As a rite of passage, vaccinations can always be counted on to elicit howls of protest from the kids whose chubby thighs, bottoms, and other body parts are offered up as injection sites. But nowadays those shrieks are just as likely to be coming from parents.
The fiery debate about the long-term safety of vaccines, especially those aimed at preventing infectious diseases that are no longer a threat in this country, is creating a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" quagmire for moms and dads. Given the compelling arguments on both sides of the issue, a clear consensus simply doesn't exist. Not exactly the news parents want to hear, particularly if they've just toted a new baby home from the hospital.
Federal and international health agencies, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the World Health Organization (WHO), all insist that vaccines pose no serious long-term threats. But concerned parents and holistic health practitioners believe there's a link between the shots and a host of problems, such as brain damage, autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, asthma, allergies, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, various immune disorders, and even death. The anti-vaccine faction claims that there are too many shots; that a newborn's system is too fragile to handle the growing roster of immunizations; and that shots contain thimerosal, a preservative containing mercury, a potentially toxic ingredient that can accumulate in the body. They also note that many of the diseases kids are being inoculated against don't even exist anymore.
Those in favor of vaccinations cite a 2001 recommendation by national health agencies such as the CDC and the FDA that manufacturers remove mercury from most vaccines (some influenza shots are excepted). They acknowledge that there are 50 percent more recommended vaccines today than there were 10 years ago but maintain that this a good thing—more diseases are being eradicated—and note that children don't suffer from a greater number of needle sticks per office visit because shots are increasingly bundled (as in the ddP vaccine, which guards against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis). Most important, they point out, random outbreaks of once-rare diseases, including mumps and measles, are on the rise both in the U.S. and internationally.
Despite the 2001 recommendation and the fact that the evidence against mercury is still anecdotal, the mercury-thimerosal maelstrom won't be subsiding anytime soon. Some parents of children with autism and other neurological disorders are convinced that thimerosal is the culprit, insisting that their kids seemed healthy prior to vaccinations. By forming groups like the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), a watchdog organization founded by parents whose kids became ill or died after receiving shots, they've been able to have a legislative impact. "Thimerosal was removed as a precaution," says Curtis Allen, a spokesperson for the CDC. "To date, there has been no conclusive evidence that it causes autism, but we're continuing to do research."
Lawrence Palevsky, M.D., president of the Holistic Pediatric Association, believes there's a major flaw in the research that has been done so far. "There are no studies looking at the safety of vaccines beyond three weeks after injection," he says. "So it's impossible to say conclusively that vaccines don't cause autism."
The parents behind NVIC are lobbying for studies on the more serious long-term effects of vaccines, as well as for independent research into the links between immunizations and learning disabilities and chronic illnesses, which Palevsky stresses as growing concerns. "The greatest potential danger is that we don't know how vaccines influence a child's immune system," he says, noting that the concentration of disease microbes in shots can be a shock to a young body. "With vaccinations, you're taking a system that's balanced and overloading it. Why not keep the system healthy?"
