Category: Vaxopedia

Who is Meryl Dorey?

Meryl Dorey and her Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network have been found to push misleading and inaccurate information about vaccines.
Meryl Dorey and her AVN have been found to push misleading information about vaccines.

Haven’t heard of Meryl Dorey?

She is the Rosemary Fox of Australia.

Rosemary Fox?

She is the Barbara Loe Fisher of the UK.

Just as Fox formed the Association of Parents of Vaccine Damaged Children and Fisher formed Dissatisfied Parents Together (which later became the NVIC), Meryl Dorey formed the Australian Vaccination Network.

Basically, if you look at their roles in the history of the anti-vaccine movement, they all work to scare parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids.

Who is Meryl Dorey?

Meryl Dorey takes it to a whole other level though.

“Court orders rape of a child. Think this is an exaggeration? Think again. This is assault without consent and with full penetration too.”

Meryl Dorey

Why was she talking about rape?

A court had sided with a father who wanted his daughter vaccinated, even though his ex-wife, with whom he shared custody, didn’t.

Does that sound anything like rape to you?

Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network

The Australian Vaccination Network was formed in 1994.

The AVN was later ordered to change its name because it was too misleading and they chose the Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network.

“Fair Trading acted in this matter after receiving numerous complaints, including from the Australian Medical Association, that the AVN name was misleading given its overwhelming focus on the publication of anti-vaccination messages and information.”

Minister for Fair Trading Agency Anthony Roberts

Of course, they haven’t stopped pushing anti-vaccination misinformation.

And if you didn’t think someone could go lower than the rape analogy, Meryl Dorey has actually harassed a family whose 4-week-old baby died of whooping cough!

What else has she done?

  • when discussing a campaign slogan to help associate vaccines with shaken baby syndrome, Meryl Dorey suggested using “Shaken Maybe Syndrome” as a great sound bite
  • also suggested using the catch phrase “Shaken from the inside” to help highlight what she thinks is the “devastating internal adverse reactions from vaccines” and what are causing shaken baby syndrome
  • Meryl Dorey said that getting measles is the equivalent of getting a hang nail, although “hang nails can be a bit more painful!”

After an investigation in 2014, Meryl Dorey and her group also received a warning from the New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission.

“The Commission has established that AVN does not provide reliable information in relation to certain vaccines and vaccination more generally. The Commission considers that AVN’s dissemination of misleading, misrepresented and incorrect information about vaccination engenders fear and alarm and is likely to detrimentally affect the clinical management or care of its readers.

Given the issues identified with the information disseminated by AVN, the Commission urges general caution is exercised when using AVN’s website or Facebook page to research vaccination and to consult other reliable sources, including speaking to a medical practitioner, to make an informed decision.

The Commission has recommended that AVN amend its published information with regard to the above issues and the Commission will monitor the implementation of these recommendations.”

NSW Health Care Complains Commission on the AVN

Most recently, Meryl Dorey’s group hosted the Vaxxed Down Under Tour, which ended up getting Polly Tommey, one of the producers, banned from returning to Australia for at least three years!

What To Know About Meryl Dorey

Like most folks in the anti-vaccine movement, Meryl Dorey and her AVN group push “misleading, misrepresented and incorrect information about vaccination” that helps scare parents away from the vaccines that could help protect them from vaccine-preventable diseases.

More on Meryl Dorey

Is the HPV Vaccine a Savior or the Most Dangerous Vaccine Ever Made?

I’m still surprised at the responses some parents have when I mention that it is time for their kids to get their HPV vaccine.

Despite what you might read on the Internet, the HPV vaccines are safe and necessary.
Despite what you might read on the Internet, the HPV vaccines are safe and necessary.

While most say things like, “good, I was wondering when they would start it,” a minority still use arguments that could come straight off of any anti-vaccine website or forum.

Is the HPV Vaccine Dangerous?

The HPV isn’t dangerous, but it is easy to see why some parents still think that it is.

How many myths about the HPV vaccine have you heard?

