As parents, all we ever want is to keep our children as safe and healthy as can be. Preventative healthcare is one important tool that can go a long way toward helping with this goal. This includes making regular well child visits to see a healthcare provider, screening for certain conditions, and regular immunizations. Healthcare experts agree that vaccines are one of the strongest tools to stay protected against serious diseases and are entirely safe for most people.
However, you don’t have to go very far—especially online—to find a number of misconceptions about vaccines. And it can sometimes be really hard to tell truth from fiction online. We have all, at one time or another, read something online that we thought was true, and then later realized was a lie or hoax. Unfortunately, misinformation related to vaccines can be very dangerous; vaccines save lives and skipping or delaying vaccines can lead to serious illness or even death. So we’re here to set the record straight. We hope this information helps you better understand that vaccines are a powerful tool that can help keep your little one safe and healthy.
Myth: Vaccines cause autism.
Fact: Vaccines don’t cause autism.
And yet, this myth continues to be spread, so it’s worth exploring why. In 1998, Dr. Andrew Wakefield published a paper that suggested a link between autism and the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine, and this paper is often looked to as evidence of a connection between the two. However, the paper has since been discredited—it looked at only 12 children who were carefully picked and it didn’t have a control group—most of his co-authors on the paper retracted their support, and the journal where the paper was published retracted the paper itself. Wakefield has been discredited too; in 2010, the British Medical Council stripped him of his medical license. This was primarily because he had taken over $100,000 from a personal injury attorney representing multiple children involved in his vaccine study. He was not a pediatric expert or vaccine expert and his ethics were non-existent.
Since then, numerous studies have shown over and over that vaccines do not cause autism, including one study that looked at over a half a million children (who were an ideal study cohort of subjects and controls) and found no link between autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and the MMR vaccine. Long story short? The paper this myth is based on was faulty to begin with, the argument and its author have long since been disproven, and the science shows that there is no connection between vaccines and increased rates of autism.
Myth: Vaccines contain toxic ingredients that are harmful.
Fact: Vaccines don’t contain toxic ingredients in amounts that cause harm.
Increasingly, a lot of people want to be aware of what they put in their body and steer clear of harmful ingredients, which is great. When it comes to vaccines, some people have specific concerns about the use of formaldehyde, mercury, and aluminum in vaccines. These chemicals can certainly be toxic to people at very high levels, but there are only trace amounts—meaning extremely small amounts—in vaccines, and there is no evidence that these levels are harmful to people.
For some perspective, formaldehyde is actually naturally produced by our own bodies at higher daily levels than the trace amounts found in vaccines. These chemicals help the vaccines to be produced and work well, and they are present in such small amounts that they can’t cause any harm.
Myth: Vaccines aren’t necessary because the diseases they protect against aren’t around anymore.
Fact: Many diseases that made a lot of people very sick in the past don’t do so anymore thanks to vaccines.
‘Herd immunity’ is a term that describes how when a large enough percentage of the population is immunized against a particular disease, it keeps even the unvaccinated population protected too. (And some people just can’t get certain vaccines, such as infants and individuals with weakened immune systems.)
With enough people immunized against a disease, that disease does become more rare because it simply doesn’t get a chance to spread. This is why cases of rare diseases like polio or whooping cough really make the news! And with very successful vaccine usage, it’s possible to wipe out a disease completely – like with smallpox. But if more people choose not to get vaccinated, a disease that may seem rare can have the chance to spread again, as can be seen with recent measles outbreaks in the U.S. Keeping up herd immunity is especially important to keep diseases that were so common and dangerous in the past from coming back.
Myth: Vaccines cause the diseases they’re supposed to protect against and make people sick.
Fact: Vaccines don’t cause the diseases they’re meant to protect against and are safe for the majority of people.
Mild symptoms like a sore arm or feeling tired can definitely happen after a vaccine. This is a normal and expected response by your immune system. It’s finding a small invader and figuring out how to keep you healthy. It’s making a map to take out and follow for any time your body encounters the full and powerful version of this illness down the road. Some people have more of a response to vaccines and may feel achy or even get a fever. Some people feel nothing. This entire range is normal, but these symptoms are NOT you getting sick.
Myth: Babies’ immune systems can’t handle a lot of vaccines, so it’s better to space them out.
Fact: Babies’ immune systems can handle a normal immunization schedule.
As soon as a baby is born, they’re exposed to countless germs, and their immune system gets to work fighting these off right away. There is just a very small amount of a part of a germ in vaccines that stimulates the immune system to produce immunity against that disease—this is much less than what a baby is exposed to on an everyday basis and is nothing that a typical child can’t handle.
