Tag: infant mortality rate

First Day Deaths and the Hepatitis B Vaccine

Worldwide, one million babies die within 24 hours of their birth?

Why?

“The initial 24 hours of a child’s life are the most dangerous with over one million newborns around the world dying each year on their first and only day of life, according to Ending Newborn Deaths, a new report by Save the Children. The research reveals of another 1.2 million tragic losses: stillbirths where the heart stopped beating during labour. In total, 2.9 million babies die in their first month. Most of these deaths occur because of premature birth and complications during birth – such as, prolonged labour, pre-eclampsia, and infection.”
WHO on One Million Babies Die Within 24 Hours Of Birth

It ain’t vaccines…

First Day Deaths and the Hepatitis B Vaccine

Of course, that doesn’t keep anti-vaccine folks from trying to correlate the two things, especially with the hepatitis B vaccine.

The neonatal mortality rate is actually similar among developed countries…

Korea for example, gives a birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine.

The 2017 Immunization Schedule for South Korea includes all of the US vaccines, plus BCG and Japanese encephalitis vaccines. The birth dose of hepatitis B was added to their schedule in 1991.

In general, Korea’s immunization schedule looks a lot like the one used in the United States. And Korea has both a lower infant and neonatal mortality rate than the United States and most European countries.

What about the idea that the United States has 50% more first day deaths than all other developed countries combined?

That’s likely true.

But not because of vaccines.

In addition to our higher population, this reflects “significant gaps between babies born to wealthy, well-educated urban mothers and those born to poor, less-educated mothers,” among other factors.

“In the United States, many suspect increases are due to more high-risk pregnancies caused by the rising prevalence of obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, more older women having children, advancements in fertility treatments that result in multiple births, and the high rate of cesarean sections – all of which increase the risk a mother faces during pregnancy and childbirth. Recent studies in the U.S. also suggest that poor quality care and better counting of maternal deaths may play a role.”
State of the World’s Mothers 2014

First day deaths are a serious issue.

It shouldn’t become yet another talking point anti-vaccine folks use to scare parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids.

Does Japan have the Lowest Infant Mortality Rate Following a Ban on Mandatory Vaccinations?

Vaccines don’t affect infant mortality rates as much as you would expect, because there are many other things that kill infants besides vaccine-preventable diseases. Things like birth defects, prematurity, injuries and complications during pregnancy.

Unfortunately, that gives anti-vaccine folks lots of opportunities to misuse statistics about infant mortality rates.

Does Japan have the Lowest Infant Mortality Rate Following a Ban on Mandatory Vaccinations?

The latest propaganda about vaccines and infant mortality rates relates to Japan.

“It may come as no surprise to many that the Japanese Government banned a number of vaccines that are currently mandatory in the United States and has strict regulations in place for other Big Pharma drugs and vaccines in general.”

Jay Greenberg on Anti-Vaccine Japan Has World’s Lowest Child Death Rate, Highest Life Expectancy

Most folks will understand why this is simply propaganda.

Japan never banned any vaccines.

The 2016 routine and voluntary immunization schedule in Japan. — The 2016 routine (Hib, Prevnar, hepB, DTaP, IPV, BCG, MR, Varicella, Japanese Encephalitis, DT, and HPV) and voluntary (mumps, rotavirus, hepA, meningococcal) immunization schedule in Japan.

Japan is not anti-vaccine. Although their immunization schedule is certainly a lot more complicated than ours, they give many of the same vaccines as every other developed country.

“Following a record number of children developing adverse reactions, including meningitis, loss of limbs, and even sudden death, the Japanese government banned the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine from its vaccination program, despite facing serious opposition from Big Pharma.”

Was the MMR vaccine banned in Japan?

The MMR vaccine was introduced in Japan in 1989, and four years later, the government withdrew its recommendation for the vaccine.

Why? Reports of aseptic meningitis. This was likely due to the Urabe strain of the mumps component in their MMR vaccine, which was not used in the United States.

“The data up to now have revealed low rates of aseptic meningitis and no cases of virologically proven meningitis following the use of Jeryl–Lynn and RIT 4385 strains.”

WHO on Safety of mumps vaccine strains

They didn’t ban the vaccine or vaccination though.

They returned to giving children separate measles, rubella, and mumps (optional) vaccines. Tragically, because many kids didn’t get vaccinated against mumps, the rate of aseptic meningitis from people who actually got mumps was 25 times higher than the rate from the MMR vaccine!

When comparing risks vs benefits, it clearly favored getting vaccinated.

“Due directly to these gaps in ‘herd’ immunization resulting from politicized transitions in vaccination policy by the government, there were outbreaks of rubella with 17,050 cases reported between the years of 2012 and 2014, and 45 cases of congenital rubella syndrome reported to the National Epidemiological Surveillance of Infectious Diseases from week 1, 2012 to week 40, 2014.”

