Showing posts with label Vaccines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vaccines. Show all posts
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Vaccine Update
So I've obviously been really bad about keeping up with my journal article reviews here. I have reviewed a few and started summaries on them, but obviously life has been busy so you'll have to forgive me for not posting them yet! But I wanted to pass on this link that someone sent me this week, for those of you interested in the issue. An appeals court just ruled that there is no link between vaccines and autism. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a decision last year by a special vaccine court, which concluded vaccines are not to blame for autism. Click here for the story.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
FYI: some vaccine news
Click here for some breaking news about the MMR vaccine and its purported link to autism. This highlights yet another reason that I'm trying to get my hands on some research studies to read on my own!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Vaccines: Part 2, H1N1 (and how to more wisely utilize the internet as a source of information.)
Recently a friend sent me a link to 3 different websites with information on H1N1. I went to all of them, read all the information, clicked on a few more related links, and started to get scared.
There's what in it? How much? What will it do to me? What will it do to my child? Panic starts to set in. Maybe I shouldn't be vaccinating after all.
Have you ever noticed that so many of these websites use scare tactics? They appeal to you on an emotional level. They did to me. It's easy to be swayed by that. So I forwarded it on to a few medical professionals I know, and asked their opinions about the information there. The overwhelming response? "Those links were pretty bad. Who's writing this stuff?"
Indeed, when I went back and looked at them closer, every single one ended in ".com." Did you know that ".com" is a red flag that a website isn't regulated? It can be purchased by anyone. If you want to do an online search for reliable information, ".gov" and ".edu" sites are the way to go. Their information is verified; often by experts and other peers in that field.
Another way to check the validity of a website is to dig a little deeper and find out who's authoring it, and determine if they have the adequate training, education, and/or background to provide reliable information on the subject you are researching. Is it a doctor? If so, what kind? An infectious disease physician? A pediatrician? Or a doctor of psychology? Or someone with a PhD in literature? It's important to read the fine print. Dig a little deeper before you believe everything you read. I recently checked out some books on vaccinations from our local library. Since I usually don't have time to leisurely browse the selection with 2 small kiddos in tow, I picked a few titles that sounded decent online and reserved them ahead of time. After I got them home I realized one was written by a newspaper journalist. Not exactly who I want to be my most trusted source of information, especially on this topic.
So who should we trust to give us information about vaccines and disease processes? Jenny McCarthy? Oprah? Folks like these are definitely vocal, and they have a lot of funds to support their platforms and causes. And the local newscasters like to pick and choose their information based on what is most controversial and what will suck in the most viewers; not necessarily the most reliable and true information.
My vote is for organizations like the Centers for Disease Control. A non-profit organization dedicated to controlling devastating illnesses in our country. And my local pediatricians, who spent at least 8 years in school, then additional years in residency in their specific field, studying and training and learning about all of this stuff. Reading the actual medical research. Seeing patients with the diseases. Let's give them some credit for what they know. Yes there are some bad doctors out there, but there are also some very good ones! And, as I mentioned before, I also got my hands on some hard medical research that I am slowly reading through. I'm going to start posting summaries of those here soon.
Anyhoo....I'm digressing. Now on to H1N1...
It seems to me that most of the controversy surrounding the H1N1 vaccine was sparked by its history. Back in the 70s when the swine flu hit the States, they produced a bad vaccine. Many people who received it came down with Guillian-Barre syndrome, and many people died. So this time around, people are (logically!) scared. My thoughts are...if the vaccine makers messed up so bad last time, hopefully they're going to be that much more careful this time around. Hopefully they've learned from their mistakes, and they won't be repeated. But that's just my opinion, take it for what it's worth.
Is the H1N1 vaccine new? Yes. Has it been extensively tested? No. But it has been tested as much as possible in this short period of time. With seasonal flu vaccines, there simply isn't time to do all the testing and trials that there are for 'regular' vaccines.