“I don’t like this vaccine… Heaven help us if we have a generation of kids who get a hepatitis B vaccine and a HPV vaccine and they think that now unprotected sex is okay…

I don’t think it is really clear that this vaccine is really as safe as they say it is and it is certainly not as dangerous as they say it is, but I recommend against it in my practice.”

Dr. Jay Gordon discussing the HPV vaccine on the Ricki Lake Show

You can rest assured that they aren’t true.

Deciding to Get an HPV Vaccine

The HPV vaccines are well studied and in continuing studies have only been found to cause mild side effects, just like most other vaccines.

Still undecided?

“The manufacturers of Cervarix and Gardasil are following patients in Scandinavia for at least 15 years to verify that protection from both vaccines lasts at least that long.”

National Cancer Institute on HPV Vaccines

Parents who are still hesitant should know that:

  • Gardasil, the first HPV vaccine, was approved by the FDA in 2006. The first phase 1 and phase 2 trials began in 1997. It has been given to over 200,000,000 children, teens, and young adults for over 10 years now all over the world.
  • while fainting might occur after vaccination, it is also not uncommon after other vaccinations and medical procedures, especially in teens. It is not a specific issue caused by the HPV vaccine or any vaccine, for that matter.
  • the HPV vaccine does not cause primary ovarian failure, venous blood clots, behavior problems, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune disorders, or any of the other serious side effects you read on the Internet
  • while the HPV vaccine won’t protect against all forms of HPV, it protects against the forms that are most likely to cause cervical cancer. Just two types of HPV, types 16 and 18, cause 70% of cervical cancers, and another two types, types 6 and 11, cause 90% of genital warts. All are included in the Gardasil vaccine and Cervarix includes the types most likely to cause cervical cancer.
  • HPV is not rare – in fact, it is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. While many infections do go away on their own, spontaneously, others linger and can cause cervical cancer.
  • HPV doesn’t just cause cervical cancer though, it can also cause vaginal, vulvar, penile, and anal, and oropharyngeal cancer, and genital warts
  • the HPV vaccines seem to provide long lasting protection, although, as with any new vaccine, we won’t know just how long the true duration of protection is until the vaccines have been out even longer. So far, Gardasil and Cervarix are providing protection that lasts at least 8 and 9 years.
  • boys need the HPV vaccine too, as there are around 11,000 cases of HPV induced cancer in men each year, including anal cancer and cancers of the mouth/throat and penis.
  • you want your child to get the HPV vaccine before they are having sex, to prevent them from ever getting infected with HPV, which is why it is routinely recommended when kids are 11 to 12 years old. That they are not sexually active yet is the whole point! As with other vaccines, if you continue to wait, you might eventually wait too long, although you can still get the vaccine if they are already sexually active, even if they are already infected with HPV, as it might protect them against another strain that they don’t have yet.
  • getting the HPV vaccine does not make it more likely that a teen will have sex
  • using condoms will not prevent all HPV infections. HPV can also spread through nonpenetrative sexual contact.
  • cervical cancer is serious, with about 4,200 women dying of cervical cancer each year, even in this age of routine pap tests
  • although you may hear that the HPV vaccine has been banned in some places, it is still offered in Japan, Utah, and other places where they talk about these bans, and since 2014, at least 64 countries have added the HPV vaccine to their immunization schedule

Get educated about vaccines and get your kids their HPV vaccine series. Remember that if you start the series before your kids are 15 years old, they only need two doses of the vaccine. After 15 years, they need 3 doses.

What To Know About Deciding to Get an HPV Vaccine

The HPV vaccines are safe, they work, and are necessary, which are beliefs shared by experts and most parents who decide to get their kids vaccinated and protected against HPV.

More Information on Deciding to Get an HPV Vaccine

 

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Hepatitis A Outbreaks

The hepatitis A vaccine, introduced in 1996, worked to decrease the incidence of hepatitis A infections in the United States.
The hepatitis A vaccine, introduced in 1996, worked to decrease the incidence of hepatitis A infections in the United States. Source – CDC Division of Viral Hepatitis

Hepatitis A is a now vaccine-preventable disease thanks to the hepatitis A vaccine that was first licensed in 1995.

