by Ann Carranza

Created on: April 12, 2009   Last Updated: April 24, 2009

A balanced approach to vaccination is needed within the current climate of fear and misinformation regarding childhood immunization that is complicated by high-pressure tactics by pharmaceutical companies upon public health departments. An either-or approach to vaccination is inappropriate. There are diseases where the fatality or complication rates are so high that inoculation is the only appropriate action; however, there are also diseases with much lower rates of complications and few fatalities where vaccination should be a choice not a mandate. Currently, recommendations for inoculation against certain illnesses are measured in economic terms, such as school days lost, which is inappropriate. Measurements should be made in terms of percentage of complications and risks of disability or death.

Questions remain regarding the safety versus the efficacy of some injections and parents should approach vaccination as an informed choice. However, to forget that the scourges of polio, smallpox, and other diseases that jeopardized public health were eliminated through prudent vaccinations would be irresponsible. But under pressure from the self interests of large pharmaceutical companies, the number of vaccinations has increased dramatically. Thoughtful consideration must be given to the vast array of inoculations currently given to children, and a less rigorous program demanded, particularly for those diseases that rarely cause fatalities or permanent disability.

According to the Vaccine
Education
Center
at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, "Today, young children receive vaccines to protect them against 14 different diseases. Because some vaccines require more than one dose, children can receive as many as 26 inoculations by 2 years of age and up to five shots at one time." While the Children's Hospital does not recommend spacing immunizations further apart, perhaps a guarded but informed approach based upon individual risks and needs, should be considered. Suppressing all childhood diseases could potentially lead to weaker immune systems through lack of exposure to illness.

In an effort to make vaccines safer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "Thimerosal was removed from infant vaccines as a precaution following a 1999 agreement involving the Public Health Service, the American Academy
of Pediatrics and vaccine manufacturers." While there is an on-going effort to make vaccines safer, keep in mind that pharmaceutical companies

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