Another bit of controversy: high amounts of thimerosol (mercury) in the shot, particularly scary when you think about giving it to your kids. In my mind, this isn't really an issue, because you can request a thimerosol-free shot, or get the flu-mist (which is also mercury-free.) And, contrary to a lot of rumors flying around, there has been no causal link between thimerosol and autism. Click here for a reliable source of information about vaccines and thimerosol. I also read one research study that found the amount of mercury in vaccines to be LESS than the amount of mercury passed from mother to baby while nursing.
Another reliable source of information is http://www.flu.gov/. Some good info I copied and pasted off the site:
"Since April, 81 children who contracted 2009 H1N1 flu have died." (If we choose not to get the vaccine, we should at least know the seriousness of what we're up against, and take reasonable precautions to avoid exposure.)
Vaccine Safety
The 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine is expected to have a similar safety profile as seasonal flu vaccines, which have a very good safety track record. Over the years, hundreds of millions of Americans have received seasonal flu vaccines.
CDC expects that any side effects following vaccination with the 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine would be rare. If side effects occur, they will likely be similar to those experienced following seasonal influenza vaccine. Mild problems that may be experienced include soreness, redness, or swelling where the shot was given, fainting (mainly adolescents), headache, muscle aches, fever, and nausea. If these problems occur, they usually begin soon after the shot and last 1-2 days. Life-threatening allergic reactions to vaccines are very rare. If they do occur, it is usually within a few minutes to a few hours after the shot is given. If any unusual condition occurs following vaccination, seek medical attention right away.
(from http://www.flu.gov/individualfamily/vaccination/index.html)
There's what in it? How much? What will it do to me? What will it do to my child? Panic starts to set in. Maybe I shouldn't be vaccinating after all.
Have you ever noticed that so many of these websites use scare tactics? They appeal to you on an emotional level. They did to me. It's easy to be swayed by that. So I forwarded it on to a few medical professionals I know, and asked their opinions about the information there. The overwhelming response? "Those links were pretty bad. Who's writing this stuff?"
Indeed, when I went back and looked at them closer, every single one ended in ".com." Did you know that ".com" is a red flag that a website isn't regulated? It can be purchased by anyone. If you want to do an online search for reliable information, ".gov" and ".edu" sites are the way to go. Their information is verified; often by experts and other peers in that field.
Another way to check the validity of a website is to dig a little deeper and find out who's authoring it, and determine if they have the adequate training, education, and/or background to provide reliable information on the subject you are researching. Is it a doctor? If so, what kind? An infectious disease physician? A pediatrician? Or a doctor of psychology? Or someone with a PhD in literature? It's important to read the fine print. Dig a little deeper before you believe everything you read. I recently checked out some books on vaccinations from our local library. Since I usually don't have time to leisurely browse the selection with 2 small kiddos in tow, I picked a few titles that sounded decent online and reserved them ahead of time. After I got them home I realized one was written by a newspaper journalist. Not exactly who I want to be my most trusted source of information, especially on this topic.
So who should we trust to give us information about vaccines and disease processes? Jenny McCarthy? Oprah? Folks like these are definitely vocal, and they have a lot of funds to support their platforms and causes. And the local newscasters like to pick and choose their information based on what is most controversial and what will suck in the most viewers; not necessarily the most reliable and true information.
My vote is for organizations like the Centers for Disease Control. A non-profit organization dedicated to controlling devastating illnesses in our country. And my local pediatricians, who spent at least 8 years in school, then additional years in residency in their specific field, studying and training and learning about all of this stuff. Reading the actual medical research. Seeing patients with the diseases. Let's give them some credit for what they know. Yes there are some bad doctors out there, but there are also some very good ones! And, as I mentioned before, I also got my hands on some hard medical research that I am slowly reading through. I'm going to start posting summaries of those here soon.
Anyhoo....I'm digressing. Now on to H1N1...
It seems to me that most of the controversy surrounding the H1N1 vaccine was sparked by its history. Back in the 70s when the swine flu hit the States, they produced a bad vaccine. Many people who received it came down with Guillian-Barre syndrome, and many people died. So this time around, people are (logically!) scared. My thoughts are...if the vaccine makers messed up so bad last time, hopefully they're going to be that much more careful this time around. Hopefully they've learned from their mistakes, and they won't be repeated. But that's just my opinion, take it for what it's worth.
