To vaccinate or not to vaccinate, is that the question?

The constant anguish of parents who have to decide whether or not to vaccinate their young children is due to the growing flood of information called “expert” that proliferates on the Internet and on social networking sites. Concerned parents want to make the right decisions regarding the health and well-being of their children and, as such, they will access a wealth of information, opinion, and speculation on this topic. Sadly, however, there is a lot of misinformation that is also being pedaled by well-intentioned people, and if parents are unable to critically analyze the information available to them, the tragic consequences may be the unfortunate result of their poor decision-making. A ‘lunatic fringe’ has also emerged, deliberately spreading falsehoods and using scaremongering tactics to lure naive parents into their thinking. This is morally wrong, and opinions, because that’s all that these so-called ‘experts’ continue to spread in the wider community, can have devastating and far-reaching consequences.

The benefits of vaccination far outweigh the risks of vaccination, as well as the potential risks associated with avoiding vaccination. Ignoring opinion and proven scientific evidence is not only morally wrong, it also increases the likelihood of infection in the wider community because it affects “herd immunity.” Herd immunity is only successful when the majority of the population is vaccinated, as this provides indirect protection to members of the population who have not yet developed their own immunity. The repercussions for very young babies (too young to be vaccinated), the elderly, and anyone with a compromised and fragile immune system can be profound. These individuals are then at a much higher risk of contracting diseases against which they might otherwise be immunized.

When examining anti-vaccination websites, affected people do their best to make their case. What they are not claiming is that none of their alleged “facts” is scientifically proven, in an acceptable way. Some links have been made linking vaccines to autism spectrum disorder, but they have been shown to be false and misleading. There is no scientific evidence linking autism to vaccination. On the contrary, the causal links between vaccination and autism spectrum disorder have been continually refuted. Opponents of vaccination often rely on anecdotal evidence to back up their views; Unfortunately, this type of evidence is a poor substitute when it comes to making life and death decisions on behalf of the most vulnerable members of our community. Some parents are also inclined to treat everything they read on the internet as gospel and will not bother looking beyond potentially misleading statements to seek scientific evidence or consult a doctor before making a decision about vaccination.

The side effects of vaccines are minimal. The result may be some irritability, perhaps a rash and temperature, but this is less of a problem compared to no vaccination and increased risks of serious illness. Of course, there are situations where children already have a serious medical condition and vaccination is out of the question. The exemption for these children is understandable and necessary. This is another reason why it is so important to maintain ‘herd immunity’ by allowing all other children to be vaccinated so that those who already have compromised immune systems are protected by herd immunity.

The basic principle of vaccination is to provide your immune system with a challenge to a particular pathogen and allow it to develop a set of immune cells that will “remember” that particular pathogen; These are known as “helper T cells.” This, in turn, will allow your body, when faced with real challenges from that pathogen, to recognize it much more quickly and mobilize specific defenses against that pathogen. Vaccination, by introducing a small dose of inert pathogen, provides an opportunity for your body to recognize the pathogen and prepare for the time when it may be exposed to a severe attack from the pathogen.

Some of the community ‘conscientious objectors’ have gone almost hysterical at their claims against vaccination. It has taken on shades of religious ideology. We have a duty as parents and concerned citizens to look at these claims objectively and apply critical thinking processes to their claims. It should be apparent that people who oppose vaccination often only consider information that supports their beliefs. In short, they are guilty of “confirmation bias”.

What are the prospects for future generations if the number of unvaccinated children in our communities continues to rise? Common sense tells us that the incidence of serious preventable diseases will increase and infant mortality will increase. At the moment, third world countries are supported by charities and foundations that provide programs and funding for childhood vaccination. You must ask yourself why we, in our privileged first world country, would want to turn our backs on vaccines when they have been instrumental in eliminating so many of the world’s serious diseases and improving infant mortality worldwide. We also have to deal with conspiracy theorists who obsess over the sinister roles of Big Pharma while scrapping the life-saving vaccine interventions that, for decades, have been proven around the world to save lives. The 1950s saw the mandatory introduction of the polio vaccine, for example, and it eventually successfully eliminated this crippling disease. The incidence of other diseases, such as whooping cough, diphtheria, measles, and smallpox, has been significantly reduced as a result of vaccination programs. The side effects of these diseases were a serious economic and productive tax on communities around the world, much less their devastating impact on people.

Do we really want to go back to the dark ages, where communities are once again subject to the vagaries of these diseases, where survival becomes a matter of chance, and where infant mortality rises back to pre-industrial levels? If parents refuse to vaccinate their children, it could be argued that this amounts to a form of child abuse, or at least neglect. The health and well-being of children should take precedence over the dangerous and misinformed beliefs of some parents. Education is the key. Educators should seek to provide peer-reviewed research to show the positive results of vaccination and help parents understand the concept of ‘herd immunity’, which is vital to the overall health of our communities.