Tag: shedding

What’s the Real Risk from the Contaminated Vaccines in India?

Most people understand that polio vaccines have helped to control and get us close to eradicating polio.

Many even know that there are two types of polio vaccine – the inactivated Salk vaccine and the live Sabin vaccine.

Some might even know that there are actually three strains of polio virus that we have traditionally gotten vaccinated against, and that one of those strains, type 2, has already been eradicated.

“In April 2016 a switch was implemented from trivalent OPV to bivalent OPV in routine immunization programmes.”

OPV Cessation

That’s why we have switched to using a bivalent OPV which only contains type 1 and 3 serotypes.

Contaminated Vaccines in India

What does all of this have to do with the news of contaminated vaccines in India?

“At least three batches of polio vaccines containing 1.5 lakh vials have been found contaminated with type 2 polio virus, putting at risk India’s “polio free” status as children born after April 2016 — when the type 2 virus was withdrawn worldwide including in India — do not have immunity to this particular virus, sources said.”

Unfortunately, some contaminated vaccines were actually administered to children in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Telengana, and Uttar Pradesh before the contamination was discovered.

Will these kids get polio?

No, as the vaccines weren’t contaminated with wild polio virus.

It seems that Bio-Med Private Limited was still producing and distributing polio vaccine with the type 2 vaccine virus, even though this type of vaccine was discontinued a few years ago.

Why?

We will  hopefully find out, as the managing director of Bio-Med Pvt Ltd has been arrested, but we don’t know yet.

We do know that there is little risk from these vaccines and they won’t put India’s “polio free” status at risk.

Why would there be any risk from kids getting an extra vaccine virus strain?

It’s because the type 2 strain of polio is the most likely to cause cVDPV, or outbreaks of polio that are actually caused by the polio vaccine.

Fortunately, these outbreaks are very rare.

A dose of IPV is the backup plan to make sure a problems with the switch to bOPV doesn't end up in a tragedy.
A dose of IPV is the backup plan to make sure any problems with the switch to bOPV doesn’t end up in a tragedy.

But kids in the area are at even less at risk from these “contaminated” vaccines because as part of the plan to switch from trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV) to bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV), they likely got a dose of IPV, which includes protection against all three polio virus strains.

Not that this means that it isn’t a problem that a company was making and distributing a vaccine that kids shouldn’t have been getting.

That is terrible!

It just isn’t as big a danger as some folks are making it out to be. It is extremely unlikely that there will be any cases of polio in India, and definitely not a resurgence of polio because of these vaccines, as some have suggested.

The real risk will be that an isolated event will scare folks away from getting vaccinated and protected, even though we know that these events are rare and that vaccines are safe.

More on Contaminated Vaccines in India

Can Flu Shots Cause the Flu?

Most folks get a flu shot each year.

Most, but not all.

Some people still think that getting a flu shot will cause them to have the flu.
Some people still think that getting a flu shot will cause them to have the flu.

Why do some people skip it?

Can Flu Shots Cause the Flu?

Yes, some people think that getting a flu shot will actually cause them to get the flu.

It’s not hard to see why though.

The flu vaccine is not the most effective vaccine we have, so it is certainly possible that you can still get sick with the flu even though you have had your flu vaccine. Of course, that’s not a good reason to skip getting a flu vaccine, as they have lots of benefits.

Some other reasons you might still think that the flu vaccine can cause the flu include that:

  • side effects after a flu shot can include a soreness, low-grade fever, headache and muscle aches, which some people might confuse with a mild case of the flu
  • many other respiratory viruses can make you sick during cold and flu season, none of which the flu vaccine protects you against
  • since the flu vaccine takes about two weeks to work, if you got sick shortly after being vaccinated, you may have already been exposed and developed the flu before the vaccine became effective

But why can’t the flu shot cause the flu?

That’s easy.