Is the H1N1 vaccine new? Yes. Has it been extensively tested? No. But it has been tested as much as possible in this short period of time. With seasonal flu vaccines, there simply isn't time to do all the testing and trials that there are for 'regular' vaccines.
Another bit of controversy: high amounts of thimerosol (mercury) in the shot, particularly scary when you think about giving it to your kids. In my mind, this isn't really an issue, because you can request a thimerosol-free shot, or get the flu-mist (which is also mercury-free.) And, contrary to a lot of rumors flying around, there has been no causal link between thimerosol and autism. Click here for a reliable source of information about vaccines and thimerosol. I also read one research study that found the amount of mercury in vaccines to be LESS than the amount of mercury passed from mother to baby while nursing.
Another reliable source of information is http://www.flu.gov/. Some good info I copied and pasted off the site:
"Since April, 81 children who contracted 2009 H1N1 flu have died." (If we choose not to get the vaccine, we should at least know the seriousness of what we're up against, and take reasonable precautions to avoid exposure.)
Vaccine Safety
The 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine is expected to have a similar safety profile as seasonal flu vaccines, which have a very good safety track record. Over the years, hundreds of millions of Americans have received seasonal flu vaccines.
CDC expects that any side effects following vaccination with the 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine would be rare. If side effects occur, they will likely be similar to those experienced following seasonal influenza vaccine. Mild problems that may be experienced include soreness, redness, or swelling where the shot was given, fainting (mainly adolescents), headache, muscle aches, fever, and nausea. If these problems occur, they usually begin soon after the shot and last 1-2 days. Life-threatening allergic reactions to vaccines are very rare. If they do occur, it is usually within a few minutes to a few hours after the shot is given. If any unusual condition occurs following vaccination, seek medical attention right away.
(from http://www.flu.gov/individualfamily/vaccination/index.html)
Another thing that gets people fired up is the fact that often flu vaccines aren't 'effective,' meaning, you can still get the flu, even if you get the vaccine. This is, in fact, true. They don't always get the right bug when they make the vaccine. And even if they do, there is still a chance of contracting it, though if you've had the vaccine your symptoms should be milder than if you hadn't.
In all of my reading, I've been unable to find any conclusive evidence that the H1N1 vaccine is harmful. I do know that the risk of contracted H1N1 is very real. One of my friends recently had her entire family come down with it, all 3 sons and her husband. And they go to my church. And my kid could have easily been in the nursery with her kid. Read about her crazy drama here. For what it's worth, even going through all this, she told me that she's still against the H1N1 vaccine. Another friend of mine came down with H1N1 herself a few weeks ago. Her 2-year-old and 1-year-old also got it. Since her husband is in school full time, she missed 9 days of work. And, in retrospect, she wishes she would have had them vaccinated. Not just because of the missed work, but because they were all so horribly miserable.
All this to say...we are likely already past the 'peak' of the H1N1 epidemic, at least in the town where I live. So it might not even be an issue whether or not to get the vaccine. (Note: the shot takes 2 weeks to become effective, the mist takes about 7 days.) Some experts hypothesize that there may be another "wave" of this flu strain later on this winter.
In talking with our pediatrician about it, she said "if you're comfortable with the seasonal flu vaccine, you should be comfortable with the H1N1 vaccine." They're made the same way.
I'm not going to give my final opinion on this vaccine, because frankly, I'm still on the fence about it. I started this post almost a month ago, and I was very clearly on one side of the issue. Then I went the complete opposite direction. And now I've landed in the middle. I don't think it's harmful, but I also don't think it's absolutely necessary. Gather your information from reputable sources, then do what suits you, and your family, the best, and helps you sleep better at night. Each family's situation is different. If I had kids in public school and a newborn baby at home, we'd most likely get it. If I had older kids who were all home all day long, we probably wouldn't. Kids in daycare, kids in the church nursery, older, younger, healthy or with conditions like asthma...each family must choose for themselves.
