Despite their constant work for good, vaccines are, to say the least, controversial. Stating anything on social media about vaccines tends to invite vocal members of both sides, where you may find panic-inducing myths like the ones below. Such myths can be harmful–not in word, but in what they cause people to believe and do. If you’ve heard any of these vaccine myths, please don’t believe them.
10: Too many vaccines weakens the immune system
If you had the time, you or your child could get 100,000 vaccines at once and walk away perfectly healthy–probably healthier. The truth is, vaccines are designed to improve your immune systems response to certain diseases and infections. Without the aid of a vaccine, it’s likely that your immune system would fail to do its job if you ever contracted something serious.
9: I don’t need to be vaccinated if everyone else is
Vaccines work within what is called herd immunity. If the vast majority of a group has received vaccines, their inability to catch a disease keeps it from reaching weaker members of a group that can’t get vaccines. These could be people with immune issues or certain allergies, or children who haven’t had a certain vaccine or booster yet. These groups depend on herd immunity to stay well. If more people were vaccinated, the above myth could be true. However, too many people refuse to get vaccinated, weakening herd immunity. Viruses more easily slip into a group and can infect the weak people within that circle.
8: Natural immunity is stronger
This is true in some cases, mostly dealing with less severe viruses. However, this approach is very dangerous. If, for example, you wanted to become naturally immune to measles, you would have to catch it. Then your odds of dying are a startling 1 in 500 chance due to complications.
7: There aren’t any major diseases I need to protect myself against
Though many terrible diseases are vanishing from the earth, only smallpox has been eradicated. That means it’s still possible, if you haven’t been immunized, to catch life-threatening diseases like polio. Others that we rarely see today or don’t think are problematic–like measles and mumps–could return in force if underestimated. With air travel being so common, a disease that is mostly absent from the United States could come over from another country.
Even common diseases like chicken pox can turn nasty. The lesions caused by chicken pox can become infected with bacteria such as necrotizing fasciitis. While not everyone’s chicken pox–whether contracted as a child or adult–will turn into this, it’s better not to take the chance.
6: Vaccines work 100%
Vaccines made with a live but weakened virus are only about 95% effective. Killed vaccines work between 75 and 80% of the time. There’s still a chance of getting the disease, even once immunized. But that’s where herd immunity comes back in. If the virus has a harder time getting a foothold, it won’t stick around to infect that small percentage of the population.
5: Babies can’t handle so many vaccines
Just as it won’t harm an adult to receive a high number of vaccines, it won’t harm your child. Children encounter a lot in the world just by exploring that challenges their immune system. Vaccines make up a small percentage of all the contaminants and pathogens in a child’s life. Rather than causing harm, they will help ward off much of these before they become a problem.
4: Vaccines give you diseases
Actually, most vaccines contain dead or severely weakened forms of viruses. These killed pathogens can’t replicate, and therefore can’t give you the virus. Some vaccines, however, do contain a weakened form in order to provoke an immune response. Otherwise, your body wouldn’t react, and your immune system would never learn to recognize the disease. In these cases, they can cause a fever and/or a rash.
3: Vaccines contain harmful additives
While nothing is 100 percent safe–not even crossing the street or your favorite fun activity–vaccines are much more likely to help you than they are to cause any harm. One other common cause of vaccine-related fear is thimerosol, a preservative that contains a form of mercury called ethylmercury. This is no longer present in most vaccines as of 1999, and you can ask your doctor for a thimerosol-free flu shot.
Other additives to vaccines–like formaldehyde or aluminum–are used in trace amounts. In fact, your body produces higher rates of formaldehyde on its own than you can receive from a vaccination.
2: My child should wait before receiving vaccines
Unless your doctor tells you otherwise, this could be dangerous for your child. Immunization protects the vulnerable, which includes very small children. Waiting could cause your pre-kindergarten child to run across an unvaccinated adult or child carrying a disease to which they are not immune. One sad example comes from Wisconsin, when 300 children under 12 months contracted whooping cough. Of these, 177 were under 6 months old. Half were hospitalized and three died from an easily-prevented disease.
1: Vaccines cause autism
This commonly-heard myth starts in 1997 with Andrew Wakefield, a British surgeon. He published a study on the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, claiming that it increased autism in British children. It has since been discredited, and Wakefield lost his medical license.
Despite this, people still believe that MMR and other early vaccines cause autism and other developmental disorders. But contemporary studies have shown that children can exhibit signs of autism prior to receiving this vaccine–and that autism even develops before birth, long before any vaccinations.