It’s because the flu shot is an inactivated vaccine. The influenza virus is killed or inactivated, the viral particles are purified and split up, with only the HA and NA surface glycoproteins remaining. Those glycoproteins can not cause a natural flu infection.

What about Flumist, the nasal spray flu vaccine?

While Flumist is a live virus vaccine, it is made with attenuated or weakened strains of the flu that are cold-adapted, unable to replicate at the warmer temperatures that are found in the lungs and other areas of our bodies.

So Flumist doesn’t cause the flu either.

Hopefully this is one vaccine myth that folks will stop spreading. Remember, flu vaccines don’t cause you to get sick with the flu. Get vaccinated. Flu vaccines are your best protection against the flu.

What about those folks who say that they are going to skip the flu shot because they never get sick with the flu?

They are gambling.

It is estimated that about 5 to 20% of people get the flu each year. Unless you are rarely around other people during flu season, the chances are that you will eventually get the flu, especially if you are unvaccinated and unprotected.

More on the Myth that Flu Shots Cause the Flu

Can I Get Rotavirus from My Recently Vaccinated Baby?

Your two month old recently got her vaccines, including the rotavirus vaccine.

Shedding Season is not a real thing.
Shedding Season is not a real thing.

Now you have diarrhea.

Was it from shedding from your child’s rotavirus vaccine?

Does the Rotavirus Vaccine Shed?

Like some other live virus vaccines, it is well known that the rotavirus vaccine can shed.

And like with most other vaccines, this shedding isn’t usually a cause for concern and definitely isn’t a reason to think about skipping or delaying your child’s vaccines.

Why not?

“All members of the household should wash their hands after changing the diaper of an infant. This minimizes rotavirus transmission, for an undetermined number of weeks after vaccination, from an infant who received rotavirus vaccine.”

General Recommendations on Immunization Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)

If you wash your hands when you change your child’s diapers after they have been vaccinated, just like you hopefully do anyway, you can avoid any possible contact with any rotavirus vaccine virus that might be shed in your child’s stool.

Can I Get Rotavirus from My Recently Vaccinated Baby?

But what would be the risk of your getting sick if you did come into contact with shedding rotavirus vaccine virus in your child’s diaper?

Would you be at risk to get sick?

Did your baby get sick after getting the actual vaccine?

That’s the thing about shedding that many people don’t understand. These live vaccines are made with attenuated or weakened strains of viruses, so they don’t typically get you sick when you are vaccinated. And they don’t typically get you sick when you are exposed through shedding. In fact, this shedding can sometimes help build herd immunity, as more people get exposed to the weakened strain of vaccine virus.

But can they get you sick?

Yes, if you have a problem with your immune system, which is why there are warnings about giving live vaccines to folks who are immunocompromised. And there used to be warnings about giving the oral polio vaccine to kids if they were around anyone with an immune system problem.

Vaccine viruses could also get you sick if they mutated from their attenuated state and became more virulent. Fortunately, that rarely happens with most vaccines.

“The theoretical risk of HRV and PRV shedding, transmission to, and infection of immunocompromised contacts is much lower than the real risk of wildtype rotavirus infection transmitted from unvaccinated children.”

Anderson on Rotavirus vaccines: viral shedding and risk of transmission

And most importantly, since kids are much more likely to shed virus after natural infections, it is much safer for everyone to get vaccinated and protected with these vaccines.

Surprisingly, even children with asymptomatic natural rotavirus infections can shed virus for several weeks, which is likely why these infections used to spread so easily or without known contacts.

Something that will likely surprise some folks even more is the news that just because someone gets diarrhea after being exposed to the rotavirus vaccine, either because they were vaccinated or through shedding, it doesn’t mean that the vaccine was the cause of the diarrhea!

“Of note, among all six AGE cases which possessed Rotarix-derived strains, four (sample No.1, 5, 6 and 7) were suspected to be caused by other pathogens. Most likely, the infants were infected with other pathogens during the shedding period of Rotarix strain.”

