WIRED International Stresses the Importance of Vaccinations
BY ALLISON KOZICHAROW AND BERNICE BORN
V
accines are on the front pages of the news. An Ebola vaccine proved to be 100% effective in a recent medical trial. The search for a Zika vaccine is narrowing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reminds the public it is not too late in the season to get a flu shot. This month the World Health Organization (WHO) is inoculating more than 4 million children in Nigeria against measles.
WiRED, along with the vast majority of the medical community, believes that inoculations reduce disease, disability and death worldwide from vaccine-preventable diseases including cervical cancer, diphtheria, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), pneumonia, polio, rotavirus diarrhea, rubella and tetanus.
Yet, many people continue to distrust or refuse vaccines. What follows are some examples of vaccination myths versus facts. The facts are all solidly based in good science and years of empirical research.
MYTH: Vaccines cause many harmful side effects, illnesses, and even death — not to mention possible and unknown long-term effects.
FACT: Vaccines save lives and protect against the spread of disease. WHO reports that immunization currently prevents 2 to 3 million deaths every year. The American Academy of Pediatrics states that vaccines are safe: they are studied, licensed, inspected and regulated.
MYTH: Diseases have begun to disappear, so there is no reason to vaccinate.
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FACT: If people, especially children, weren’t vaccinated, diseases thought long gone would make a comeback. For example, pertussis was all but eliminated in Japan in 1974. By 1976 only 10% of infants were inoculated because people thought vaccination wasn’t necessary anymore. In 1979 Japan suffered a pertussis epidemic with 13,000 cases reported and 41 deaths. The reason: vaccinations were halted before the disease was entirely wiped out.
MYTH: Vaccines cause autism.
FACT: According to WHO, “The 1998 study which raised concerns about a possible link between measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism was later found to be seriously flawed, and the paper has been retracted by the journal that published it. Unfortunately, its publication set off a panic that led to dropping immunization rates and subsequent outbreaks of these diseases. There is no evidence of a link between MMR vaccine and autism or autistic disorders.”
What is the conclusion? Vaccines are safe for individuals and for the population at large. Vaccines protect individuals and populations from serious diseases that can cause suffering and death. The scientific evidence is clear and compelling. WiRED urges people everywhere to consider the great benefits of these medical advances.
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