The Science of Mom by Alice Green Callahan

Author:Alice Green Callahan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2015-03-20T16:00:00+00:00

UNDERSTANDING VACCINE RISKS

Although the benefits of vaccines are tremendous, they do carry some risk. But then again, nothing we do is 100% safe. Every time we feed our children, we take a potentially fatal risk (choking, food-borne illnesses, allergies, etc.), but we know that the benefits of eating far outweigh the risks. For each vaccine we give to our children, we want to understand the risks, ensure that they’re smaller than the benefits, and minimize them as much as possible.

The risks of side effects or reactions from vaccines are well understood. They’re listed on the CDC website and on the information sheets given to parents with each vaccine their child receives. And for the vast majority of people, the benefits of vaccine protection are much greater than the risks.

Take the MMR shot, for example. We’ve been using MMR for more than 40 years, and we have data from more than 60 studies, including 15 million children, to help us understand its risks. There are common but mild side effects, including fever, occurring in 1 in 7 children, and a short-term rash in 1 in 20. There are rarer side effects, such as febrile seizure in 1 in 3,000 to 4,000 MMR recipients and a temporary blood clotting disorder in 1 in 40,000.39 Febrile seizures can occur any time a child has a fever, and they aren’t thought to be dangerous—although they can be very scary to parents.40 However, these side effects are miniscule compared with the risks of the diseases themselves: for measles, a 1 in 20 chance of pneumonia and 1 in 1,000 chance of encephalitis; for mumps, a 1 in 7 chance of meningitis and, in men, a 1 in 2 chance of testicular inflammation, often leading to atrophy; and for rubella infection during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, almost certain harm to the fetus, causing miscarriage or major birth defects.41

Most other vaccines have only mild side effects. Very rarely, a child will have a severe allergic reaction to a vaccine component; the chances of this are about one in a million.42 But of course, every time your baby tries a new food or medicine, there is a risk of an allergic reaction.

Still, the risks and benefits of vaccines can seem so intangible that it can be daunting to try to tally them up on our own. A great resource is the Institute of Medicine (IOM), a nonprofit organization that works outside the government to bring together unbiased, interdisciplinary, volunteer experts to assess health concerns. Its reports—each hundreds of pages—are available to the public online, and they’ve assessed a number of questions regarding vaccines, including concerns about links with autism, SIDS, and immune dysfunction, and ingredients in vaccines.43 In 2013, an IOM committee, specifically selected to exclude anyone who had financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry or had previously served on a federal vaccine committee, assessed the safety of the entire childhood immunization schedule; it found no evidence that the current schedule isn’t safe.44

What the IOM does is systematically review all the research on vaccines to reach a scientific consensus.

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