Despite being added to the childhood immunization schedule in 1996 (kids living in high risk areas at first and gradually expanded to all kids in 2006), we do continue to see outbreaks of hepatitis A.

Hepatitis A

Although they are all viruses that can cause hepatitis, hepatitis A doesn’t share too much in common with hepatitis B and C.

Unlike hepatitis B and C, hepatitis A:

  • often doesn’t cause any symptoms at all in very young children
  • is spread by fecal-oral transmission (not blood and body fluids), typically from one person to another or after eating or drinking contaminated food or water
  • is much less likely to cause complications, but still did cause over 100 deaths from fulminant hepatitis A each year

In older children and adults, they symptoms of hepatitis A can include jaundice, fever, malaise, anorexia, nausea, abdominal discomfort, and dark urine, all of which can linger for up to two to six months.

Hepatitis A Epidemics and Outbreaks

In the prevaccine era, before the mid-1990s, hepatitis A outbreaks were common and “hepatitis A occurred in large nationwide epidemics”

After it became a nationally reportable disease in 1966, we saw peaks of hepatitis A disease in the early 1970s and again in the early 1990s and an estimated 180,000 infections per year in the United States.

Not surprisingly, those large nationwide epidemics soon disappeared as hepatitis A vaccination rates rose.

“Vaccination of high risk groups and public health measures have significantly reduced the number of overall hepatitis A cases and fulminant HAV cases. Nonetheless, hepatitis A results in substantial morbidity, with associated costs caused by medical care and work loss.”

CDC on the Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases

We do still see some hepatitis A outbreaks though, including:

  • a multistate outbreak in 2016 linked to frozen strawberries (143 cases and 56 hospitalizations)
  • an outbreak in Hawaii in 2016 linked to raw scallops (292 cases and 74 hospitalizations)
  • a multistate outbreak in 2013 linked to pomegranate seeds from Turkey (162 cases and 71 hospitalizations)

So you can get hepatitis A if you are not immune and you are caught up in one of these outbreaks. Still, hepatitis A cases are at historic lows, with about 1,390 cases being reported in 2015.

Even more commonly, you might get hepatitis A if you are not immune and travel to a part of the world where hepatitis A either has high or intermediate endemicity (many people are infected), including many parts of Africa, Mexico, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, and Asia.

Or you could just be exposed to someone who traveled to or from one of these areas, became infected, and is still contagious.

There have also been outbreaks among men having sex with men, among IV drug users, and the homeless. These outbreaks are often the most deadly, and include fatal outbreaks in Michigan, California, and Colorado.

Avoiding Hepatitis A

How can you avoid getting caught up in one of these hepatitis A outbreaks?

Get vaccinated.

Can’t you just wash your hands or avoid eating contaminated food? Since you can get hepatitis A by simply eating food that has been prepared by someone who has hepatitis A and is still contagious, washing your own hands won’t be enough. Even drinking bottled water when traveling might not protect you from contaminated water if you use ice cubes or wash fruits and vegetables in water that might be contaminated.

Remember, if your child did not get a routine 2-dose series of the hepatitis A vaccine when they were between 12 to 23 months old, they can still get one at any time to get immunity against hepatitis A infections.

“On February 25, 2009, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended routine hepatitis A vaccination for household members and other close personal contacts (e.g., regular babysitters) of adopted children newly arriving from countries with high or intermediate hepatitis A endemicity.”

ACIP on the  Latest Hepatitis A Vaccine Recommendations

Adults can get the vaccine too. It is an especially good idea if you are not immune and will be traveling out of the United States or are in another risk group, including food handlers, daycare workers, health care workers, and people who consume high risk foods, especially raw shellfish.

