How to Counter an Argument About Vaccines

By Erin Biba October 19, 2009 | 3:00 pm | Wired Nov 2009

An Epidemic of Fear
How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All
The Misinformants: Prominent Voices in the Anti-Vaccine Crusade
What’s the Real Story on the Vaccine Debate? Learn More
H1N1 Flu Shot: 3 Major Fears Debunked
The anti-immunization crowd clings to well-worn myths. Arm yourself with facts.

MYTH 1: Vaccines cause autism.
FACT: Until 2001, vaccines included thimerosal, a preservative containing ethylmercury. Mercury, of course, can cause neurological damage. But there’s scientific consensus that the amount once used in vaccines — around 50 micrograms per 0.5-ml dose — was far short of toxic. And autism rates have continued to climb, suggesting that there’s either a different cause or, more likely, that a better understanding of the condition has increased diagnoses. A comprehensive review of the research, conducted in 2004 by the prestigious Institute of Medicine, found no evidence of a connection between vaccines and autism. None.

MYTH 2: Giving too many vaccines overwhelms a child’s immune system.
FACT: This argument echoes the “too much of a good thing” chestnut, but there’s no science behind it. With millions of vaccines administered every year, a handful of allergic reactions do happen. But severe cases are so rare that the CDC cannot calculate a statistical risk for the population — the numbers are just too small.

MYTH 3: Vaccines cause diabetes.
FACT: This idea relies on the flawed work of one doctor, who gathered data on a slew of vaccines and failed to follow standard study protocols. No other study — including those using the same data — could reproduce the results. The CDC and the Institute of Medicine have both dismissed any possible link. This argument also ignores the obvious and well-established fact that diabetes rates in children are climbing because obesity rates are climbing.

MYTH 4: Vaccines are no longer necessary, because the diseases are no longer a threat.
FACT: The opposite is true. Because of vaccines, diseases that once killed millions are now invisible. But if only a few families stop vaccinating, the illnesses could reemerge in a community. And the diseases are horrible — mumps and Haemophilus influenzae type b cause meningitis, which can lead to deafness, epilepsy, and cognitive impairment. Measles can lead to encephalitis, blindness, and death.

MYTH 5: Scientists are divided about the safety of vaccines.
FACT: By any measure of scientific consensus, there is total agreement: Vaccines are safe, effective, and necessary. Twelve studies have shown that the measles/mumps/rubella vaccine is safe. Many other studies have disproved the theory that the Hib shot is toxic. The few dissenters get lots of attention, but it’s always the same old names.

MYTH 6: Aluminum in vaccines is just as toxic as mercury.
FACT: Aluminum, the most common metal in nature, is perfectly safe in small amounts. (A dose of antacid has about 1,000 times as much as a vaccine does.) Aluminum salts are used in vaccines to increase antibody response. They make it possible to use less vaccine less often.

Posted by: jetRink | 10/19/09 | 8:57 pm
This is a great article, but it won’t do anything to convince the people who think vaccines are unsafe. That belief is based on the ancient notion of the clean and unclean which has been adopted by the organic movement. If it contains chemicals, the hippie parents won’t want to inject it into their kids. You might as well try to inject a Jew or a Muslim with pig’s blood.

Posted by: baccuss | 10/19/09 | 9:12 pm
There is no way to win any argument that has an emotional component to the folks involved.
Yes, there is no accepted proof that autism is caused by thermisol. But there is a hell of a lot of data that mercury / heavy metals do cause autism. Look at the studies in texas that correlate the proximity of coal power plants to autism rates…there is a direct correlation.

Posted by: lorca01 | 10/19/09 | 9:23 pm
Amazing, so I assume jetRink you have kids. It ain’t an easy decission to make. The studies published about the lack of a link between autism and vaccines have thier own bias’s…talk to a parent sometime that went in with a 100% normal kid, got the shot, then within hours the child no longer resided on this planet…and is that way for the rest of thier little lives. This isn’t 1 kid, this is thousands upon thousands. Regaurdless of if there are pre-existing conditions within a child that “Triggers” this, it still should be noted, as these spokes people you have vilified on this site have done.