Kaneko et al on Identification of vaccine-derived rotavirus strains in children with acute gastroenteritis in Japan, 2012-2015

When vaccine strain rotavirus have been detected in kids with gastroenteritis, they often have other reasons to have diarrhea.

What does this all mean?

Don’t believe all of the hype anti-vaccine folks push about shedding from vaccines.

More on Shedding and Rotavirus Vaccines

Does the FluMist Vaccine Shed?

Anti-vaccine folks like to talk a lot about shedding.

Where do they get the idea that vaccines shed?

Well, there is the fact that some live vaccines, like the rotavirus and oral polio vaccine, do actually shed.

Does the FluMist Vaccine Shed?

Remember, shedding occurs when an infectious agent, typically a virus, can be found in urine, stool, or other bodily secretions. Shedding is not specific to vaccines though. Shedding occurs very commonly after natural infections too, which is one reason they are so hard to control.

So does the Flumist vaccine shed?

Yes, it does, and it isn’t a secret.

There is actually a warning about shedding and Flumist – to avoid contact with severely immunosuppressed persons (e.g., hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients in a protected enviornment) for seven days after vaccination because of the theoretical risk that their severe immunosuppression might allow the weakened flu strain to somehow cause disease.

This warning obviously doesn’t apply to the great majority of people though.

And it shouldn’t be surprising that it sheds, after all, it is a live virus vaccine that is squirted in your nose!

Why isn’t it usually a problem?

Flumist contains attenuated viral strains of the flu that are temperature-sensitive, so even if you did get infected with the weakened flu strains from Flumist via shedding, they wouldn’t cause disease.

Another way to think about it is that the folks who actually get the Flumist vaccine don’t get the flu, so why would you get the flu if you were simply exposed to the vaccine virus by shedding?

Shedding from the Flumist vaccine doesn't cause disease.
Anti-vaccine folks are sharing this table like they uncovered some secret, but it is important to understand that shedding from the Flumist vaccine doesn’t cause disease. And this table is in package insert for Flumist!

The real concern with shedding is when it leads to folks actually getting sick.

Trying to scare folks about Flumist shedding is just like when they talk about the MMR vaccine, pushing the idea that the rubella vaccine virus might shed into breast milk or measles vaccine virus into urine. Either might happen, but since it won’t cause infection and disease, it certainly isn’t a reason to skip or delay your child’s vaccines.

What to Know About Shedding and Flumist

The Flumist vaccine does indeed shed, but unless you are going to have contact with someone who is severely immunocompromised in a protected environment, this type of shedding isn’t going to get anyone sick and isn’t a reason to avoid this vaccine.

More on Shedding and Flumist

Anti-Vaxxers Should Be Able to Answer These Questions Correctly

There is a new meme going around suggesting that folks have no business telling anyone to vaccinate and protect their kids unless they can answer a series of questions.

I bet answers from anti-vaccine folks aren't the same as the answers from the rest of us...
I bet answers from anti-vaccine folks aren’t the same as the answers from the rest of us…

While it is certainly good to be educated about vaccines, their questions seem rather loaded.

Anti-Vaxxers Should Be Able to Answer These Questions Correctly

Since it is immoral and dangerous to push misinformation that scares parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids, it would be nice if anti-vaccine folks would answer these questions before they tried to persuade anyone to not get vaccinated:

