Posts Tagged ‘Vaccination’
Institute of Medicine Panel Recommends No Changes to U.S. Vaccination Procedures
An independent committee of the Institute of Medicine has released a report finding there is no evidence that the multiple vaccines children receive contributes to illnesses and recommends that the United States maintain its current regimen of vaccinations.
The committee looked at whether there was an association between childhood vaccination and colds, ear infections, juvenile diabetes, meningitis, and pneumonia. Anti-vaccine critics claim that the large number of vaccinations that children receive today affects the immune systems in ways that may make them vulnerable to later illnesses.
The committee focused on Type I Juvenile Diabetes which is an autoimmune disorder. It reviewed eight studies of vaccination and this disorder and found no evidence for any sort of causal link between it and vaccination. Other studies found no evidence linking vaccination to colds, ear infections, meningitis, and pneumonia. If multiple vaccinations really suppress or otherwise hamper the immune system, it is odd that children receiving vaccinations are not at a higher risk to such infections.
The committee did call for further study on whether or not multiple vaccinations might increase the risk of developing asthma. At the moment there aren’t enough methodologically sound studies of the connection between the two to make a determination either way.
The New York Times noted that in many ways the idea that multiple vaccinations might overload the immune system is a misnomer since vaccines have been reengineered to the point that infants today are actually exposed to fewer total antigens today than in the past even though they are receiving more vaccines.
The number of antigens in the pertussin vaccine, for example, has been reduced from 3,000 to less than five, and of course the smallpox vaccine, with its 200 antigens, is no longer administered. Recently adopted vaccines such as for chickenpox and hepatitis contain very few antigens, resulting in a net decrease in the total number of antigens two which children are exposed.
Source:
Panel discounts some fears over vaccinations for babies. Sheryl Gay Stolberg, The New York Times, February 20, 2002.
Tags: Vaccination
Measles Outbreak in Great Britain
Great Britain is in the middle of a measles outbreak, with 20 confirmed cases of the disease and another 47 children still waiting for laboratory tests to confirm whether or not they have contracted the disease.
Great Britain has been seized by anti-vaccination hysteria over the past couple of years by people who claim that the MR vaccine is associated with autism. So far there is no evidence at all to support that contention, but many parents have refused to allow their children to be vaccinated nonetheless.
In this measles outbreak, 18 of the 20 confirmed children with measles did not receive the vaccination. In the other 31 suspected cases, only seven of those children had received the vaccine.
Vaccination rates in parts of Great Britain have fallen precipitously as the anti-vaccination campaign has continued. To protect against a measles outbreak, about 90 percent of children need to be vaccinated. The national average in Great Britain is 84 percent, but in some areas of London the vaccination rate hovers at a dangerously low 65 percent. Areas with vaccination rates that are consistently below 80 percent run a high risk of an outbreak.
Two years ago, thanks to low vaccination rates, a measles outbreak occurred in Dublin, Ireland, that killed two children.
Sources:
Fears of measles outbreak. The BC, February 5, 2002.
Measles outbreak fears spread. The BC, January 4, 2002.
Measles father - ’still unsure about MR’. The BC, February 1, 2002.
Measles outbreak gathers pace. The BC, February 13, 2002.
Tags: Vaccination
Another Review Find No Connection Between MMR Vaccine and Autism
At the end of 2001 the British Medical Research Council released a report about autism noting that so far there is no evidence linking the mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism.
The report argues that the best available evidence points to a combination of genetic and environmental factors as the likely culprit in causing autism. As far as the vaccine is concerned, the report concludes,
In relation to the combined MMR vaccine, we conclude from our review that the current epidemiological evidence does not support the proposed link of MMR to ASD’s. Our findings are consistent with the previous MRC reviews and with the findings of other expert groups that have reviewed this question.
Of course those convinced that the MMR vaccine does contribute to autism will hardly be persuaded by reviews of the research on MMR and autism. What counts for them is the sheer coincidence of it all. Jackie Fletcher, who is a coordinator for an anti-MMR group called Jabs, Awareness and Basic Support, tells The BBC,
They need to look at the right children in their research. We have a huge body of children here in the UK with autism, who have had the MMR vaccine, and we want to find out what’s coincidence and what’s a problem. They’re trying to sweep these children away without trying to find out why.
No, they’re not. This has already been studied, but people like Fletcher do not like the results so they simply appeal to the fact that there is a correlation between the MMR vaccine and children with autism, failing to note that so far there is absolutely no evidence of any causal connection between the two.
Source:
MMR and autism ‘not linked’. The BBC, December 13, 2001.
Tags: Vaccination