I’ve had to face this decision with my daughter, she’s just 7 months old, just slighlty over the minimum age for H1N1 shot. There’s a hell of a lot going on inside a child nuerologically right now, do I want to bombard that with a bunch of foreign chemicals?!? We’ve delayed our vaccines until 1 year, we have very limited exposure to other children, and will get those when she has developed further. But we still weigh the pro’s and con’s of these shots. I wish to high h311 this thing had come along next year, then I really wouldn’t be concerned as the brain is more wired then for her, but I don’t have that option.

And It ain’t hippies that are scared of this stuff, it’s anyone well informed enough to question a medical establishment which still mandates things like prophylactic eye ointment shortly after birth (a WW2 relic for STD’s) and states that the amount of rocket fuel in formula is within exceptable levels. A medical establishment that basically chooses the most expensive procedure because it means the most money. I have some news for you, every vaccine they give, they make $$ on. Whenever money is involved there’s corruption.

I agree with the science of vaccines, I will vaccinate my child, but absolute trust in our medical establishment is folly.

Posted by: optimusPaul | 10/19/09 | 9:36 pm
You missed one. Vaccines don’t allow our bodies to build up natural immunities as easily. I don’t think there is much evidence either way there, but it is something to think about.

Posted by: Xizor | 10/19/09 | 9:47 pm
thimerosal was only banned in California. It’s still in most Flu & other vaccines everywhere else Your not going to win an argument with these facts, they’ll just make you sound like an idiot. Shame you wired. We expect better. Try doing a little research next time.

Posted by: petek | 10/19/09 | 9:58 pm
You guys at Wired are now going to get some of the most vicious, threatening and hate mongering wall of text emails ever regarding this and the ancillary stories. I applaud your courage and it’s about time. Excellent work. Now that that is out, quit kissing the asses of Junk Scientists on this Global Warming issue. I know, baby steps but real science is a wonderful thing.

Posted by: fidoda | 10/19/09 | 10:03 pm
Some (many) people aren’t simply reality prone. They never want to accept the truth because it hurts : “My child isn’t imperfect, it’s Big Pharma’s fault”.
Let them be. Let Mother Nature weed them out of the genepool.

Posted by: bigsigh | 10/19/09 | 10:13 pm
Xizor:

If by “only in California” you mean “only in California, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, New York, and Washington”, then you might be right. You might actually want to “try doing a little research next time,” otherwise they might “make you sound like an idiot.”

Posted by: photoprinter | 10/19/09 | 10:14 pm
@optimusPaul. That’s just it. For the things we get vaccines for, there is no NATURAL immunity, other than contracting the disease. The vaccines trick your body into acting like you have it.
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@lorca01..Do you give your child any vitamin’s? There is much more data out there about the uselessness and dangers of vitamins then there is a danger in vaccines.
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And @fidoda, the only problem with that is that they may take others with them!

Posted by: phraedus | 10/19/09 | 10:26 pm
This is a horrible article. None of the references are cited “by any measure of scientific consensus”, none of the percentages are given “the numbers are just to small”.

lorca1: getting paid does not equal corruption.

Posted by: optimusPaul | 10/19/09 | 10:29 pm
@photoprinter… you mean like chickenpox? Why are we giving our children chickenpox vaccines??? Anyway, I was just putting the idea out there.

I personally don’t know what to think. My kids have done fine getting the vaccines, it’s was a tough choice. There is a lot of hearsay out there. I know people personally that had their children vaccinated and there was a big change. Was it the vaccine? I don’t know, but I also don’t know what makes kids suddenly have the intense desire to sleep standing up.

As for autism, maybe it is the thermisol, or maybe it’s the million other sources of mercury in our environment. It’s in our food, our air and water. Our children are all doomed.

