By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
Among children born during the period of 1994–2023, routine childhood vaccinations prevented approximately 508 million cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations and 1,129,000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It’s arguable that few advances in modern medicine have had as significant positive effect for so little cost and with so few negative outcomes as the development of routine childhood vaccines.
The CDC’s “Recommended Immunizations for Birth Through 6 Years Old” includes protection against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), hepatitis B, rotavirus, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, influenza type B, pneumococcal, polio, COVID-19 (optional), influenza, measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox and hepatitis A. Some of these diseases can cause lifelong impairment, disability or death.
“Vaccines are going to be our first line of defense against those diseases,” said Whitney B. Jackson, registered nurse and a clinical assistant professor in the nursing department at Nazareth University. “Any of those diseases eradicated here can come here when people travel and can bring them back. If people aren’t vaccinated for them, they can get sick. At minimum follow what we need to have to have our kids go to school.”
COVID-19, RSV and influenza are optional.
Some parents delay scheduling routine vaccinations for a variety of reasons, which can cause tight schedules at the pediatrician’s office. Moving from a different area or other major disruptions in life can make it challenging to get the appointment. However, it’s necessary for attending public or private school.
Safety of vaccines is a persistent deterrent to some parents.
Steven Schulz, pediatrician at Rochester Regional Health, said that routine childhood vaccines recommendations are “based on extremely well-studied research done very diligently and monitored over the years.”
Pediatricians base the schedule for vaccinations upon research indicating efficacy and safety. Parents do not need to worry that vaccines contribute to the development of autism.
“We know that vaccines work and we know that they’re safe,” Schulz said. “Millions of kids have been studied as part of these vaccine trials and it’s been definitely proven they don’t cause autism.”
Autism & MMR Vaccines
In 1998, research published by researcher Andrew Wakefield studied only 12 children in a non controlled study attempting to connect autism to the use of the routine childhood MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine containing thimerosal, a preservative used in MMR vaccines.
A trial size of 12 is far smaller than a population size required to derive causation. The study was later debunked. Despite this, manufacturers removed thimerosal from the US vaccine supply in 2001.
Schulz said that it was determined that Wakefield “was being paid to make those claims and publish a paper that used falsified data in order to make the claims,” he said. “He had his own separate MMR vaccine that he was going to market and say the combination vaccine was bad and individual ones are good. It’s always been about the money.”
Parents connect MMR with autism because children receive MMR at the same developmental stage when parents can identify their children’s missed milestones (though many experts can detect autistic traits sooner). There is no causal relationship between MMR and autism. However, parents want to find out why their child has autism and incorrectly blame immunizations.
More than 40 reputable studies of more than 5.6 million children spanning 25 years have proven that vaccines do not cause autism, according to the Associations for Autism and Neurodiversity website. Other bodies agreeing with this conclusion include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, the American Medical Association, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and dozens of other national organizations.
Some parents balk at routine childhood vaccination because they believe it will weaken their children’s immune system. Schulz said the opposite is true. When vaccinating, “you’re ‘exercising’ the immune system like you’re exercising and training before running a 5K,” he said.
Vaccines introduce a dead or significantly weakened contagion against which the body can easily mount a defense. This is why children may run a low fever or feel a little “off” for a day after vaccination. The vaccine trains the immune system how to fight off that contagion for the next time it is exposed. Without vaccine, the immune system must wage war against the invading contagion without any previous experience. It’s a sink-or-swim scenario that can have devastating results.
“There’s overwhelming evidence to vaccine’s benefit to very minimal potential side effects: a sore arm, fatigue and a fever for a day or two as the immune system mounts its response,” Schulz said.
He advises concerned parents to discuss vaccines with their child’s pediatrician and visit www.letsgetrealaboutvaccines.org and www.healthychildren.org.
Timing of the Vaccine Is Very Important
Most childhood vaccines are administered when children are toddlers and another series is given at age 4.
Timing is very important, said Huan Tang “Michael” Li, pediatrician with F.F. Thompson Hospital’s Canandaigua Medical Group.
“It is highly advised to obtain the childhood series of vaccinations based on this schedule to give a child robust protection against serious bacterial and viral diseases,” Li said. “An infant will always be at risk of catching a viral or bacterial illnesses as long as a parent or other caretaker is entering and leaving the home and exposed to other people. The benefits of protecting infants from diseases that may be deadly such as meningitis or that may cause lifelong disability or disease such as polio and hepatitis far outweigh typical adverse effects of vaccinations that it makes it highly inadvisable to delay routine vaccine administration.”
It may not seem important, as outbreaks of serious illnesses seem half a century in the past; however, Li said that vaccines are still important for preventing outbreaks.
“There have been measles outbreaks in multiple states which have led to pediatric deaths and severe illnesses recently,” Li said. “Giving a child the first MMR vaccine at 1 year of age provides 93% protection against the measles virus and is one of the easiest things a parent can do to keep their child safe.”