As a side note, whatever you choose to do, please take reasonable precautions to protect yourself, your family, and others you come into contact with while this nasty bug is going around: wash your hands often, cover your mouth when you cough, wipe down shopping cart handles, avoid going out if you have any symptoms. (Note that you are still contagious within 24 hours of symptoms ceasing...so if you've had a runny nose, cough, sore throat, fever, or vomited, even if it was 23 hours ago, you could still pass that on to someone else.)
Here's to doing what we can to stay healthy this winter!!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Vaccines...still a work in progress
When I started to blog about this topic, I honestly thought it would be more cut and dry than it really is. If you know me, you know that I'm a black and white girl. I don't like gray areas. I want to find the right answer, and just do it. Ha. No wonder I've been losing sleep.
I'd like to offer a quick apology to those who might have been offended by my last vaccine post. I did not intend to assert that people who don't vaccinate only get their information off of the Internet, but a little birdie told me that some people might have thought that's what I was saying. I only intended to say that certain Internet websites are not reliable sources. I appreciate those of you who have sent me names of other books and sources of information. If anyone has any other good, and reputable, books or journal articles on the topic of vaccines, (either pro or against, but preferably something un-biased and in the middle,) please feel free to post them in the comments section!
I just sent my request back to the medical librarian for 12 research studies. The one I'm most looking forward to reading is entitled "Breastfeeding is an essential complement to vaccination," since that is immediately applicable to our household. :) A few others I requested include: "Vaccines. In response to 'Vaccination: compliance & controversy'," "Parental refusal of pertussis vaccination is associated with an increased risk of pertussis infection in children," and "Vaccine refusal and the risks of vaccine-preventable diseases."
I'm irked at how difficult it is to find non-biased opinions on this topic. The pro-vaccine literature is often financed by the pharmaceutical companies, and the anti-vaccine folks all seem to be selling some kind of vitamin supplement. I'm sure there is a healthy, happy middle ground here somewhere, it's just hard to wade through all this stuff to find it.
More than anything I'm praying for wisdom. Thankfully God promises to give it to those who ask! I've also been struck with how easy it is to let fear play too large of a role in this decision. I read one thing and I'm fearful of what could happen to my child if I vaccinate. Then I read another thing and I'm fearful of what could happen if I don't. Thanks to those who posted comments on my last vaccine post including scripture. What a good reminder that, indeed, God's Word is the ultimate source of truth. I've been meditating on:
2 Timothy 1:7 --"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." Particularly, I've been praying for a sound mind with which to study this subject. I refuse to make an emotional decision. But it's so easy to get overwhelmed by this stuff!
A few days ago, with post-partum hormones raging (yes, they're back, ARGH!!) and suffering from a severe lack of sleep, I called a good friend (in tears) and asked her to pray for me. That I would find peace. That I could lie down and sleep without thoughts racing around in my head, swirling out of control. That I would remain rational. She offered wonderful words of wisdom, and prayed for me over the phone.
Interestingly, that night Audrey woke up to go potty around midnight. I took her to the bathroom, and when we got back to her room she said "it's really dark in here." She suddenly pointed to some shadows and started screaming "that's a scary man! There's a scary man in here!" She clung to me, screaming, sobbing, absolutely terrified. I've never seen her so afraid in my life. I held her, and we rocked in her chair. I prayed for her. Then I whispered a verse to her that has always been a favorite of mine, and is also in one of her books we've been reading. Interestingly, it's on a page about a girl named Claire going to the doctor's office, and she's scared to get a shot. Then she remembers this verse, and God helps her to not be afraid:
Isaiah 41:10 --"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
I whispered this verse in Audrey's ear. She whispered back, "say it again." I complied. Again, she whispered, "say it again." We went back and forth like that a few times, and then...have you ever had one of those moments when you can just sense God's presence, right there in the room with you? Like a moment just stands still, and you think, "He's here. Right now. In this room. For me." I know God is with me all the time, that's the beauty of His omnipresence. But I don't feel Him all the time. But at that moment, I did. He knew I needed to see how irrational my fears looked to Him. That I can cling to Him and find safety and security in His arms. And that He will show me what things I should really be afraid of, and what are simply "shadows." And I needed that particular verse, the truth that it contained, that night as much as my daughter did.