Posted by: dethwolfx | 10/19/09 | 11:08 pm
@phraedus I believe ’so rare that the CDC cannot calculate a statistical risk for the population’ means that its impossible to calculate a statistic because the numbers are so small you literally can’t find a correlation that would differ from a sample taken from a population that wasn’t given the vaccine. That really says something considering the number of people who are given vaccines…
‘by any measure of scientific consensus’ - I take it you want them to list all the scientist and doctors who feel that way. That’s ridiculous. It would fill up the internets. So much hate and undeserved skepticism towards an article thats trying to help people. I bet your a republican or a troll. I don’t know which is worse. =p

Posted by: photoprinter | 10/19/09 | 11:46 pm
@optimusPaul, Yes, like chickenpox. We give them because the disease is still out there. Just like whooping cough, polio, and all the others. If you do not think they are needed, do a google to find a video of a kid with whooping cough. See if you want to put your kid through THAT! Do you know anyone that has had polio? I used to work with a guy that has been in a wheel chair his whole life, because of it! Get a clue, people! These things save lives. And yes, a very few kids will have a bad reaction to them. But how many kids die every year from peanut butter?

Posted by: bubber | 10/20/09 | 12:00 am
http://www.timescolonist.com/health/suspend%20seasonal%20shots/2041163/story.html

“B.C. might suspend seasonal flu shots as early as Monday for people who aren’t seniors, in the wake of a Canadian study that suggests people who get the normal flu vaccine are twice as likely to contract the H1N1 virus.

Several news outlets have reported the preliminary findings of the study, which is still under peer review. Researchers found that those who received the seasonal flu vaccine in the past were more likely to catch H1N1.”

Posted by: ajp | 10/20/09 | 12:28 am
please moderate my comment on vaccines and Guillain-Barré syndrome

here’s an article with sources
http://www.infowars.com/autism-explodes-as-childhood-vaccines-increase/

Posted by: Stromboid | 10/20/09 | 2:30 am
I am an old man now. I grew up with parents in the Medical Profession. Dad a doctor mother a Supt of Surgery. Mother refused to let me have ANY shots of any kind. She said they were too dangerous. She was in a position to KNOW. This was the late 1930s and one. So one of the things is missed was a good chance of getting polio from the defective Salk Vaccine that was pushed on everyone, many of whom got polio from it.

The problem with the H1N1 vaccine is not the aluminum or mercury issues or autism dangers. There are many in a position to know who advise strongly against having it becaise TPTB are arranging to put something in it that will reduce world population drastically. Think that is crazy? Well, just wait, we will see who is right. Just wait.

Posted by: lockgreed | 10/20/09 | 2:55 am
One of the primary driving forces behind anti-vaccine rhetoric is fringe elements of the Left and the Right in this country who harbor a set of beliefs that tie vaccines to morality, religion, socio-control, government/corporate conspiracy theories, and collectivist thinking. Conspiracy theorists in particular have taken up the mantle spreading the fear that Vaccines are really part of some government plot at mind control, or eugenics or some other nonsense (See Alex Jones). Less ridiculous than that are valid concerns over forced vaccination however, and the fringe elements are using the “Forced Vaccination” idea to essentially trap individualists into believing that all vaccines are evil.

Posted by: DProuty | 10/20/09 | 3:32 am
Please take just a moment to learn a little about different forms of mercury. Ethylmercury C2H5Hg+ and Methylmercury [CH3Hg]+. The two compounds are vastly different. One of them bioaccumulates and has been shown via the scientific process to cause harm to living organisms. The other does not bioaccumulate and has not been shown via the scientific process affect living organisims. Ethylmercury is a component of a preservative often used in vaccines.

Posted by: iZealot777 | 10/20/09 | 7:30 am
Tuskegee. Fifty or sixty years ago, yes, however, if you think it couldn’t happen again, you severely underestimate the potential for mankind to be evil. None are so superior or perfect as to be blindly trusted.

Posted by: Xizor | 10/20/09 | 7:35 am
bigsigh,

OK, So more than California banned thimerosal, Still 7 out of 51 have banned it. Why would 7 states ban it if it wasn’t harmful. My point is how can you say Autism rates have continued to rise despite thimerosal being banned, when it was only banned in a few states. This issue obviously isn’t as cut and dry as everyone seems to think it is.

