Dispelling the Myths About Vaccines
Separating Fact From Fear
A small but growing number of parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children because they fear vaccines will cause autism or make their children sick.
It’s a concern that just doesn’t stand up to the facts, says Robert Frenck, Jr., MD, in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Cincinnati Children’s. “Most vaccinations cause no problems whatsoever,” says Dr. Frenck. “If there are any side effects, they are usually minor—a low grade fever or some soreness or redness at the injection site—and they disappear in a day or two.”
Sure-Fire Protection
But the protection vaccines offer is lasting—and well worth any temporary discomfort, he says.
“Childhood vaccines offer protection from a variety of serious or potentially fatal diseases, including diphtheria, measles, meningitis, polio, tetanus and whooping cough,” says Dr. Frenck. Neglecting a child’s vaccinations not only puts the child at risk, he says, but also endangers the community.
“The only thing keeping these diseases at bay is vaccines,” says Dr. Frenck. “They are controlled only because the vast majority of the population has been immunized.”
In Ohio alone, the number of children entering school unvaccinated—based on religious or philosophical exemptions— has nearly quadrupled in the past 11 years. Although it is still less than 1 percent of children, for community physicians, it’s a disconcerting trend.
A City-Wide Effort to Educate Parents
To help raise vaccination rates, Cincinnati Children’s has taken a leadership role with the Immunization Action Coalition of Greater Cincinnati. The coalition provides parents and health professionals with information to support the use of safe, effective vaccines.
“Thanks to the development and widespread use of vaccines, we have reduced vaccine-preventable infections in the United States by 95 to 99 percent,” Dr. Frenck says. That’s 14 million prevented infections and 33,000 prevented deaths in this country last year alone.
Both the beauty and the burden of vaccination, he explains, is that if it’s working, you don’t see anything. “When you don’t see a disease, it’s hard to understand the benefit of prevention.”
But discontinuing vaccination is not the answer.
“Parents need to know they are doing the right thing in immunizing their children,” says Dr. Frenck. “Most Americans don’t appreciate the damage these diseases can do because they’ve never seen them.”