  1. Name 5 vaccine ingredients that you think are toxic and how exactly they can be toxic at the amounts present in vaccines.
  2. Name 5 possible complications of a vaccine-preventable disease.
  3. Are doctors and alternative health care providers who push non-standard, parent-selected, delayed protection vaccine schedules able to be held liable if their intentionally unvaccinated child suffers a vaccine-preventable disease or starts an outbreak, infecting other people?
  4. How many children died of vaccine-preventable diseases in the early 1980s, before the vaccine schedule grew to include the new vaccines we give today?
  5. Is it true that no one can force you to get vaccinated?
  6. What percentage of reports to VAERS are actually caused by vaccine reactions?
  7. How many doses of vaccines have been given since the Vaccine Court began paying for vaccine injury cases?
  8. Which vaccines must be avoided because of shedding or other concerns if you have a child with an immunodeficiency in your home?
  9. Why do some folks think that many vaccines still contain thimerosal?
  10. If today’s vaccines already contain far fewer antigens than they did in the old days, what would be the extra benefit of splitting them up even further into separate shots for each vaccine-preventable disease?
  11. Have you read all of studies on the safety and effectiveness of combination vaccines, including those that are double-blinded and placebo controlled, and the current vaccine schedule?
  12. Can you give me one other interesting fact about vaccines or vaccine-preventable diseases that was not already asked or discussed?

What’s my interesting fact?

Many on-the-fence and vaccine hesitant parents do change their mind about vaccines and decide to make the right choice and get their kids vaccinated and protected.

More Things Anti-Vaxxers Should Know

When is Shedding Season?

Have you heard of shedding season?

Shedding season is starting?
Shedding season is starting?

I’ll give you a hint, we aren’t talking about cats and dogs…

When is Shedding Season?

So it seems that some folks are really worried about vaccines and shedding.

Precautions against viral shedding? Was he giving out smallpox or oral polio vaccines?
Precautions against viral shedding? Was he giving out smallpox or oral polio vaccines?

While some vaccines do actually shed, it is really only the oral polio vaccine and the smallpox vaccine that we get concerned about with shedding.

And even then, shedding from the oral polio vaccine would only be a concern for someone with an immune system problem. Since the oral polio vaccine contains an attenuated virus, if that attenuated virus shed to someone else, they wouldn’t get polio except in the very rare situation when the virus mutates. Instead, they would get protection against polio. That’s one of the benefits of using the oral polio vaccine!

Still, we don’t use the oral polio vaccine in the United States anymore.

Although the smallpox vaccine can shed, it is from the site of injection, where a scab forms in the days to weeks after getting vaccinated. Covering the site should prevent other people from getting exposed to shed virus and fortunately, this vaccine is only used in very special situations.

And the rotavirus vaccine sheds, but you just have to wash your hands after changing diapers to avoid this attenuated virus. Are you going to get rotavirus if you are exposed to an infant who was recently vaccinated? Infants who get the vaccine don’t get rotavirus, so why would you if you are exposed to them?

And other vaccines?

While some live vaccines might shed in very specific situations, like if they caused a rare vaccine-induced disease, they otherwise don’t shed. That’s why we don’t worry about most folks with immune system problems getting exposed to people who have recently been vaccinated.

Don’t believe me?

Every time there is an outbreak of measles, someone insists that it was caused by a vaccine strain of measles that was shed from someone who was recently vaccinated. How often is that true?

So when is shedding season?

Anti-vaccine folks consider the start of the school year to be shedding season, because that’s when they think kids get caught up on their vaccines. Is that why we see big outbreaks of measles, chicken pox, and rotavirus at the start of the school year?

Oh wait, we don’t…

“Live vaccine virus shedding is a possible source of transmission of vaccine-strain viral infection but how frequently that occurs is unknown. There is no active surveillance of live virus vaccine shedding and most vaccine strain virus infections likely remain unidentified, untested and unreported.”

NVIC on The Emerging Risks of Live Virus & Virus Vectored Vaccines: Vaccine Strain Virus Infection, Shedding & Transmission

Despite the best efforts of anti-vaccine folks to scare parents about shedding, folks should know that this is no shedding season.

Cases of vaccine strain virus infections from shedding are unidentified and unreported because they don’t happen!

This is why some folks believe in shedding season...
This is why some folks believe in shedding season…

Do you need to teach your kids to fist bump instead of shaking hands during shedding season???

Think about it.

If there were a shedding season, then why wouldn’t there be more outbreaks? Because everyone has learned to fist bump and avoid shaking hands in school?

What to Know About Vaccine Shedding and Shedding Season

Shedding season isn’t a real thing.

