As families prepare for a new school year, annual school physicals at the doctor’s office also mean potentially getting vaccines.
This year, many parents are facing something different—not a lack of vaccines, but a large amount of misinformation. Recent changes to the childhood immunization recommendations under Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have caused confusion by reducing the number of vaccines routinely recommended for all children from protection against 17 diseases to 11. These recommendations are currently on hold since they have been blocked by a federal judge.
As a physician, here are the facts I wish every parent knew before deciding whether to vaccinate their kids.
Vaccines Are Victims Of Their Own Success
Most parents have not seen a child permanently paralyzed by polio or struggling to breathe from diphtheria. That’s because the overwhelming success of vaccines have made these once-common diseases extremely rare. As an example, in 1952, years before the polio vaccine was introduced and used in the United States, there were more than 57,000 reported cases of polio and more than 3,000 deaths. In 2022, there was only one reported case with no deaths. The dramatic decrease in cases and death was largely due to the introduction and widespread adoption of the polio vaccine after 1955.
The success of vaccines has created complacency. When diseases disappear, people may question whether their use is necessary. Parents should understand that infectious pathogens like viruses and bacteria have not disappeared, but rather remain under control when vaccination rates stay high.
The Vaccine Schedule Was Not Created Randomly
A common myth is that children receive too many shots too soon. The reality is the childhood vaccination schedule was not created by coincidence. The schedule was designed around decades of immunology and epidemiology research, with extensive evidence review by vaccine experts.
Vaccines are timed to protect children when they are most vulnerable to different diseases and illnesses, not when most convenient for them to get the shot. As an example, consider whooping cough, a disease caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis. The disease can cause severe coughing fits that can ultimately be deadly. Fortunately, it can be largely prevented by administering the DTaP vaccine, which is given in a series of five doses— at 2, 4 and 6 months of age, followed at 15 to 18 months and then finally between the ages of 4 to 6.
The vaccine is given as early as 2 months of age because this is precisely when infants are most susceptible to infection. At this age, because the immune system has not fully developed, whooping cough can cause severe disease and be fatal. Infants have small airways that can get clogged during coughing spells, leading to difficulty breathing and dangerous drops in oxygen. Vaccination early during infancy offers the protection they need without the susceptibility to life-threatening consequences.
Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism
The CDC website has a statement that currently states, “the claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism”. This statement is factually inaccurate. In fact, decades of peer-reviewed evidence-based studies show no association between vaccines and autism. These studies involve hundreds of thousands of children across multiple countries that have repeatedly shown no association between vaccine use and autism, including the MMR vaccine that is used to protect against measles.
Serious Side Effects Are Rare
No medical intervention is completely risk free. Although many social media influencers have publicized severe side effects from vaccines, side effects are overwhelmingly mild. The most common side effects include a low-grade fever, rash and soreness where the vaccine is administered in the body. Serious side effects, like a life-threatening allergy, are exceedingly rare. Across all vaccines, the incidence of a life-threatening allergic reaction is about one dose in one million.
Not Getting A Child Vaccinated Has Consequences
When vaccination rates fall below a specific threshold, diseases that were previously eradicated can come back. This has occurred this year in the United States with measles, which was declared eliminated in 2000 by the World Health Organization. Due to declining vaccination rates, the U.S. has had the most measles cases in over 30 years, with nearly 2,400 cases confirmed this year according to the CDC. The overwhelming majority of these cases, 93%, have occurred in unvaccinated individuals or in those whose vaccination status is unknown. Measles can be a deadly disease, with two children dying last year after having been infected.
All parents want to make the best decisions for their children. Vaccines save lives and have been one of the greatest achievements in medicine. The best treatment is prevention, and vaccination remains one of the clearest examples of that principle in action.