Posted by: QuestionAuthority | 10/20/09 | 8:09 am
jetRink has it right, I think. Those folks are science-proof because science isn’t part of their worldview. I have grown kids and small grandkids. Our kids were vaccinated and the grandkids will be vaccinated. My wife, incidentally, is an RN/BSN.

And baccuss: Correlation isn’t causation. Back to Science 101 for you.

lorca01: Vaccinations are no worse than any other medicine. Why do you think they call it the “medical arts?” There is ALWAYS the chance of an adverse reaction on the first dose - of anything, even so-called natural remedies…Even aspirin. The rates are extremely low, but they do occur. Any parent that thinks any medicine (”natural” or not) is 100% safe is ignorant.

optimusPaul: There is no scientifically-discernable difference between your so-called “natural” immunity and one created by a vaccine. The mechanism is identical. Vaccines don’t “trick” your body - they use dead or inactivated viruses/bacteria to set off the immune response to the organism.

What amuses me the most is that we have forgotten how devastating these “childhood” diseases like mumps, measles, whooping cough, can be. They can kill or cripple unvaccinated kids. Talk to your grandparents/parents and see how they feared these diseases before there were vaccines for them.

Posted by: benthomasg1 | 10/20/09 | 8:26 am
yeah i would like to know where all of this information came from also. http://www.tgfmonline.com

Posted by: MamaRita | 10/20/09 | 9:21 am
Anyone can write a myth story, try living it, watching it happen right before your eyes. At the rate of increasing Autism, chances are you will see it happen to some child that you love. It’s no different than watching a drunk driver run over him. Please do your research before putting something like this out there for young innocent Mom’s trying to do what is right for their baby. By the way, Vaccine’s are not Mercury Free, again read & do your research, not just hear say.

Posted by: MamaRita | 10/20/09 | 9:31 am
Quoting What amuses me the most is that we have forgotten how devastating these “childhood” diseases like mumps, measles, whooping cough, can be. They can kill or cripple unvaccinated kids. Talk to your grandparents/parents and see how they feared these diseases before there were vaccines for them.

What diseases??? I got 3 vaccine’s, children today are receiving 36 before the age of school. Show me a disease epidemic?? The only one you will find is Autism, remember there is No such thing as a Genetic Epidemic. I have found that most in the medical field are the most uneducated due to the big Pharma’s courting all of you, flooding you with gifts, freebies, especially any drug they can get someone hooked on, you hand sample’s out like candy. Sorry, it’s time to stop listening to Bad advise from people we once trusted to save lives.

Posted by: HealthWyze | 10/20/09 | 9:32 am
They missed something - vaccines are made out of aborted human fetuses. Know why? Because it is 100% true, and there is no denying it. Oh, and mercury has been put back into vaccines since 2001. Just watch the news, even they admit it now. I’d like to see them talk about the formaldehyde being non-harmful, too. Vaccines are designed to trigger an immune response, and most doctors know that if you give too many vaccines in one day - that immune response would be huge. Everyone is different, and so this immune response can overwhelm some children. There’s nothing unscientific about that.

Many of the diseases (including Polio & measles) were 98% gone before the vaccine was introduced, and this was replicated at a faster rate in countries which not vaccinate their people. If you’re trying to win an argument about vaccines - don’t follow this article.

Posted by: usedupguy | 10/20/09 | 9:50 am
Here’s what’s going to happen when it comes to vaccines and autism. 10 years from now some research group will come out and say there is some connection to autism and vaccines. That’s just how most of these studies work. My issue is why is autism more in boys and not girls? We can fly to the moon but we can’t answer that one question.
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Comment

I received my vaccinations when I was a kid, along with all my siblings, and we never had a problem. However, now my sister wont vaccinate her kids because she's afraid something bad will happen to them. I say she should be more afraid of the bad things that might happen to them if she DOESNT vaccinate them! Its a good debate.