More on Vaccine Shedding and Shedding Season

 

Vaccines While Immunosuppressed

It seems to be a big surprise to many folks, but kids can get most vaccines when they are immunosuppressed. In fact, they sometimes get extra some extra vaccines, like Pneumovax, because the  “incidence or severity of some vaccine-preventable diseases is higher in persons with altered immunocompetence.”

They should also get all of their vaccines if they are around someone who is immunosuppressed.

Surprised?

Vaccines While Immunosuppressed

Which vaccines your kids can get while they are immunosuppressed is going to depend greatly on the reason why they are  immunosuppressed.

Are they getting chemotherapy?

Did they just get a stem cell transplant?

Were they born with a specific immunodeficiency, like X-linked agammaglobulinemia, selective IgA deficiency, severe combined immunodeficiency, or chronic granulomatous disease?

Whatever the reason, they likely won’t get a medical exemption to skip all of their vaccines.

“Killed vaccines will not cause infection in immunodeficient or any other children. The fear of increased community-acquired vaccine-preventable diseases should lead to adherence to and completion of recommended immunization schedules in the community to reinforce herd immunity, such that all vaccine-preventable diseases become exceedingly rare.”

Recommendations for live viral and bacterial vaccines in immunodeficient patients and their close contacts

In most cases, immunocompromised kids can get all inactivated vaccines. It is only live vaccines that could pose a problem. Even then, it depends on the specific immunodeficiency as to whether avoiding live vaccines is necessary.

For example, after chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, kids can usually get live vaccines.

Your doctors can review the latest guidelines to come up with a safe vaccination plan for your child with an immune system problem. If necessary, consultation with an infectious diseases or immunology specialist can also be helpful.

Don’t overlook other causes of possible immunosuppression when getting vaccinated, like taking daily oral steroids for more than two weeks, certain biologic immune modulators, or other medications like methotrexate, azathioprine, 6-mercaptopurine.

“Limited evidence indicates that inactivated vaccines generally have the same safety profile in immunocompromised patients as in immunocompetent individuals. However, the magnitude, breadth, and persistence of the immune response to vaccination may be reduced or absent in immunocompromised persons.”

2013 IDSA Clinical Practice Guideline for Vaccination of the Immunocompromised Host

And keep in mind that just because they can and should get vaccinated, it doesn’t mean that their vaccines are going to work as well as in someone who isn’t immunocompromised.

That’s why herd immunity is so important for these kids.

Vaccines for Close Contacts of Immunocompromised People

What about people who come into contacts with kids and adults who are immunocompromised?

Can they get vaccines?

“Close contacts of patients with compromised immunity should not receive live oral poliovirus vaccine because they might shed the virus and infect a patient with compromised immunity. Close contacts can receive other standard vaccines because viral shedding is unlikely and these pose little risk of infection to a subject with compromised immunity.”

Recommendations for live viral and bacterial vaccines in immunodeficient patients and their close contacts

Yes, close contacts can get vaccinated, especially since we don’t use the oral polio vaccine in the United States anymore.

There are some exceptions for the smallpox vaccine, which few people get, and Flumist, but only in very specific situations, including a recent hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

Johns Hopkins Medicine, which includes the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System went out of their way to correct this anti-vaccine misinformation.
Johns Hopkins Medicine, which includes the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System went out of their way to correct this anti-vaccine misinformation.

Worried about shedding?

You should be worried about getting a vaccine-preventable disease and giving it to those around you with immune system problems. That’s the real risk!

This is the modern anti-vaccine movement - taking an immoral stand against vaccines and putting sick kids at risk for life-threatening disease.
This is the modern anti-vaccine movement – scaring parents and taking an immoral stand against vaccines and putting sick kids at risk for life-threatening disease.

And no, you are not being selfish to expect those around you to get vaccinated.

Vaccines are safe and necessary – for all of us.

More on Vaccines While Immunosuppressed