Mormon Life - Vaccines tag

{LDSL Blog} My Vaccination Decision

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 09:45:00 -0600

by Katie Barlow - LDS Living
source: MormonLife.com

Mormon Life says: I hadn't been vaccinated as a child, but now I wanted to serve a mission. My doubts about vaccines stood in direct conflict with my desire to serve. There I was, sitting in the doctor’s office for a pre-mission physical exam and excited to serve. But among the many loose ends and questions looming in my mind, one thing was fairly certain: My mission paperwork was at a standstill because my doctor would not endorse me until he knew I received the essential shots to serve. Even though the Church would still allow me to serve within the United States without vaccinations, my doctor would not.

As an infant, I was never vaccinated. Because my older brother had a very adverse reaction to his immunizations, my mom questioned her doctor about the pros and cons. Brian was a very happy, chatty baby. But after the shots, Brian had a really bad reaction with a fever and high-pitched screams. The next morning he lay in his crib a listless zombie—hardly moving and no longer the babbling baby he was just a day before. The doctor understood her concern and my vaccinations were deferred.

My mom said another thing she took into consideration was the fact that polio wasn’t a risk at the time, and that if there was ever a polio outbreak anywhere near where we lived, she’d make sure I was first in line to be immunized. Some studies at the time suggested immunizations may contribute to a weakened immune system (in hindsight, my mom said my siblings and I all had really good immune systems and didn’t catch half of what went around the neighborhood growing up). She had heard that that some viruses cause cancer, and she wondered how doctors could absolutely know that vaccine viruses didn’t do the same. She believed that the less you infuse into your body, the more healthy you’ll be.

All these ideas loomed in my mind the summer I worked on mission papers. I had to make a decision about whether I’d submit to the needle to go knock on doors or if I’d remain an immunization outlaw. At that moment, what I believed was in direct conflict with what the Church was asking of its prospective missionaries.

My whole life I had many reasons to believe I didn’t need or want to be vaccinated. Obviously most people around me had been immunized and were fine, but what if I got really sick from it like my brother had? I didn’t like the idea of having inactive viruses floating around in my body when they otherwise wouldn’t be there.

I didn’t think I would have any immediate adverse effects from vaccinations, but I had to wonder, “What if down the road, I develop a disease or cancer that I may not have otherwise gotten had I not been immunized?” Would I regret it? I tend to be a worst-case-scenario thinker, and I stick to the belief that despite what doctors and researchers assert, no one can say with absolute certainty you will not suffer any negative effects from vaccinations, now or later. And how do they know with complete confidence that this “inactive strain” will really protect me from the full-blown virus? What if I am an outlier and I contract it anyway?

Ultimately my desire to serve outweighed those fears and I received the essential shots as an adult. Luckily, I didn’t have any bad reactions and was able to serve a full-time mission in beautiful, upstate New York. But the debate I had still lives vividly in my mind.

Vaccines: An Ounce of Prevention

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 00:05:00 -0600

by Dr. Thomas J. Boud, MD
source: MormonLife.com

Mormon Life says: As a physician, I have a responsibility to educate others about the best way to prevent health problems, and vaccines are some of the most powerful preventative measures. These are my medical opinions on the matter, as well as common misconceptions people have when debating whether or not to immunize. Late on a Thursday afternoon, I sat helplessly watching as large purple blotches formed on my unconscious patient’s skin. Twelve-year-old Cody* had suddenly contracted meningococcal meningitis.

Three days earlier he had been a healthy, active young cowboy on his dad’s farm riding his horse as fast as he could go. Now, after being treated with every appropriate antibiotic available, he remained unresponsive in the isolation ICU at the local hospital. His parents would have given any amount of money to have their son back. I sat outside the glass barrier with them as Cody slipped quietly from this world into the next. It doesn’t take too many experiences like this true story to become a believer—especially when one considers the possibility of preventing such a tragedy.

As a primary care physician, I spend much of my day educating my patients about the prevention of health problems. People spend a lot of money treating disease at the end of its course rather than nipping it in the bud up front. Preventative health care is key to living a long and productive life. Few measures demonstrate this more fully than in the case of vaccinations.

A vaccine is to your immune system as college is to life. It prepares you in a relatively safe and controlled environment for potential challenges you may be faced with later on. If and when that happens, you can easily deal with the situation because you’d seen something similar before. You were prepared. The shield vaccines provide is really no different.

Sure, vaccinations have evolved over time; no medication is perfect. Everything we do in health care has potential risks and benefits, but many of us alive today don’t really appreciate the enormous impact these diseases had only a few short decades ago. Just ask your grandparents about smallpox and polio. Yet I am surprised how frequently parents resist vaccinating their children. It is nothing short of amazing that so many intelligent people still passionately oppose vaccines.

I encourage my patients to become educated about their concerns. The data is indisputable—vaccines have slowed or eradicated the spread of so many diseases. Your world and mine is currently safer because of widespread vaccination programs. Most insurance plans will cover vaccinations. State health departments will administer them at little or no cost. All 50 states require certain vaccinations for all children entering public schools. Even the LDS Church missionary medical department, overseen by a living prophet, requires a full allotment of vaccines for missionaries. Failure to get vaccinated can seriously limit where a missionary can serve.

Misconceptions and rumor have tainted the great advantages and protection that vaccines offer. One such falsehood is the link between the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine and childhood autism. In short, there is no cause-and-effect relationship. The original article claiming this relationship in the medical journal The Lancet has been retracted. It was based on a group of 12 children in which parents of 9 of these children thought that symptoms of autism developed after receiving the MMR vaccine. This association has been disproven time and time again by several large-scale studies. Don’t take my word. . . . Look it up.

Another common concern was the potential for harm from the mercury-based preservative thimerosal found in some vaccines. There is no convincing evidence of harm caused by the low doses of thimerosal in vaccines, except for minor reactions like redness and swelling at the injection site. It also does not cause autism. It is simply broken down and eliminated from the body quickly after exposure. Since 2001 most vaccines have not contained thimerosal as a further precaution. Finally there has been no causal relationship between vaccines and Guillain-Barre’ syndrome or SIDS in infants.

What about syncope (fainting) after a vaccine? I see this one fairly often, but no more than when we draw a blood sample (or when I get carried away telling a gory story). Most of these cases are in teens, but I have seen many a muscle-bound bodybuilder drop to the floor at the first sight of a needle. We just do our best to assist them on their way down. They all come around within a few minutes.

Vaccines are held to the highest standard of safety. The United States currently has the safest, most effective vaccine supply in history. Years of testing are required by law before a vaccine can be licensed. Once in use, vaccines are continually monitored for safety and effectiveness.

We are so fortunate today to have the technology to improve our lives through vaccination. Diseases that once ravaged whole societies have been controlled. New and simpler methods of vaccination are being developed, including nanotechnology and even mosquito-delivered vaccines. Diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, and even many types of cancer could be eradicated in our own lifetime! Medicine is an incredible field, and I for one am very optimistic about the future.

Now let’s get healthy!

–Dr. Boud

* Name of child has been changed

Make sure to take part in LDS Living's vaccine poll! And click here for a non-vaccination perspective from one LDS Living intern.

{Poll} Vaccines

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 00:04:00 -0600

by LDS Living
source: MormonLife.com

Mormon Life says: Where do you stand in the vaccination debate? Vaccinations aren't things that many people take lightly, so we knew our vaccine health article would stir up some strong response. Knowing that, we wanted to get some more first-hand response from LDS Living readers.

Where do you stand on vaccinations?