What to Know About Hepatitis A Outbreaks

Although we are at historic lows for cases of hepatitis A, make sure that your family has been vaccinated against hepatitis A so that they don’t get caught up in the next outbreak.

More Information on Hepatitis A Outbreaks:

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Myths About Polio and Acute Flaccid Paralysis

Polio is one of the most well known causes of acute flaccid paralysis.

Although most people with polio infections have no symptoms at all ,or just have a very mild illness, with a sore throat and a low grade fever, a small percentage can develop:

  • a loss of superficial reflexes
  • severe muscle aches and spasms in their limbs or back
  • an asymmetrical flaccid paralysis with diminished deep tendon reflexes

This acute flaccid paralysis only affects the child’s strength in the affected muscle groups – there is no loss of sensation. The severity of the symptoms and the disease depends on which muscles are affected the most. If it is just your legs, then you will have trouble walking. On the other hand, if affects your chest, then you might not be able to bring unless you are put on a ventilator (iron lung).

Acute Flaccid Paralysis

Thinking about it in the context of polio, it becomes easy to understand acute flaccid paralysis or AFP.

It is the sudden onset (acute) of a flaccid (floppy or poor muscle tone) paralysis (weakness or inability to move) of one or more muscles.

But what many people don’t understand, is that in addition to polio, there are many more non-polio causes of AFP.

Non-Polio AFP

Many of us got a crash course in non-polio acute flaccid paralysis (NP-AFP) a few years ago when we started hearing reports of kids developing polio-like paralysis in 2014. Now thought to be caused by enterovirus D68 infections (EV-D68), the paralysis followed respiratory tract infections in many of the affected children. All together, at least 120 children in 34 states developed acute flaccid paralysis that year.

Interestingly, EV-D68 is one of more than 100 non-polio enteroviruses. The virus that causes hand, foot, and mouth disease, coxsackievirus A16, is another. Others cause pinkeye, meningitis, or encephalitis.

Keep in mind that many other viruses and conditions can cause non-polio AFP though, including:

  • Guillian-Barré syndrome
  • toxins (botulism)
  • tumors
  • transverse myelitis
  • traumatic neuritis
  • other infections, including novel enterovirus C105, a non-polio enterovirus, and even tick-borne (Lyme disease) and mosquito-borne (Japanese encephalitis) infections

How do you determine the cause and how do you know it isn’t polio?

These kids with AFP typically have extensive testing to determine what is causing their AFP, including an MRI, antibody tests, and testing of their cerebrospinal fluid, etc. Although it isn’t always possible to identify a cause, you can at least rule out many potential suspects, like trauma, polio, and other infections.

Myths About Polio and Acute Flaccid Paralysis

Some folks don’t believe in non-polio AFP.

They believe that polio never really disappeared because vaccines don’t really work and that polio was simply renamed to, you guessed it, acute flaccid paralysis.

“Unbeknownst to most doctors, the polio-vaccine history involves a massive public health service makeover during an era when a live, deadly strain of poliovirus infected the Salk polio vaccines, and paralyzed hundreds of children and their contacts. These were the vaccines that were supposedly responsible for the decline in polio from 1955 to 1961! But there is a more sinister reason for the “decline” in polio during those years; in 1955, a very creative re-definition of poliovirus infections was invented, to “cover” the fact that many cases of ”polio” paralysis had no poliovirus in their systems at all. While this protected the reputation of the Salk vaccine, it muddied the waters of history in a big way.”

Suzanne Humphries, MD on Smoke, Mirrors, and the “Disappearance” Of Polio

What’s there evidence?

A rise in cases of non-polio AFP in India since 1997.

How do we know that there has been a rise in non-polio AFP cases in India since 1997?

It’s very simple and explains why there isn’t any data on before that 1997. As part of the strategy to eliminate polio in that country, starting in 1997, all cases of AFP started getting tested for polio. It was a way to track the effectiveness of the immunization program. If you were seeing too many cases of AFP caused by polio, then not enough people were getting vaccinated. On the other hand, if you weren’t seeing any cases of AFP in an area, then the testing and surveillance probably wasn’t getting none, since there will always be some cases of non-polio AFP.

