I'm a Registered Vaccination Provider in my country, for children, babies and adults. I also do overseas vaccinations as well.
Once again, the continued, global misinformation re this subject astounds me. The so-called, self-appointed 'expert' stars like Jim Carrey and his wife who stir up trouble on the internet and others, are filled with useless, hysterical hyperbole, and incorrect facts.
Here are some BASIC facts re vaccination:
1) Vaccinations DO NOT STOP diseases. They only lessen symptoms to the point where you have very little symptoms, or don't have any symptoms at all.
2) Flu vaccinations are grown in chicken eggs, and are only given for the 4 main influenza viruses currently circulating around the world. There is currently a quadrivalent flu vaccine, but because the flu virus changes literally every minute, and there are literally hundreds of flu viruses around the world, the flu injection can only be tailored to fight the MAIN flu viruses present today.
2a) You cannot get the flu from the flu vaccination, as it is a killed virus. To give you a live flu virus would more than likely kill you. The flu virus hibernates, so more than likely, people get flu like symptoms after having the flu vaccination, because they have already picked up the flu virus from somewhere. Or you might have a bit of an allergic reaction, or you think you have flu, but it might be something else (go see the doc if you do get sick anyway is my advice).
3) There is currently no evidence that vaccinations in childhood cause autism. There have literally been thousands of independent studies done in many different countries, with the same conclusion. That's not to say we haven't found a cause for autism, such as a protein or something, that perhaps could be activated at a certain age - nobody knows what causes autism, so it's all still a mystery.
4) It is better to have your child vaccinated than not at all. Many people may not be aware but childhood diseases such as measles & chicken pox, etc still cause deaths in many poor countries. I have seen kids come into the PICU (paediatric ICU) and Emergency, deathly ill with these diseases, due to not being vaccinated or having missed vaccinations. Some of them die. You do NOT want to see a child fitting from a high temperature, with their eyes rolling back into their head, dying before your eyes, with the mother screaming beside you to DO SOMETHING and save her child (that particular child thankfully pulled through in the end).
5) Vaccinations can cause allergic reactions in anyone at anytime, even if they have had that vaccination before. Allergic reactions can happen with any medication at any time at any age.
6) Vaccinations are made, stored and transported under very strict conditions. They come with inbuilt temperature guages when they are delivered, are stored in special fridges, and there are very strict time guidelines for giving them. Any vaccinations not stored correctly or not given within a certain time limit, are immediately discarded.
7) Vaccinations cannot overdose your child, even if they have two vaccinations of the same things by accident. All medications and vaccinations (in Australia at least), are made in what we call THERAPEUTIC DOSES. This means that a 2nd dose given by mistake is still within the accepted therapeutic range. The biggest problem with giving added doses by accident means a child can get a very high temperature - observation and giving temp lowering medication is the best way to treat this.
7) Although some parents get away with not having their kids vaccinated, it is better to get about 80 - 90% of the whole population vaccinated - this is called HERD vaccination. It means that if everybody is pretty much vaccinated against disease, it will be rare that these diseases will break out. This means diseases can't spread as easily.
8) If you choose NOT to vaccinate your child, or take them to a 'measles party' for example, your child could possibly catch a more highly virulent strain of that particular virus, which produces worse & killer symptoms. Viruses are highly adaptive, and viruses like the measles and chicken pox ones are becoming more resistant every year, and producing worse & more deadly symptoms than before. As a parent, you might not be so lucky next time hoping that your precious baby just catches a 'little dose' of measles. Chicken pox and/or measles can cause blindness, hearing loss or deafness, and if chicken pox is caught in adults, can cause sterility. It can also metamorphose later into shingles - an extremely painful nervous disease, for which there is no cure.
9) Even if you do get vaccinated, you can still catch the same disease and get symptoms from it. This is because some disease strains such as TB are becoming more virulent, your immune system 'forgets' that particular disease, or your immune system is failing. This is also why we give boosters for some immunisations, to 'wake up' your immune system.
10) In most cases, once you are given a vaccination, your body produces antibodies, and these are the 'memory cells' to help you fight that particular infection if you get it again (but it's way more complicated than that.....). Vaccinations are therefore termed as 'antigens'.
11) You can have what are called catch-up vaccinations at any time during your life. Many are free Down Under. So don't think it's ever too late to have your vaccinations!
12) Always consult your vaccination specialist before travelling overseas.
13) Many vaccines are dead or 'killed', because to give them live to humans would kill you, or make you very ill. Some vaccinations can only be given as live vaccines, or they won't work. Yes, some do have such things like formaldehyde in them, but these types of additives are used as stabilising agents only and are miniscule, so they won't harm you, unless you know that you are allergic to them. Stabilising agents are needed to help vaccines survive transport, heat or cold, etc, or to make them mix better for usage in humans. Vaccinations are very, very delicate and need to be handled with extreme care.
14) Vaccinations are never tested on babies or children by law - they are usually tested on piglets, as piglets have the closest DNA to us, or mice. (Monkeys used to be used, but this is banned now). Some vaccines are tested on adults, but only those who volunteer, and the volunteers are very closely monitored for side effects.
If we had no immune systems, we would be dead from the first sneeze directed at us, or from a small cut on our hand.
Our immune systems are truly amazing things, we should thank God every day for having such a wonderful defence system for our bodies!
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