Saar Kuzi
Alessandra Coutinho Fernandes
William Cope
Richard Tapping
Kashif Ahmad
Reda Sadki
Shubhra Kanti Karmaker Santu
Adam P Rusch
Elle Meisner
Nereyda Ochoa
Landon J. Kunzelman
James DotimasFA16 Immunization Module’s Updates
Relative Safety of Vaccines & Why People Shouldn't Fear Them
The biggest problem with the anti-vaccination culture is the amount of misinformation on the internet regarding the safety of vaccines. The efficacy of vaccination has been proven over and over again, yet people still question whether it is safe. The reason for this is that people can easily see the negative side effects of a vaccination, but the working vaccine is not evident because it presents as a normal, healthy individual who may just have never had contact with the bacteria or virus.
Vaccines are held to a higher standard of safety because they are given to everyone regardless of whether they are healthy or not. When an individual is ill and takes medications, adverse side effects are expected and tolerated because they are on their way to regaining their health. Healthy individuals would not want to be administered a drug with bad side effects because they do not see much to gain from it if they are presently healthy. There are clinical trials to test whether a vaccine is safe before it can be used by the public and postlicensure studies to continue to monitor the safety and test for efficacy in diverse groups of people [1]. These occur in multiple rounds that act as checks and balances to ensure the safety of these drugs because they are widely administered to healthy individuals.
The safety of vaccines is much greater than that of the disease itself which many “anti-vaxxers” fail to realize when surrounded by other vaccinated people. The risks of vaccination are immensely outweighed by their benefits. For example, 1 in 5 people who contract Tetanus will die, but there have been no proven deaths with the DTaP vaccine which prevents it [2].
There was a great article that actually came out today (9/27) about a mother who was anti-vaccination until her entire family contracted Rotavirus that could have easily been prevented with vaccination. She previously questioned the safety of vaccinations due to misinformation she got from books and in other research, but has learned since being exposed [3]. Click here to view the article.
I also really enjoyed this video I found on Youtube explaining the risks for vaccines [4]:
[1]: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/ensuringsafety/index.html
[2]: Dr. Tapping's Lecture: Immunization Basics
[3]: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/anti-vaxxer-mom-changes-mind_us_57e994bde4b0c2407cd8bdc5
[4]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaGndICPT8I
It's essential that we as future health care providers figure out the most effective ways to inform anti-vaxxers about the benefits of vaccines and the danger they are putting their loved ones in by not getting them vaccinated. Perhaps if there was a financial incentive given by the government (similarly to the tax credit given by the Australian government) this could at least change the minds of anti-vaxxers who are on the fence.
Luis R. Tinoco Garcia Luis Tinoco Garcia
I truly believe that many of those who advocate against vaccination do not have the health literacy necessary to understand the science behind it. I believe many people have fallen into the idea that all chemicals are potentially dangerous to the body. While there are indeed problems with carcinogens found in our food and other products of daily use, many fail to recognize how vaccines work and that ,unlike things like GMOs, vaccinations have been shown to be very safe. The lack of accurate and reliable information has contribute to an overall negative stigma towards vaccination.
People without a medical background seem to find it difficult to comprehend how vaccines truly work. This takes me back to FCM and health literacy. Your typical patient may not understand the benefits of a vaccine, so it is important to take your time and explain what a vaccine is, how it works, and ensure its safety. Maybe let them know about the statistics on Tetanus mortalities compared to those who had their vaccines!