E-NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL VACCINE INFORMATION CENTER

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UNITED WAY/COMBINED FEDERAL CAMPAIGN

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"Protecting the health and informed consent rights of children since 1982."

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FROM WTOP RADIO-WASHINGTON DC

The Mommy Track by michelle komes dolge

Immunizations

aired: March 18 - 27, 2002

How safe are your children's vaccines?

If you haven't had a child in the past few years, you may be surprised at the number of shots kids get these days. Children get 23 shots, covering 11 different diseases, before entering kindergarten.

What you may not know is that the safety of immunizations is a hot topic among parents these days, and there's a growing number of well-educated, well-meaning parents out there who are not getting their kids vaccinated on purpose.

The most common concern is, "Will I expose my child to a horrible side effect from the vaccine?" The internet has fueled the debate. Search the word "vaccine" and you'll find hundreds of anti-vaccine websites and message boards.

This generation of parents - in their 20s, 30s, and 40s - have never encountered polio, measles, diptheria or whooping cough. And they're wondering if the side effect risks are worth it.

Why immunize?

"In the modern world, especially in the United States, we forget how bad it was in the bad old days," says Dr. Bud Wiederman - a specialist in infectious diseases at Children's Hospital . "So if we stopped immunizing, we'd be back to where we started - literally, like a developing country."

But there are parents - and scientists - who say we can do better. There is growing concern over the use of mercury, thimerisol, and specifically the DTP and the MMR vaccines. And so some parents are deciding to NOT immunize their children.

Wiederman says he's seen that happen overseas. "In countries like Japan and England, where there was concern about the side effects so much, that many of the parents in those countries refused immunizations," says Wiederman, "and they had major outbreaks of whooping cough."

And that's Wiederman's concern: outbreaks of infectious diseases among children. Take the Hib vaccine which immunizes against bacterial menengitis. A few years ago, Wiederman was seeing 80 to 100 cases a year. Now, he says, he only sees 1 every 5 years or so.

Deciding that vaccines aren't for your children

When Annette Nelson had her daughter 8 years ago, she took a look at her family history. "I know that I reacted to vaccines as a child, I have a cousin who is autistic, and also on her father's side, there have been vaccine reactions in his children from a previous marriage."

And so, she decided against vaccinating her daughter.

Nelson says she has questioned her decision only once, "And I researched the disease first. I learned the course of the disease. I learned the symptoms of the disease, and I learned all the possible outcomes. And what I learned was the really awful outcomes they tell us are really the minority."

Her daughter has had chicken pox and German measles, with no problems, but nothing more severe.

Educating yourself

Not long ago, vaccine safety was considered a fringe topic. But the debate has been fueled in the past couple years by the mainstream media: a 60 Minutes report, Parents and Parenting magazine articles, and of course, the internet.

"The problem is there's good information and bad information on the internet, and no one is regulating it - not that anyone should," says Dr. Bud Wiederman, an infectious diseases specialist at Children's Hospital.

Nelson spent months researching vaccine safety. "I got information from the CDC; I also got information from the National Vaccine Information Center in Vienna, Virginia; I talked to the state health department; I talked to the doctors I was dealing with at the time; I talked to other parents. And I read alot."

When she decided against immunizing her daughter, that meant finding a physician who supported her.

"Its about finding a doctor who respects that the parents are educated and that the parents are making the best decision for their child," Nelson explains.

Dr. Wiederman agrees that working with your physician is important.

"Physicians can't monitor everything that goes out there (on the internet)," he says. "If parents are searching around, looking for other answers and come up with something, they should consult their physician. Direct that physician to the website, or send them a printout of it, and see what they think of it."

The MMR/Autism connection

In 1998, a controversial British study - called the Wakefield study - suggested that in rare cases, the MMR - the measles, mumps and rubella shot - could trigger autism. The study was of only 12 children.

Dr. Wiederman says the latest research disproves Wakefield, "Now somehow that's taken off in the media and elsewhere, in spite of the fact, that we have out some very impressive studies out recently - one from England and one from California - involving thousands and even hundred of thousands of children that can NOT find a link."

But that doesn't mean that parents aren't still talking about it.

"I think that it's almost got a life of it's own now. But as hard as people can look, we can't find a link," Dr. Wiederman says. "That doesn't mean there aren't questions unanswered."

Ensuring safe vaccines for your kids

If you're a little nervous about all the vaccines your child gets, but you still want to get your child vaccinated, there are things you can do to lessen the chances of her having a bad reaction.

Most reactions are minor: redness, soreness, crankiness or low-grade fevers. Here's what you can do to prevent anything worse, according to Parenting Magazine and Consumer Reports:

* Ask for the safest vaccine possible. That means getting the DTaP, not the older DTP, which has been known to cause high fevers, convulsions and in rare cases, allergic reactions. Don't use the oral polio vaccine. Also, ask for mercury-free formulations on all your vaccines.

* Keep your own records about the date, manufacturer and lot number of each shot.

* If your child has an allergy to neomycin, streptomycin or gelatin, eggs or baker's yeast, make sure the vaccines don't contain them.

* Make sure your child is healthy when vaccinated. You and your doctor may want to postpone the shots if your child has a fever, diarrhea, or an infection.

* Seek information from reliable sources, but be aware that some official sounding organizations have an anti-vaccine bias.

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