CMDA: Fears Regarding Vaccines Unfounded
by Mary Rettig
May 11, 2005
(AgapePress) - A recent study says parents in increasing numbers are beginning to question the need for children's vaccines and the need to follow a certain schedule for them.The study found that the majority of parents who requested non-medical exemptions from regular vaccinations for their children said they did so because of safety concerns. Dr. David Stevens, executive director for the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, says there is nothing to fear.
"[P]arents need to realize that vaccination is one of the biggest public health accomplishments in the last 100 years," Stevens states. "In fact, it's the greatest contributor to decreasing childhood illness and death." While acknowledging there are some complications with vaccinations, Stevens says those complications "are very, very small in number and don't even begin to compare to the risk they put their children to if they don't get them vaccinated."
Stevens outlines some of the risks of not being vaccinated. "If a child gets measles, they have a 1-in-20 chance of getting pneumonia, and about a 1-in-3,000 chance of dying," he explains. "If they get mumps, [they have] about a 1-in-300 chance of [contracting] encephalitis. If a woman gets rubella infection during pregnancy, there's a 1-in-4 chance [of] severe damage to their child."
The same issue applies, he says, with diphtheria, tetanus, and other diseases.
According to the CMDA spokesman, there are more studies on the safety of vaccines than any other category, including drugs that are given to children when they are ill. He encourages parents to follow the recommended vaccination regimen, saying it is one of the best investments they can make to protect their children.
Last month was the 50th anniversary of the announcement of the development of the first polio vaccine. In April 1955, Dr. Jonas Salk and his team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh announced the results of an unprecedented nationwide clinical trial and the vaccine was approved for widespread public use. According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a coalition spearheaded by groups such as the World Health Organization, efforts to eradicate that disease have reduced the number of polio cases from 350,000 a year in 1988 to 1,267 cases in 2004.
