates could lead to increases in preventable,

infectious diseases.

He hopes the center, which receives no funding from pharmaceutical companies,

replaces myths, misinformation and misconceptions with scientific evidence

about vaccines.

" In my mind, " Offit says, " the more voices that are out there that provide

good information, the better. What upsets me, frankly, is the bad information

that is out there. "

More information

To learn more about vaccines, why they're used and how they work, visit the

Vaccine Education Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.