Anti-vax folks like to say that they are doing their research, even collecting that research into handy binders. And they like to think that they are looking at both the risks and benefits of vaccines when they make their decision to skip or delay their child’s vaccines.

Like their research, their method of considering the risks and benefits of vaccines is very flawed…

Risks and Benefits of Vaccines – Anti-Vax Edition

What’s the first thing you notice when you look at Ashley Everly‘s chart?

She doesn’t have a column for when a child Should Be Vaccinated!

Although there are no optional vaccines, there are some situations in which getting vaccinated and protected is truly essential, including:

• a child bitten by a dog, coyote, or bat with rabies
• a completely unvaccinated teen who gets a deep puncture wound while playing in a field
• a baby born to a mother with hepatitis B
• an unvaccinated older teen living in a dorm on a college campus where there is an ongoing outbreak of meningococcemia
• a preschooler with a cochlear implant
• an unvaccinated 1st grader who’s sibling is starting chemotherapy for leukemia
• unvaccinated kids traveling out of the country to parts of the world where vaccine-preventable diseases are still endemic
• a child with asplenia

Does she really think that the benefits of the rabies vaccine don’t outweigh the risks? Does she understand what happens if you get rabies, even if your child has access to nutritious food, clean drinking water, and emergency medical care?

Who Should Not Be Vaccinated?

What else is wrong with Ashley Everly‘s risk and benefit chart?

Most of the things on her list of who should not be vaccinated are not true contraindications.

Of course, the one about having a “previous vaccine injury or serious reaction” would likely be a reason to not get that vaccine again, as long as the injury or reaction was really caused by the vaccine.

Are there situations in which the potential benefit of vaccination might not outweigh the vaccines risks?

“Events or conditions listed as precautions should be reviewed carefully. Benefits of and risks for administering a specific vaccine to a person under these circumstances should be considered. If the risk from the vaccine is believed to outweigh the benefit, the vaccine should not be administered. If the benefit of vaccination is believed to outweigh the risk, the vaccine should be administered. Whether and when to administer DTaP to children with proven or suspected underlying neurologic disorders should be decided on a case-by-case basis.”

ACIP Contraindications and Precautions

Those situations are called precautions.

Fortunately, most are temporary, such as having a “moderate or severe acute illness with or without fever.”

These precautions do not include having a family history of cancer or autoimmune disease.

When Vaccination May Be Unnecessary

Are there any situations in which vaccination may be unnecessary?

There are a few, including:

• when a disease is eradicated
• when you aren’t at risk to get a disease and there is little risk that there will be an outbreak in your community or a return if folks stop vaccinating – that’s why we don’t routinely vaccinate against yellow fever, cholera, and typhoid fever, etc. in the United States
• when you get sick and develop natural immunity

Vaccination is still necessary if a child’s mother is breastfeeding (which doesn’t protect against most vaccine-preventable diseases), has natural immunity to wild type infections (passive immunity quickly wears off), and even if the child has access to nutritious food and clean drinking water.

And yes, getting vaccinated and protected is even necessary if a child has access to emergency medical care.

What to Know About the Risks and Benefits of Vaccines

While you should certainly consider the risks and benefits of getting vaccinated, understand that vaccines are safe, with few risks, and very necessary.

More on the Risks and Benefits of Vaccines

• An Unvaccinated Girl in Italy Has Tetanus
• Parents Who Regret Not Vaccinating Their Kids
• How Many People Die in the USA Every Year from Being Vaccinated?
• But Did Anyone Die?
• 12 Things Anti-Vaccine Parents Get Wrong
• The Fatal Flaw in the Anti-Vaccine Movement
• More Questions to Help You Become a Vaccine Skeptic
• What Are the Greatest Tricks Anti-Vaccine Folks Use to Persuade Parents to Skip Vaccines?
• ACIP – Contraindications and Precautions
• CDC – Who Should NOT Get Vaccinated with these Vaccines?
• Guide to Contraindications and Precautions to Commonly Used Vaccines
• Ask the Experts About Precautions and Contraindications
• AAP – Understanding vaccine precautions, contraindications
• MMWR – Notes from the Field: Tetanus in an Unvaccinated Child — Oregon, 2017