Unfortunately, they found many cases to track. And the cases kept increasing, although more and more, they weren’t being caused by polio. At least not by live polio virus.

Were they caused by the polio vaccine?

In some cases, yes. It is well known that the live polio vaccine can rarely cause VAPP and cVDPV.

By 2015, after polio was declared free of polio (the last case was in 2011), none of those cases of AFP were found to be caused by wild polio though. And India hasn’t had a case of cVDPV since 2010.

Why the increase in cases of non-polio AFP? It certainly isn’t because of Suzanne Humphries’ polio virus renaming conspiracy or any other anti-vaccine conspiracy involving the polio vaccine itself.

The 'data' that Susanne Humphries uses to try and make her case about AFP neglects to mention that in the pre-vaccine era, polio paralyzed 500 to 1,000 children in India each day! Those 180,000 to 365,000 cases of paralysis wouldn't fit on her chart though...
The ‘data’ that Susanne Humphries uses to try and make her case about AFP neglects to mention that in the pre-vaccine era, polio paralyzed 500 to 1,000 children in India each day! Those 180,000 to 365,000 cases of paralysis wouldn’t fit on her chart though…

If we simply renamed polio to non-polio AFP, why did the numbers drop for so long and then slowly start to increase? Shouldn’t it have been a rapid crossover?

More importantly,  why are the case of paralysis from non-polio AFP so much lower than the pre-vaccine era cases of AFP from polio?

And how come we rarely see large outbreaks of AFP like we did in the pre-vaccine era?

Sure, 120 kids in the EV-D68 non-polio AFP outbreak of 2014 is way more than any of us would like to see, but it is tremendously less than what we used to see in the pre-vaccine era from polio.

“Poliomyelitis is one of the important emergent viral diseases of the twentieth century… At its height, from 1950–1954, poliomyelitis resulted in the paralysis of some 22,000 U.S. citizens each year… Many thousands were left permanently disabled by the disease, while many others suffocated as a consequence of respiratory paralysis.”

Barry Trevelyan on the The Spatial Dynamics of Poliomyelitis in the US

While anti-vaccine conspiracy theories about AFP are as easy to dismiss as all of the rest they bring up,  what is behind the rise in AFP in some areas of the world?

Although one study that was published in Pediatrics, “Trends in Nonpolio Acute Flaccid Paralysis Incidence in India 2000 to 2013,” did find a correlation between the use of the OPV vaccine and the incidence of non-polio AFP, many experts think the rise is a result of better screening. Also, once polio gets under control, other more neglected diseases start getting more attention, like enteroviral infections. Not surprisingly, other parts of the world have had the same experience.

There is also the fact that in 2005, the Global Poliomyelitis Eradication Initiative began “to cast a wider net for poliovirus detection and to maximize sensitivity so that every poliomyelitis case is detected.” Why? If even a single case was missed, it could lead to continued outbreaks and would get in the way of polio elimination in the country.

“This large increase in NP-AFP cases, which represent AFP cases caused by agents other than poliovirus, probably reflects the excellent implementation of the expanded definition of AFP and highly sensitive surveillance and detection methods used by NPSP in India from 2005 onwards…”

C. Durga Rao on Nonpolio Acute Flaccid Paralysis in India

So did the polio vaccine recently cause 53,000 paralysis victims in India?

No. The polio vaccine has worked to get us on the brink of eradicating polio though.

What To Know About Acute Flaccid Paralysis

Acute flaccid paralysis can be caused by the polio virus, but non-polio acute flaccid paralysis becomes a more important cause once polio is eliminated in a region.

More About Acute Flaccid Paralysis

Parents Who Regret Not Vaccinating Their Kids

My uncle got polio just before the vaccine was developed. He was hospitalized for six months, almost didn't survive, and lived with atrophied muscles in one of his legs.
My uncle got polio just before the vaccine was developed. He was hospitalized for six months, almost didn’t survive, and lived with atrophied muscles in one of his legs.