So it's going to take me longer than I thought to wade through the whole vaccine issue. I came to a conclusion, and now I'm waffle-ing a bit. I have 3 different books sitting on the shelf, waiting for me to read them. But for now, I'm sleeping better at night. So I'm putting it off a little while longer. At least until the hormones stabilize somewhat. At the request of my husband. :) Sometimes he knows me best.
But just in case you're curious, I think we've decided to skip the H1N1 vaccine. Tim might get it, since he's out in the community for work and such, and he doesn't want to bring it home to Norah. But the girls and I are just holing up at home for awhile to avoid the germ-fest.
More on that later...someone wants me to read her "KeyGeorge" now. :)
I'd like to offer a quick apology to those who might have been offended by my last vaccine post. I did not intend to assert that people who don't vaccinate only get their information off of the Internet, but a little birdie told me that some people might have thought that's what I was saying. I only intended to say that certain Internet websites are not reliable sources. I appreciate those of you who have sent me names of other books and sources of information. If anyone has any other good, and reputable, books or journal articles on the topic of vaccines, (either pro or against, but preferably something un-biased and in the middle,) please feel free to post them in the comments section!
I just sent my request back to the medical librarian for 12 research studies. The one I'm most looking forward to reading is entitled "Breastfeeding is an essential complement to vaccination," since that is immediately applicable to our household. :) A few others I requested include: "Vaccines. In response to 'Vaccination: compliance & controversy'," "Parental refusal of pertussis vaccination is associated with an increased risk of pertussis infection in children," and "Vaccine refusal and the risks of vaccine-preventable diseases."
I'm irked at how difficult it is to find non-biased opinions on this topic. The pro-vaccine literature is often financed by the pharmaceutical companies, and the anti-vaccine folks all seem to be selling some kind of vitamin supplement. I'm sure there is a healthy, happy middle ground here somewhere, it's just hard to wade through all this stuff to find it.
More than anything I'm praying for wisdom. Thankfully God promises to give it to those who ask! I've also been struck with how easy it is to let fear play too large of a role in this decision. I read one thing and I'm fearful of what could happen to my child if I vaccinate. Then I read another thing and I'm fearful of what could happen if I don't. Thanks to those who posted comments on my last vaccine post including scripture. What a good reminder that, indeed, God's Word is the ultimate source of truth. I've been meditating on:
2 Timothy 1:7 --"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." Particularly, I've been praying for a sound mind with which to study this subject. I refuse to make an emotional decision. But it's so easy to get overwhelmed by this stuff!
A few days ago, with post-partum hormones raging (yes, they're back, ARGH!!) and suffering from a severe lack of sleep, I called a good friend (in tears) and asked her to pray for me. That I would find peace. That I could lie down and sleep without thoughts racing around in my head, swirling out of control. That I would remain rational. She offered wonderful words of wisdom, and prayed for me over the phone.
Interestingly, that night Audrey woke up to go potty around midnight. I took her to the bathroom, and when we got back to her room she said "it's really dark in here." She suddenly pointed to some shadows and started screaming "that's a scary man! There's a scary man in here!" She clung to me, screaming, sobbing, absolutely terrified. I've never seen her so afraid in my life. I held her, and we rocked in her chair. I prayed for her. Then I whispered a verse to her that has always been a favorite of mine, and is also in one of her books we've been reading. Interestingly, it's on a page about a girl named Claire going to the doctor's office, and she's scared to get a shot. Then she remembers this verse, and God helps her to not be afraid:
Isaiah 41:10 --"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
I whispered this verse in Audrey's ear. She whispered back, "say it again." I complied. Again, she whispered, "say it again." We went back and forth like that a few times, and then...have you ever had one of those moments when you can just sense God's presence, right there in the room with you? Like a moment just stands still, and you think, "He's here. Right now. In this room. For me." I know God is with me all the time, that's the beauty of His omnipresence. But I don't feel Him all the time. But at that moment, I did. He knew I needed to see how irrational my fears looked to Him. That I can cling to Him and find safety and security in His arms. And that He will show me what things I should really be afraid of, and what are simply "shadows." And I needed that particular verse, the truth that it contained, that night as much as my daughter did.
