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Frequently
Asked Questions about
Childhood Immunization
Fall 2004
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My baby is healthy - why does she need to
be immunized?
Immunization is one of the very best ways to keep your baby healthy. Once a baby
is ill, it is usually too late to vaccinate.
But aren’t most childhood diseases fairly
mild?
Not always. Childhood diseases can cause serious, permanent disabilities, like
blindness, deafness, and mental retardation.
How well do vaccines work?
Vaccines work in 85% to 99% of cases. And the 1-15% of immunized children who
get a disease anyhow will usually have a much milder illness than an
unvaccinated child.
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What about side effects?
Typical side effects include a sore arm and mild fever. Depending on the
vaccine, side effects that are more serious may occur in from 1:1,000 to
1:1,000,000 children. Often these involve an allergic reaction.
Are the risks really higher if my child
isn’t immunized?
Yes. That’s because the vaccine-preventable diseases of childhood can be very
serious indeed. For example, in the US in the 1950s, polio left 20,000 children
with paralysis each year. During the 1964 rubella epidemic, 85% of pregnant
women with the disease had babies with congenital rubella syndrome. In a 1994
measles epidemic in the former Soviet Union, 50,000 people became ill and one of
every 29 died.
Can a vaccine give my child the disease
it is supposed to prevent?
Vaccines that use live, weakened (attenuated) virus or bacteria may give a child
a very mild case of the disease. Other vaccines cannot cause infection because
they use killed virus or bacteria, or only parts or by-products of a virus or
bacteria.
May cause mild illness
- Chicken pox (varicella)
- Flu, live attenuated (nasal spray)
- Measles (rubeola)
- Mumps
- Polio, oral (OPV, no longer used in the US)
- Rubella
- Smallpox
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Cannot cause mild illness
- Diphtheria
- Flu, injected
- Haemophilus influenzae type B
- Hepatitis A and B
- Pertussis (whooping cough, given as DTaP)
- Pneumococcal conjugate (pneumonia)
- Polio, injected (IPV)
- Tetanus
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What about mercury?
Thimerosal, which contains a type of mercury, is a preservative that prevents
bacterial and fungal contamination. The FDA is encouraging its removal from
vaccines. Since 2001, all routinely recommended vaccines for children in the US
have been either thimerosal free or contain only tiny amounts thimerosal. Ask
your physician about obtaining thimerosal-free vaccines for your child.
Can getting several vaccines at
one time
cause problems?
Sometimes several vaccines are given at once. Careful research shows that this
is both safe and effective.
Do breastfed babies need to be immunized?
Yes, they do. If the mother is immune to a disease, the baby may get some
antibodies in breast milk. These can give temporary protection. Vaccination, on
the other hand, provides long-term protection.
If everyone else is immunized, does my
child need to be?
For many diseases, 95% of the population must be immunized in order for “herd
immunity” to protect your child. It is very hard to maintain that level of
immunization.
Don’t immunizations wear off?
Some vaccines, like those for measles and hepatitis B, create lifelong immunity.
Others, like tetanus, require booster shots. And some, like pertussis, do wear
off, but not until the child is older and less vulnerable to the disease.
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