A rather strange anti-vaccine argument you might sometimes hear is that you can’t unvaccinate your kids (even though they push detox plans that say they do exactly that), so go ahead and wait to vaccinate them until you have “done your research” and are sure.

The problem with that argument, like most others that anti-vaccine folks use to justify their decisions to skip or delay vaccines, is that you can wait too long.

“In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the smallpox taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of the parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.”

Benjamin Franklin Autobiography

Tragically, Ben Franklin wasn’t the last parent to regret not vaccinating his child.

More Parents Who Regret Not Vaccinating Their Kids

Roald Dahl, who famously wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, is less well known for having a daughter who died of measles. It was just before the measles vaccine came out, so he didn’t regret not vaccinating her, but in urging other parents to protect their children, he did seem to regret that a vaccine wasn’t yet available.

For many other parents, a vaccine was available that could have kept their kids from getting sick.

“In 1989, the Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine was relatively new and not yet routine. I was aware of the vaccine’s availability, but, busy mom that I was, I had not yet made the trip to the health department to get the immunization for my two-year-old daughter, Sarah. I will always regret that bit of procrastination and the anguish that it caused.”

Peggy Archer

Some of them have shared their personal stories, including the parents of:

  • Abby Peterson‘s “pediatrician steered her away from vaccinating her daughter” against chickenpox and her mother, Duffy Peterson, now says that “she wishes she had questioned the doctor’s recommendations more forcefully.” Abby died of a chicken pox infection.
  • Emily Lastinger who was unvaccinated and died of flu.
  • After all seven of her unvaccinated kids caught whooping cough, this parent regretted not having them vaccinated.
  • Claire Noelle Bakke who got pertussis when she was five weeks old
  • Scarlet Anne Taylor who died of the flu during the 2014-15 flu season
  • this unvaccinated three year old who spent six days in the hospital (part of it in a slight coma, during which they weren’t sure he would survive) with Haemophilus influenzae type b epiglottitis
  • Abigail who was unvaccinated and died of invasive pneumococcal disease
  • these two unvaccinated kids who developed severe dehydration from rotavirus infections
  • Sarah who was unvaccinated and developed a croupy cough when she was two-years-old and ended up on a ventilator with Haemophilus influenzae type b epiglottitis
  • Ashley who died from the flu and had never gotten a flu shot
  • Evan who died of a vaccine-preventable disease because his mom was not told about the vaccine that could have prevented it

There is another group of parents who have regrets about vaccines. Those parents whose kids can’t be vaccinated (too young to be vaccinated, have cancer, or have another medical exemption, etc.) are put at risk and exposed to vaccine-preventable diseases by intentionally unvaccinated kids. These parents typically regret that those around them don’t get vaccinated and protected.

Your decision to get educated and vaccinate your family shouldn’t be based on fear or concerns of regret if you delay or skip any vaccines, but these types of personal stories are important to review, especially if you also hear, watch, or read any stories about vaccine injuries.

What To Know About Regretting Not Vaccinating Your Kids

Delaying or skipping one or more vaccines isn’t safer or healthier, it just puts your child at increased of catching the vaccine-preventable diseases the vaccines protect you against and might lead to feelings of regret if you wait too long.

More On Parents Who Regret Not Vaccinating Their Kids

Vaccine Induced Diseases

In addition to autism, many anti-vaccination ‘experts’ continue to claim that vaccines cause other diseases and conditions, including SIDS and Shaken Baby Syndrome.

Vaccine Injuries

Are there any real vaccine induced diseases?

There is vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP), which can rarely occur after getting the oral polio vaccine.

And there are other conditions that are listed as table injuries under the NVICP, including brachial neuritis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, thrombocytopenic purpura, and encephalitis, etc.

Vaccine Induced Diseases

Vaccines can also sometimes cause fainting and febrile seizures.

Most other ‘vaccine induced diseases’ that are supposed to be caused by a vaccine injury have been proven to not be though.

