Misinformation About Vaccine Safety Puts Kids at Risk of Illness
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June 7, 2010Misinformation About Vaccine Safety Puts Kids at Risk of IllnessAbout one-third of U.S. parents surveyed had delayed or refused early childhood immunizations. As I’ve told you in previous blogs, this is a decision that can potentially harm your child and his or her friends. Here’s a report from HealthFinder that confirms my beliefs:
Physicians report that children who don’t receive recommended vaccine doses by the time they’re 2 years old are at risk of developing a variety of diseases. But some anti-vaccine activists contend that the shots can cause side effects, including autism, although health officials say repeated studies have failed to uncover such a link.
For this study, researchers analyzed the results of a 2008 national survey of parents and health-care providers and found that almost one-third of U.S. parents surveyed delayed vaccines for their very young children and 12 percent simply refused to have their children immunized, possibly making them more vulnerable to illness.
Thirty-one percent of parents with children aged 24 to 35 months reported that they’d delayed vaccine doses on purpose in 2008. In fact, the percentage of parents who either delayed or refused to immunize their children grew from 22 percent in 2003 to 39 percent in 2008.
Not all the non-vaccinating parents oppose immunization; 44 percent of the parents who didn’t vaccinate their children on schedule said their child was ill. In addition, 27 percent thought too many shots were recommended; 26 percent questioned whether vaccines were effective; 25 percent were concerned about autism; and 24 percent said they feared side effects or thought vaccines weren’t entirely safe.
The study was scheduled to be presented Tuesday at the Pediatric Academic Societies’ annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (SOURCE: American Academy of Pediatrics, news release, May 4, 2010)
Here are some of my other popular blogs on the topic:
- Misinformation About Vaccine Safety Puts Kids at Risk of Illness
- Doctors Debate Delayed Vaccine Schedule
- Survey Shows Parents Still Worry Unnecessarily About Vaccines
- More on the Risks of Not Vaccinating Your Children
- Parents continue to have unwarranted fears and delusions about pediatric vaccines
Also, I did a popular series on VACCINE MYTHS. You can review the series starting with the first one:
0 Comments
I no longer call people like you “Doctors”. It is hypocritical to do so. I much rather prefer the label “Pharmaceutical Whores”. Vaccines don’t prevent disease – they cause it. Don’t believe me? Read what our government and leading “health experts” have known all along in the book, “Fear of the Invisible” by Janine Roberts. Did you also tell your viewers that the Pharmaceutical Companies are giving out big bonuses for doctors to lie that vaccines are “safe” and prevent disease? I didn’t see this mentioned anywhere on your site.
Dawn, thanks for posting, even though it’s obvious we disagree on this topic. However, I would be interested in any credible data that support your accusation that “Pharmaceutical Companies are giving out big bonuses for doctors to lie that vaccines are ‘safe’ and prevent disease.” I don’t mention it because I’m not aware of a shred of evidence to support it.
Also, Dawn, there is significant evidence to refute the delusion (fixed false belief) that vaccines either (1) are not safe or (2) do not prevent disease. You and my other readers can learn more about the facts about these VACCINE MYTHS here:
Vaccine Myth #2: Vaccines Don’t Work (https://www.drwalt.com/blog/?p=55)
Vaccine Myth #3: Vaccines Aren’t Necessary (https://www.drwalt.com/blog/?p=69)
Vaccine Myth #4: Vaccines Are Unsafe (https://www.drwalt.com/blog/?p=81)