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December 13, 2002
U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS
"Suspicions About the Safety of Vaccines"
New England Journal of Medicine (www.nejm.org) (11/07/02) Vol. 347, No. 19, P. 1475; Campion, Edward W.
The safety of vaccines is an important issue because they are usually given to children and other healthy people. Uncorroborated claims of negative effects associated with vaccines have occurred because of mistrust of vaccine makers, recent recalls of approved drugs, the discovery of mercury-containing preservatives in some vaccines, fear-sparking Internet sites, and heightened consumer concern about safety. The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine was thought [by some] to be associated with autism because of research on children with gastrointestinal symptoms and behavioral abnormalities. Some scientists saw the results to means that autism was related to the lymphoid tissue abnormalities caused by the vaccine. Other factors were the fact that MMR vaccination occurs around the same age as when autism symptoms surface and that the incidence of the developmental disorder has increased greatly in recent years. But a recent Danish study in the New England Journal of Medicine is the latest research to disprove the link between MMR vaccination and autism. The negative consequences of false negative reports about vaccines is that people may avoid inoculations, legal action, increased difficult in running vaccination programs, and pharmaceutical companies becoming reluctant to develop the products.
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PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS
OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR
LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND
COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH
YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.