These include:

  • ADHD
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • ASIA
  • seasonal allergies
  • asthma
  • Celiac disease
  • diabetes
  • Down syndrome (Trisomy 21)
  • eczema
  • Graves disease
  • Gulf War Syndrome
  • Henoch-Schoenlein purpura
  • infertility
  • Kawasaki syndrome
  • leprosy
  • Lou Gehrig’s disease
  • multiple sclerosis
  • myasthenia gravis
  • obesity
  • Parkinson’s disease
  • peanut allergies
  • POTS
  • SSPE

The NVIC even provides “new evidence for a connection” between diabetes and vaccination reactions – from 1998.

And many sites claim they can ‘heal’ your child’s vaccine induced diseases (VIDS) with homeopathy or detox plans scams.

What To Know About Vaccine Induced Diseases

Vaccines are not 100% safe, but it is rare for them to cause serious conditions, and they certainly do not cause all of the ‘vaccine induced diseases’ that some folks try to scare you about.

More About Vaccine Induced Diseases

Who Is at Risk If You Don’t Vaccinate Your Kids?

Passive immunity doesn't last until 12 months, when infants get their first dose of the MMR vaccine, so they are at risk for disease.
Passive immunity doesn’t last until 12 months, when infants get their first dose of the MMR vaccine, so they are at risk for disease. Photo by Jamie Beverly (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Whenever there is a discussion about folks who intentionally choose to not vaccinate themselves or their kids, one of their arguments invariably is ‘why are you so worried if you and your kids are vaccinated?”

Here is an example:

“My argument is simple. If you are vaccinated, you should not have to fear an outbreak of any preventable disease. That’s what the vaccine is supposed to prevent, right? Therefore, why should anyone butt into someone else’s business and tell them they should vaccinate? If one and one’s dependents are vaccinated, why should they have to worry about my personal decision to not vaccinate?”

I personally don’t believe in vaccines

As most people understand, the argument is far from simple.

Who Is at Risk If You Don’t Vaccinate Your Kids?

There are many people who are at risk from those who are unvaccinated, including those who:

  • are too young to be vaccinated or fully vaccinated – remember, with the latest immunization schedule, kids don’t typically get their first MMR until age 12 months and their second until they are 4 to 6 years old
  • can’t be fully vaccinated and have a true medical exemption – this includes children and adults with some immune system problems, vaccine allergies, or other contraindications to getting one or more vaccines
  • were vaccinated, but later developed an immune system problem and their immunity has worn off – might include children with cancer, AIDS, those receiving immunosuppressive therapy after a transplant, or a condition that requires immunosuppressive doses of steroids, etc.
  • were vaccinated, but their vaccine didn’t work or has begun to wear off (waning immunity) – vaccines work well, but no vaccine is 100% effective

These are the children and adults that can be, and should be, protected by herd immunity. At least they can be when most folks are vaccinated.

“We want to create a ‘protective cocoon’ of immunized persons surrounding patients with primary immunodeficiency diseases so that they have less chance of being exposed to a potentially serious infection like influenza.”

Medical Advisory Committee of the Immune Deficiency Foundation

So while some folks who are against vaccines try to scare others about shedding, those who take care of kids with immune system problems and their families go out of the way to get everyone around them vaccinated so their kids aren’t at risk of getting a vaccine-preventable disease!

“…the increased risk of disease in the pediatric population, in part because of increasing rates of vaccine refusal and in some circumstances more rapid loss of immunity, increases potential exposure of immunodeficient children.”

Medical Advisory Committee of the Immune Deficiency Foundation

Tragically, not everyone has gotten the message, and we continue to see and hear about kids who are too young to be vaccinated or who couldn’t be vaccinated get exposed to those who got sick because they simply chose to not get vaccinated.

What to Know About Risks from the Unvaccinated

Intentionally unvaccinated children and adults put others at risk for vaccine-preventable diseases.

More Information on Risks from the Unvaccinated