So it's going to take me longer than I thought to wade through the whole vaccine issue. I came to a conclusion, and now I'm waffle-ing a bit. I have 3 different books sitting on the shelf, waiting for me to read them. But for now, I'm sleeping better at night. So I'm putting it off a little while longer. At least until the hormones stabilize somewhat. At the request of my husband. :) Sometimes he knows me best.
But just in case you're curious, I think we've decided to skip the H1N1 vaccine. Tim might get it, since he's out in the community for work and such, and he doesn't want to bring it home to Norah. But the girls and I are just holing up at home for awhile to avoid the germ-fest.
More on that later...someone wants me to read her "KeyGeorge" now. :)
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Vaccines, Part 1: a little (okay a lot of) background
I figured I should blog about my stance on vaccines after I posted a little something a few months ago about them. But I didn't really want to, because they're so controversial. And I don't want to spark up a huge debate with people that I love and care about who might not agree with me. But I posted that silly poll, and the overwhelming response was that you want to hear about it. So remember...you asked. :) The ground rules are, I can say what I want to say because it's my blog. If it offends you, stop reading. I always love comments, but I'm asking that we employ the admonishment of Thumper in the movie Bambi, "if you can't say something nice... don't say nothing at all." Let's just keep this discussion open and honest and respectful, okay? Thanks.
As I've thought about what to say over the last month or so, I've realized that I have a LOT to say about this topic! (This post alone has taken me over a week to write!) So I'm breaking it up into sections.
This is Part 1. How my "vaccine journey" began.
First I need to explain where I'm coming from, for 2 reasons. 1) So you'll understand the inherent bias I bring to the table. And 2) to establish a little rapport with you, so you can trust what I'm saying and hopefully view me as a reliable source of information.
I'm a medical professional. (If you care about the details, I have a bachelor of arts degree in Linguistics, and a Doctoral degree in Physical Therapy.) My parents are both medical professionals. I grew up in a home where the hospital was a fun place to visit Dad at work. We went to the doctor regularly, and it wasn't a bad experience. When we got sick, we took medicine. It's how I grew up, and what I'm comfortable with. So when Audrey was born, we chose to fully vaccinate her, mostly because we trust the institution of modern medicine. That...and if you know me very well at all, you'll know that I'm a major rule follower. :)
Over the past few years I've had quite a few conversations with close friends and family who choose not to vaccinate, and I was intrigued. There seems to be a wave of "all-natural-and-organic-everything" that's sweeping our nation, and I'm getting caught in the tidal wave. While I'm ready to jump on the cloth diapering and whole foods bandwagons, I'm leery of the non-vaccinating-just-take-a-bunch-more-vitamins scene. And decided that if I were to continue vaccinating, I needed to know why I was doing so. And I wanted to make sure it truly was what was best for my family. And if there was compelling evidence to not vaccinate, I wanted to read it for myself before changing my mind.
One of my pet peeves is when someone tells me they, or one of their friends, did a bunch of "research" and learned X, Y, and Z about vaccines. If by "research" they mean they conducted randomized-double-blind-controlled trials, great. I don't have a problem with that. But if by "research" you mean read a bunch of stuff on the internet, then yeah, I have a problem with that. ANYONE can write ANYTHING and put it on the internet. You can't believe everything you read on the internet! It doesn't have to be backed up by anything. It could be just one person's opinion. Facts can be changed to support or refute their own personal theory. In addition, they may quote research articles, but unless you read the research yourself, there's no way of knowing if it's good or bad research. One thing that got drilled into my head in grad school was the importance of evidence based practice. As a physical therapist, I want to use treatments that are proven to work, by evidence, or research. I think we had at least 3 semesters of "Critical Inquiry," which was a class entirely devoted to reading and interpreting medical research. And one thing I learned is that there's a lot of bad research out there.
Such as:
---Research studies without a control group (for example, if you just study 200 vaccinated children, and 5 of them develop autism over a 2-year period, this doesn't prove vaccines cause autism. In order to make any claim, you must include a control group: unvaccinated children. There's no way of knowing if 5 in 200 unvacc'd children would have also developed autism.)
