World Immunization Week 2019: Top vaccination myths dispelled

Celebrated in the last week of April, the World Immunization Week starts today with the aim of spreading awareness about vaccines. While celebrating the beginning of this week, we help you steer clear of the myths that surround immunization.

As parents, you must be wanting to give the best to your child. Undoubtedly, you always make sure that your kid is safe. Well, this is natural. Proper immunization at the right time is a must for the safety of your kids. World Immunization Week, that starts today, is celebrated in the last week of April every year with the goal of making parents aware of the importance and necessity of vaccines. This WHO initiative also points at the fact that immunization is one of the most effective and low-cost health tools that ensure better and longer living. According to the WHO, immunization is one of the most successful health interventions till now. It amps up your immunity against potentially deadly diseases like pneumonia, viral hepatitis, diphtheria, polio, so on and so forth. Your body has a defence mechanism that allows it to produce antibodies whenever a foreign germ invades your cells. Vaccination works on this principle only. During immunization, your body is exposed to certain bacteria or virus (in weakened or dead form). Your immune system remembers them and after they actually invade your body, it immediately recognises them and starts producing antibodies to kill them.

Though India has progressed a lot over the decades in the field of immunization reducing death rate of kids under 5 years of age and eradicating polio. Recent vaccination drives like Mission Indradhanush have also yielded significant benefits. However, a lot more needs to be done as the vaccination rates in our country are yet to be satisfactory. The reasons behind them are difficulty in accessibility, lack of awareness about vaccines, and inhibition about them caused by myths and rumours. With the World Immunization Week starting today, we bust the top 7 immunization myths for you.

Myth 1: MMR vaccine causes autism

Fact: Well, this was a hypothesis in one of the studies published in the famous journal The Lancet. The British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, who published this research, claiming that MMR vaccine causes autism, lost his medical license after the study was proved to be false and serious procedural errors were found in it. But till date, people have not got over it and think that the hypothesis is true. However, various studies have been conducted after this which reveal that there is no link between MMR vaccine and autism.

Myth 2: Infants should not be given vaccination as their immune systems are weak

Fact: Infant immune systems are not weak as you might think. In fact, they are capable of responding to approximately 10,000 vaccines at one time theoretically. To understand this, you should know that generally, an infant is exposed to around 6,000 immunologic components every day after he contracts a bacterium from the environment. There are around 14 vaccinations with 160 immunologic components in total, that are recommended for children in their first year of life. This clearly states that it is highly unlikely for vaccines to overwhelm the immune system as the immune challenge hurled at your little ones by the vaccines are way lower than the ones thrown by naturally occurring microbes.

Myth 3: Vaccines contain toxins

Fact: Vaccines do contain toxins like formaldehyde, mercury or aluminum. These are certainly not good for humans but only when used in uncontrolled levels. Vaccines are approved by the FDA before they are made available in the market. Low levels of these toxins are used in the vaccines and there is no scientific evidence stating that trace amount of these toxins are harmful for humans.

Myth 4: Getting immunity naturally against vaccine-preventable diseases is a better option

Fact: Well, this is completely false. Well, if you wish to gain immunity against dangerous diseases measles, mumps or rubella by contracting them, the end result could be dangerous. Estimates say that the death risk of measles is 1 in 500. However, risk of death in those who have had received MMR vaccine and developed severe allergic reaction (rare cases) is less than 1 in a million.

Myth 5: A vaccine can actually cause the disease it is trying to prevent

Fact: Vaccines just cause mild symptoms that resemble those of the disease. This happens when the bacteria you are infected with is in the weakened form and your immune system tries to fight against it by secreting antibodies. So, in this case, you experience symptoms that are just your immune response and not the disease itself. Vaccines are totally safe as they are approved by the FDA after checking the parameters.

Myth 6: Vaccinating your child is not important if kids around him are already vaccinated

Fact: This is true that your chances of getting an infection is less when people around you are already immune to it. But, if the entire population starts relying on others for getting vaccinated, there will be a time when the collective immunity will disappear.

Myth 7: DTP vaccines cause neurodevelopmental disorders like encephalitis.

Fact: DTP vaccine is meant to prevent diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. There was a time when one of the components of this combination vaccine was whole-cell pertussis vaccine. It was found to cause adverse reactions like convulsions and encephalitis. But it is not in use anymore. Now, that component has been changed to acellular pertussis vaccine. It contains purified components of B. pertussis, the microbe causing pertussis, unlike the former version that harboured a wide variety of bacterial clones.