Yusuke Tanaka on History repeats itself in Japan: Failure to learn from rubella epidemic leads to failure to provide the HPV vaccine

The switch over also lead to outbreaks of rubella and increased cases of congenital rubella syndrome.

That’s no surprise to those who remember what happened in 1975, when routine pertussis vaccinations were halted in Japan following the deaths of two children. That eventually lead to epidemic cases of whooping cough in the country and at least 41 deaths in children (in 1979) before the vaccine was restarted.

Unfortunately, once they moved to DTaP vaccines, they started to see an increase in allergic reactions after kids got their MMR vaccine. Why? Their version of the DTaP vaccine contained poorly hydrolyzed bovine gelatin, which likely sensitized infants, who then developed an allergic reaction after getting an MMR vaccine with gelatin. While gelatin was removed from their DTaP vaccines, these extra side effects likely scared some folks in Japan.

Japan’s Vaccine Problem

Japan has more vaccine-preventable diseases than many other industrial countries.

Is it because Japan is anti-vaccine?

Of course not.

By impulsively halting and withdrawing vaccines, the Japanese government has done a good job of scaring folks though. They have also been very slow to introduce new vaccines, although they are catching up, as hepatitis, B, rotavirus, Hib, pneumococcal, meningococcal, HPV, and the chicken pox vaccine are all now available in Japan.

Have there been any benefits?

Nope.

They might have lower infant mortality rates, but that has nothing to do with vaccines.

There is no correlation between the number of vaccines that a country gives and their infant mortality rate.

If infant mortality rates are linked to vaccines, how do you explain Finland?

Just look at the immunization schedules in Finland, Portugal, and other countries.

What about autism?

Rates of autism have increased in Japan, just as they have in other countries. So much for the idea that the MMR vaccine is associated with autism, right?

It should be obvious now that if anti-vaccine folks did any research at all, they wouldn’t use Japan as an example when they talk about vaccines.

With higher rates of vaccine-preventable disease and deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases, especially right after they impulsively halt a vaccine, Japan’s vaccine history simply demonstrates that vaccines work and that they are still very necessary.

One thing is true though. Japan’s infant mortality rate has been dropping, but then so has the infant mortality rate in almost all other countries, including the United States, which is at record low levels.

It certainly isn’t true that Japan’s infant mortality rate started to drop following a ban on mandatory vaccinations. How do we know that? Like many other countries, Japan has never had mandatory vaccinations. And not surprisingly, their infant mortality rate has continued to drop as they have added more vaccines and improved their immunization rates.

Has the United States’ Infant Mortality Rate Ranking Been Dropping as We Vaccinate More Kids?

Of all of the myths about vaccines that confuse and scare some parents, those about infant mortality rates can be especially hard to easily put aside.

After all, why doesn’t the United States rank better for infant mortality rates since most parents do vaccinate and protect their kids?

Vaccines and Infant Mortality Rates

That’s actually fairly easy to answer.

“Globally, the infant mortality rate has decreased from an estimated rate of 64.8 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990 to 30.5 deaths per 1000 live births in 2016.”
WHO on Infant Mortality Situation and Trends

Vaccine-preventable diseases don’t have much effect on infant mortality rates in the United States these days.

What does?

birth defects
premature births
SIDS
maternal complications of pregnancy
injuries

Think about it… If vaccines did increase infant mortality rates, then why would infant mortality rates be dropping as we vaccinate more kids?

Has the United States’ Infant Mortality Rate Ranking Been Dropping as We Vaccinate More Kids?

Do you know what has been dropping?

The Wisconsin Coalition for Informed Vaccination is pushing myths about SIDS and vaccines. — The Wisconsin Coalition for Informed Vaccination is pushing myths about infant mortality rates and vaccines.

The infant mortality rate.

In fact, infant mortality rates continue to drop and are now at their lowest levels ever.

While it is good news that the rate is dropping, most folks think they can be better.

For one thing, some states, like Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, and West Virginia, etc., have much higher infant mortality rates than others. Why? Much of those differences, can be explained by socio-economic factors. That’s also though to explain much of the differences in infant mortality rates between the U.S. and other developed countries, most of which have universal health care.

New Jersey, although they have ranked high for autism rates, has lower than average rates of infant mortality.

Another big difference is that many countries count infant mortality rates using different criteria than the United States.

For example, it is estimated that at least 40% of the differences between infant mortality rates in the United States and other countries is due to those countries not counting extremely preterm births among their statistics.

But why has the United States’ infant mortality ranking fallen relative to other developed nations?

Most European Countries had much higher infant mortality rates than the US in the 1960s and 70s, which affected relative rankings, even as all countries saw infant mortality rates fall. — OECD data shows that most European Countries have historically had much higher infant mortality rates than the US, which have affected relative rankings, even as all countries have seen infant mortality rates fall.