---Research studies with a small sample size. (another purely hypothetical example: If you only have 4 subjects, and 3 of them have a reaction to a vaccine, it would indicate that 75% of children react to that vaccine. But maybe those were the only 3 kids who would have reacted out of 1000 kids who got the vaccine, which would change the results to just 0.3% of children having a negative reaction. Sample size makes a huge difference!)
---Etc. etc. etc. You get the point. So when I set out to do my own "research" about vaccines, I didn't want to just hit Google. First I picked up Dr. Sears' Vaccine Book; I thought it was very informative in the way that it went through each individual vaccine, detailing what it's for, what all is in it, possible side effects, and risks/benefits. I learned a lot. But I didn't like the fact that it was written by just ONE doctor. And I had heard rumblings in the medical community that other doctors didn't like what Dr. Sears had to say. So I was curious to hear the other side of the story. Then a friend sent me a link to a blog , written by a medical doctor, with a lot of information about vaccines, and it had a link to an actual research article from a medical journal! ("The Problem with Dr. Bob's Alternative Vaccine Schedule," published in the journal Pediatrics just this year.) I was thrilled. I got a copy from our local hospital's medical library, and found it very informative, with great points. However, I clicked on the link to post-publication peer-reviews, and discovered that one of the authors of this study is a co-patent holder of a vaccine. Which leads me to another problem with some research studies: conflict-of-interest, or bias. While I still agree with many of the points Dr. Offit made in this article, I am now more skeptical about what literature he chose to review and how he drew his conclusions, due to his obvious benefit from the vaccine industry.
So...I still haven't reached an official conclusion. And it bugs me to only hear one side of the story. I'm assuming that most of you have read or heard a lot of the anti-vaccine propaganda that's out there, so I'm not going to repeat a bunch of that. I'm on a quest to find reliable sources of vaccine information, and to see what's out there for actual tried-and-true medical research. What are the real risks? (Of vaccines, and of the diseases they aim to prevent.) And what is the risk:benefit ratio?
Thankfully, it is such a blessing that I have access to a wealth of information at our local hospital's medical library since I am technically an employee! So I contacted the medical librarian and asked her to do a search for me on all the articles she could find related to vaccines. She sent me a list of 20 abstracts!! I'm going through them and choosing the ones that seem to be the most relevant to this topic, that will be somewhat easy for me to read and understand, and requesting the full text versions from her. I am looking forward to getting my hands on this information and reading it for myself, and passing it on to you. It will take time. But I'm willing to do it. For these sweet girls:
As I've thought about what to say over the last month or so, I've realized that I have a LOT to say about this topic! (This post alone has taken me over a week to write!) So I'm breaking it up into sections.
This is Part 1. How my "vaccine journey" began.
First I need to explain where I'm coming from, for 2 reasons. 1) So you'll understand the inherent bias I bring to the table. And 2) to establish a little rapport with you, so you can trust what I'm saying and hopefully view me as a reliable source of information.
I'm a medical professional. (If you care about the details, I have a bachelor of arts degree in Linguistics, and a Doctoral degree in Physical Therapy.) My parents are both medical professionals. I grew up in a home where the hospital was a fun place to visit Dad at work. We went to the doctor regularly, and it wasn't a bad experience. When we got sick, we took medicine. It's how I grew up, and what I'm comfortable with. So when Audrey was born, we chose to fully vaccinate her, mostly because we trust the institution of modern medicine. That...and if you know me very well at all, you'll know that I'm a major rule follower. :)
Over the past few years I've had quite a few conversations with close friends and family who choose not to vaccinate, and I was intrigued. There seems to be a wave of "all-natural-and-organic-everything" that's sweeping our nation, and I'm getting caught in the tidal wave. While I'm ready to jump on the cloth diapering and whole foods bandwagons, I'm leery of the non-vaccinating-just-take-a-bunch-more-vitamins scene. And decided that if I were to continue vaccinating, I needed to know why I was doing so. And I wanted to make sure it truly was what was best for my family. And if there was compelling evidence to not vaccinate, I wanted to read it for myself before changing my mind.
