Why Do We Vaccinate
Did You Know ?
- HPV causes 70% of oropharyngeal cancers in the United States
- About 1 in 1000 children who get measles will die of measle encephalopathy 2-10 years after getting the disease.
- Even when the flu vaccine is not a good match, it can decrease the risk of hospitalization by 60-70%.
- 10-14% of people who get the meningococcal disease will die.
- There are existing vaccines that could stop rotavirus and pneumonia — two conditions that kill nearly 3 million children under the age of five every year.
FAQ's About Vaccines
Vaccines contain ingredients that allow the product to be safely administered. Too much of anything can be harmful to your body, even water or oxygen. Ingredients, such as formaldehyde, thiomersal and aluminum, are found in higher quantities naturally in our environment.
Infants receive 4.4 milligrams of aluminum in the first six months of life and breast-fed infants ingest about 7 milligrams, formula-fed infants ingest about 38 milligrams, and infants who are fed soy formula ingest almost 117 milligrams of aluminum during the first six months of life.
Each vaccine contains less than 0.1mg of formaldehyde.
Formaldehyde is essential in human metabolism and is required for the synthesis of DNA and amino acids (the building blocks of protein). Therefore, all humans have detectable quantities of natural formaldehyde in their circulation (about 2.5 ug of formaldehyde per ml of blood). Assuming an average weight of a 2-month-old of 5 kg and an average blood volume of 85 ml per kg, the total quantity of formaldehyde found in an infant’s circulation would be about 1.1 mg, a value about 1,500 times more than the amount an infant would be exposed to in any individual vaccine.
Thimerosal contains a different form of mercury called ethylmercury. Studies comparing ethylmercury and methylmercury suggest that they are processed differently in the human body. Ethylmercury is broken down and excreted much more rapidly than methylmercury. Therefore, ethylmercury (the type of mercury in the influenza vaccine) is much less likely than methylmercury (the type of mercury in the environment) to accumulate in the body and cause harm. We consume more Methylmercury from fish.
The study that linked autism and vaccines in 1998 was retracted because it was significantly flawed by bad science. Since then, there have been over 300 independent studies disproving the link. There has been no shown link between vaccines and SIDS as well.
Immunizations were developed to prevent complications from diseases.
For example, influenza causes hospitalization in 20,000 children and 36000.
For every 1,000 children who get measles, 1-2 of them will die.
1 in 10 people who get meningococcal disease dies of it.
Vaccines stimulate the immune system to produce an immune response similar to natural infection, but they do not cause the disease or put the immunized person at risk of its potential complications.
Most vaccines are inactive vaccines. This means they are not live and cannot spread the disease at all. Think of it as just a fingerprint of the disease so that the body knows what to fight against when exposed.
A few vaccines contain the live vaccines that can lead to a milder case of the disease. Live vaccines include MMR, Chickenpox, Rotavirus and FluMist. For example, the chickenpox vaccine can cause a mild chickenpox rash around the site of the vaccine. This isn’t harmful and actually shows that the vaccine is doing its job.
Babies have not developed immunity to most diseases. For this reason, they are at increased risk of becoming infected and getting seriously ill by diseases. Vaccinations protect babies by building up their natural defenses.
Can babies handle all of those vaccines?
When a baby is first born, they are exposed to thousands of different germs. Vaccines only use a small amount of antigens to help babies boost their immune system. The antigens are what helps the body identify and fight the disease.