We could add to the ten things we should know about vaccines the six widespread misconceptions about vaccination, indicated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States and that the World Health Organization reproduces in its pages to inform professionals and parents concerned about the issue.
It is common to hear opinions against vaccination, more or less argued, and when parents feel that they "impose" something on our children's health, we consider that an interference is taking place.
And it is not bad that parents inform us about it, and do not blindly create everything they propose (in any area), although we should not fall into false ideas that, as we see, are quite widespread in a kind of "rumorology" No real foundation.
From what I know some health professionals, there is a shock when some parents go to the Pediatrician's office and oppose vaccinating their baby. The trust between the doctor and the family is underminedI think partly because sometimes they refuse to listen to their arguments.
I have experienced this in my own experience when we have not put certain doses of vaccines not included in the calendar of our Community, and that they were not of the "mandatory" ones. Fortunately, the pediatrician is quite respectful although that didn't stop me notice your disagreement with our decision.
The objective of both sides, pediatricians and parents, should not be to convince each other, but the specialist is obliged to offer truthful and complete information so that parents can make an informed decision.
It would also be extremely positive for the pediatrician to listen and try to understand each patient's concerns, fears and beliefs about vaccination and take them into account when they are about to vaccinate the patient.
However, it seems that there are certain arguments in favor of vaccination that are difficult to refute, or, approaching the issue from the other angle, certain ideas against vaccination easily refutable because they have been proven to be false. These ideas are often used frequently by those who are against vaccinating their children or themselves.
Six misconceptions about vaccines
"The diseases had already begun to disappear" before the introduction of vaccines due to the improvement of hygienic-sanitary conditions. Although it is evident that the advances in these areas caused that in many places the incidence of the diseases against which we are vaccinated today decreased, much less were eradicated or controlled, a control that only came after the mass vaccination campaigns.
"Most people who get sick have been vaccinated". This can be explained by two factors. First, no vaccine is 100% effective, and for reasons related to the characteristics of each individual, not all vaccinated people develop immunity. Secondly, in many countries vaccinated people are many more than those who have not been vaccinated, so when there is an epidemic it is easy for the number of sick people who did receive the vaccine to be greater. But while surely all unvaccinated do get sick, a very low number of vaccinated will.
"There are" defective batches "of vaccines associated with a greater number of adverse incidents and deaths than others. Parents must find out the numbers of these lots and prevent their children from receiving vaccines belonging to them. "According to the Center for Disease Prevention, the existence of a report of an adverse incident after vaccination does not imply that the event was caused by the vaccine, but there may be many related factors.
"Vaccines cause numerous harmful side effects, illnesses and even death, not to mention the possible long-term effects that are not even known yet. "We have already talked about the adverse effects of vaccines, most of them mild. Before administering them to our children, it is convenient that we inform ourselves about each vaccine in question, especially of the possible adverse effects and how to act against them, but there is very little evidence that links vaccination with permanent health problems or with deaths.The most serious events are very rare, therefore, that it is not possible to assess the risk in an exact way. As for the deaths that can be plausibly attributed to vaccines, they are also so scarce that it is difficult to statistically assess the risk. Health experts say that it is much more likely that the health of a child be severely affected by any of the diseases against which they prevent any vaccine.
"In my country, vaccine preventable diseases have been virtually eliminated, then I don't need to vaccinate my son. "We have already seen that current globalization, the ease of travel, is another reason that would cause diseases that are present in other parts of the world to move easily to new areas if the population is not vaccinated Although vaccines have reduced the incidence of most preventable diseases by vaccination to very low levels in most countries, some of these diseases are still frequent (even epidemic) in other parts of the The fewer people vaccinated against the disease, the easier it is for infections to occur.
"Simultaneous administration to a child of several vaccines for different diseases increases the risk of side effects harmful and can overload the immune system. "But the available scientific data indicate that simultaneous vaccination with multiple vaccines does not cause any detrimental effect on the normal immune system of the child. Studies have been conducted to analyze the effects of simultaneous administration of various combinations. of vaccines and these have shown that the recommended vaccines are as effective in combination as individually and that the combinations do not increase the risk of adverse secondary incidents.
We will return to these points later, widespread misconceptions about vaccination which are considered valid in many areas as arguments against vaccines but that, as well as ideas that speak of the benefits of vaccines, should not be accepted without questioning them as absolute truths.