While some parents may get nervous about children having so many immunizations in their first year of life, these are scheduled in a way that’s meant to protect a child as early as possible from serious diseases that can be especially harmful if a baby is exposed to them when so young. Combination vaccines—like the MMR vaccine—mean fewer visits, fewer needles, and more protection sooner. Most children are able to proceed with a normal immunization schedule and don’t need to space out or delay any immunizations, and doing so could put them at risk of being exposed to serious diseases and more pain from additional jabs
Myth: Getting sick is a normal part of childhood and “natural” immunity is better than getting a vaccine.
Fact: Vaccines protect children from suffering through illness, serious complications, and time off of school for quarantine
Sure, all children will pick up colds and coughs here and there. But vaccines protect against serious diseases that can be particularly dangerous for children. The “natural” immunity that a child would get following infection from a disease is sometimes just as strong, but first that child would have to suffer through, fight off and recover from that disease. Many vaccine preventable diseases also have complications that can last short term (being in a hospital) or for life (hearing loss, learning disabilities and more).
The immunity that’s produced after someone gets a vaccine thankfully doesn’t involve that person getting sick or suffering from complications first. Vaccines help prevent and protect against serious disease and the process doesn’t involve getting sick before becoming immunized.
Myth: Vaccines aren’t safe.
Fact: Vaccines are an extremely important and safe tool for keeping children and adults protected against serious disease.
While many of the myths listed above have led some people to believe that vaccines aren’t safe, there are no credible studies that show vaccines to be unsafe or to cause diseases or other health conditions. Vaccines are closely studied during clinical trials (yes, even placebo controlled trials) before they’re made widely available, and then are closely monitored once they’re widely used. Vaccines have been available for decades, studies show that they’re safe, and we know that they’re responsible for preventing countless illnesses and deaths. Vaccine fear is not new, but it’s growing due to massive amounts of misinformation shared online.
There’s so much new information you need to take in once you become a parent, and making the right choices about your child’s healthcare can sometimes feel overwhelming. So if you have any questions about vaccines or Baby’s health, you should definitely bring them up with their healthcare provider. They’re there to answer questions about all aspects of your little one’s health and are a trusted resource you can count on. And if you’re ever curious to learn more about vaccines online, make sure you head to trusted medical resources and not sites that may be sharing misinformation and presenting it as fact. Using AI is so popular, but it is a major source of health misinformation. It learns from all content online, not just the accurate kind.
Resources like healthychildren.org (from the American Academy of Pediatrics), and the World Health Organization all have information based in science that you can trust. Pro tip? If you see the same information from multiple reliable health organizations – that consistency is something you can trust. One person’s experience or non-medical opinion online don’t provide the perspective that you and your child deserve.
We all only ever want the best for our little ones. Thankfully, following a regular immunization schedule is one easy—and powerful—way to help keep all of our kids healthy and strong.
Reviewed by the Ovia Health by Labcorp Clinical Team
A note on vaccines
Ovia Health by Labcorp is committed to providing evidence-based guidance and supporting families with trusted health information. Recent shifts and changes to vaccination recommendations and schedules for pregnant women, children, and infants have raised questions about the safety and efficacy. We continue to follow the guidance of leading medical organizations including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Family Physicians about vaccination safety and continued use. Your healthcare provider is best positioned to advise you on vaccination safety for pregnant women, infants, children, and the broader public.
Sources
- “Immunizations.” healthychildren.org. American Academy of Pediatrics. Retrieved January 3 2020. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/immunizations/Pages/default.aspx
- “Q&A on vaccines.” World Health Organization. World Health Organization, August 26 2019. Retrieved January 3 2020. https://www.who.int/vaccines/questions-and-answers
- “Vaccine Safety: Examine the Evidence.” healthychildren.org. American Academy of Pediatrics, July 24 2018. Retrieved January 3 2020. “https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/immunizations/Pages/Vaccine-Studies-Examine-the-Evidence.aspx
- “Vaccine Safety: The Facts.” healthychildren.org. American Academy of Pediatrics, October 10 2018. Retrieved January 3 2020. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/immunizations/Pages/Vaccine-Safety-The-Facts.aspx
- “Vaccines: The Myths and The Facts.” American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, August 19 2019. Retrieved January 3 2020. https://www.aaaai.org/conditions-and-treatments/library/allergy-library/vaccine-myth-fact