Although anti-vaccine groups try to tie this to ‘routine vaccination,’ it is easy to see that other countries have historically had much higher infant mortality rates than the United States. As they have caught up, the United States’ ranking has dropped relative to theirs, even though all have seen infant mortality rates drop.

Infant Mortality Rates in the Pre-Vaccine Era

But if you really want to understand the relationship of vaccines to infant mortality rates, you just have to look back to the pre-vaccine era. Back then, now vaccine-preventable diseases did have a big effect on infant mortality rates in the United States and elsewhere.

In 1910, for example, the most common causes of death for infants under 1 year were:

diarrhea and enteritis
premature birth
congenital debility
bronchopneumonia
pneumonia
malformations
bronchitis
convulsions
injuries at birth
whooping cough
tuberculosis
meningitis
measles
accident
diphtheria

Although advances in modern medicine would help decrease the mortality from many of those diseases, it was vaccines that truly worked to make sure they were no longer a big part of our infant mortality statistics.

How will we continue to decrease our infant mortality rates?

Most experts think that it will require better access to health care for all members of society.

What to Know About Infant Mortality Rate Rankings

Infant mortality rates are not linked to vaccines.

More Infant Mortality Rate Rankings

Immunization Schedules from Other Countries

The latest immunization schedule from the CDC and AAP.

Why does the United States give so many more vaccines than other countries?

The easy answer might be that we want to protect kids from more vaccine-preventable diseases. Of course, it is much more complicated than that.

But why does it matter?

It still matters because Jenny McCarthy has pushed the idea that we have an ‘autism epidemic‘ in the United States because “other countries give their kids one-third as many shots as we do.”

And some folks still believe her.

They also believe anti-vaccine myths and misinformation linking giving more vaccines to having higher infant mortality rates.

Immunization Schedules from Other Countries

Which vaccines a country routinely gives often depends on the risk a diseases poses to the people that live there. For example, some countries routinely give the BCG and Japanese encephalitis vaccines, but only give the hepatitis B vaccine in high risk situations.

And while many folks still push the myth that the United States gives many more vaccines than other developed countries, you just have to look at their immunization schedules to see that it isn’t true.

Remember that in the United States, children typically get:

36 doses of 10 vaccines before starting kindergarten that protect them against 14 vaccine-preventable diseases
at least three or four more vaccines as a preteen and teen, including a Tdap booster and vaccines to protect against HPV and meningococcal disease, plus they continue to get a yearly flu vaccine

So by age 18, that equals about 57 dosages of 14 different vaccines to protect them against 16 different vaccine-preventable diseases. While that sounds like a lot, keep in mind that 33% of those immunizations are just from your child’s yearly flu vaccine.

Immunization Schedules from Europe

How do immunization schedules from European countries differ from the United States?

Austria's immunization schedule for 2017 includes all of the same vaccines as the US schedule. — Austria’s immunization schedule for 2017 includes all of the same vaccines as the US schedule, plus the vaccine for Japanese encephalitis (if high risk).

Surprisingly, they don’t differ by that much, despite what you may have heard or read.

And in many European countries, even if you don’t get more vaccines overall, you do get more dosages at an earlier age, often with two dosages of MMR and the chicken pox vaccine by the time your child is 15 to 24 months old.

The latest immunization schedule from Germany.

Some vaccines, like hepatitis A and chicken pox aren’t routine in every European country, like Iceland and Sweden, but many countries give vaccines that we don’t, like BCG and MenC. And even Iceland and Sweden have recently added the HPV vaccine to their schedule and Sweden may soon add the rotavirus vaccine too.

Immunization Schedules from Other Countries

Many countries, in addition to those in Europe, have vaccine schedules that are very similar to the one that is used in the United States.

Just look at the immunization schedules for Australia, Canada, Israel, South Korea, or Taiwan, etc.

What about Japan? They must give fewer vaccines than we do in the United States, right? After all, aren’t they the country that banned the use of the HPV vaccine?

Although that myth is still pushed by many anti-vaccine websites, the HPV vaccine is not banned in Japan. It was removed as a vaccine that is actively recommended in 2013, but it still available and is still on the Japanese immunization schedule.

All of our other vaccines are also on the Japanese immunization schedule. In addition, they give infants the BCG and Japanese encephalitis vaccines.

What to Know About Immunization Schedules from Other Countries

Many countries use a similar immunization schedule and give the same types of vaccines as we do in the United States.

VAXOPEDIA

First Day Deaths and the Hepatitis B Vaccine

First Day Deaths and the Hepatitis B Vaccine

More on Myths About Newborn Deaths

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Does Japan have the Lowest Infant Mortality Rate Following a Ban on Mandatory Vaccinations?