One of my pet peeves is when someone tells me they, or one of their friends, did a bunch of "research" and learned X, Y, and Z about vaccines. If by "research" they mean they conducted randomized-double-blind-controlled trials, great. I don't have a problem with that. But if by "research" you mean read a bunch of stuff on the internet, then yeah, I have a problem with that. ANYONE can write ANYTHING and put it on the internet. You can't believe everything you read on the internet! It doesn't have to be backed up by anything. It could be just one person's opinion. Facts can be changed to support or refute their own personal theory. In addition, they may quote research articles, but unless you read the research yourself, there's no way of knowing if it's good or bad research. One thing that got drilled into my head in grad school was the importance of evidence based practice. As a physical therapist, I want to use treatments that are proven to work, by evidence, or research. I think we had at least 3 semesters of "Critical Inquiry," which was a class entirely devoted to reading and interpreting medical research. And one thing I learned is that there's a lot of bad research out there.
Such as:
---Research studies without a control group (for example, if you just study 200 vaccinated children, and 5 of them develop autism over a 2-year period, this doesn't prove vaccines cause autism. In order to make any claim, you must include a control group: unvaccinated children. There's no way of knowing if 5 in 200 unvacc'd children would have also developed autism.)
---Research studies with a small sample size. (another purely hypothetical example: If you only have 4 subjects, and 3 of them have a reaction to a vaccine, it would indicate that 75% of children react to that vaccine. But maybe those were the only 3 kids who would have reacted out of 1000 kids who got the vaccine, which would change the results to just 0.3% of children having a negative reaction. Sample size makes a huge difference!)
---Etc. etc. etc. You get the point. So when I set out to do my own "research" about vaccines, I didn't want to just hit Google. First I picked up Dr. Sears' Vaccine Book; I thought it was very informative in the way that it went through each individual vaccine, detailing what it's for, what all is in it, possible side effects, and risks/benefits. I learned a lot. But I didn't like the fact that it was written by just ONE doctor. And I had heard rumblings in the medical community that other doctors didn't like what Dr. Sears had to say. So I was curious to hear the other side of the story. Then a friend sent me a link to a blog , written by a medical doctor, with a lot of information about vaccines, and it had a link to an actual research article from a medical journal! ("The Problem with Dr. Bob's Alternative Vaccine Schedule," published in the journal Pediatrics just this year.) I was thrilled. I got a copy from our local hospital's medical library, and found it very informative, with great points. However, I clicked on the link to post-publication peer-reviews, and discovered that one of the authors of this study is a co-patent holder of a vaccine. Which leads me to another problem with some research studies: conflict-of-interest, or bias. While I still agree with many of the points Dr. Offit made in this article, I am now more skeptical about what literature he chose to review and how he drew his conclusions, due to his obvious benefit from the vaccine industry.
So...I still haven't reached an official conclusion. And it bugs me to only hear one side of the story. I'm assuming that most of you have read or heard a lot of the anti-vaccine propaganda that's out there, so I'm not going to repeat a bunch of that. I'm on a quest to find reliable sources of vaccine information, and to see what's out there for actual tried-and-true medical research. What are the real risks? (Of vaccines, and of the diseases they aim to prevent.) And what is the risk:benefit ratio?
Thankfully, it is such a blessing that I have access to a wealth of information at our local hospital's medical library since I am technically an employee! So I contacted the medical librarian and asked her to do a search for me on all the articles she could find related to vaccines. She sent me a list of 20 abstracts!! I'm going through them and choosing the ones that seem to be the most relevant to this topic, that will be somewhat easy for me to read and understand, and requesting the full text versions from her. I am looking forward to getting my hands on this information and reading it for myself, and passing it on to you. It will take time. But I'm willing to do it. For these sweet girls:
And for all of you. My readers. My friends. My family. The precious kiddos you all know and love. They're important. And in the end, we all just want what's best for them, right?
Next up: Vaccines, Part 2: H1N1 (and how to more wisely utilize the internet as a source of information.)
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