Debunking 6 Myths about Childhood Vaccines

Childhood vaccination programmes have successfully controlled the incidence of infectious diseases and significantly reduced infant and child mortality.

When children are vaccinated, their immune systems develop infection-fighting antibodies to protect them from contracting the disease when they are exposed to it later in life.

Childhood vaccines or immunisations not only protect your child from preventable deadly diseases, such as polio, tetanus and diphtheria, but also keep other children or people with compromised immune systems safe by limiting the spread of disease.

Once fatal, infectious diseases are now a rarity thanks to childhood vaccination programmes. However, many parents are concerned about the potential adverse effects of vaccines. Worryingly, vaccines have been falsely linked to a variety of conditions such as sudden infant death syndrome, developmental disorders such as autism, diabetes, asthma, allergies, multiple sclerosis and even cancer.

1

Truth:

A mild illness such as a cough, cold, diarrhoea or a low grade fever does not affect how well the body responds to a vaccine. Having a vaccine during a mild illness or during a course of antibiotics also does not affect the immune system's ability to fight the illness. Instead, your child should get vaccinations on time to protect against serious diseases.

If your child has a more serious illness such as a high fever, it may be advisable to postpone your child's vaccinations. This is mainly because reactions to the vaccine such as fever could make it more difficult to diagnose or treat an ongoing serious illness. Speak to your child's doctor for advice in such situations.

2

Truth:

It is recommended to vaccinate young children early in life as this is when they are most susceptible to dangerous infectious diseases. Many vaccinations are given as combination vaccinations. This reduces the number of painful shots a child receives at each vaccination visit and provides earlier protection for the child. 

Many studies show that vaccines are as effective when given as a combination as they are individually. More importantly, getting multiple vaccinations does not weaken the child's immune system, which is capable of responding to multiple vaccine antigens at the same time.

3

Truth:

On the contrary, delaying vaccinations may lead to a greater risk of vaccine side effects due to a more robust immune response when the child is older. This was demonstrated in a study looking at the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine where the risks of fever and seizures post-vaccination were higher in those who received delayed vaccinations at 16 – 23 months instead of the currently recommended 12 – 15 months.

Younger babies are at higher risk of developing severe infections from vaccine-preventable diseases, and delaying your baby's vaccinations unduly increases the time they remain susceptible to these diseases. There is also no added benefit in delaying vaccinations.

4

Truth:

Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient enough number of a population is vaccinated to a specific disease to protect those who have not developed immunity. The herd immunity percentage threshold differs according to the risk of transmission of a disease and is not foolproof. 

For infections such as measles, where there is a high transmission rate, communities with immunisation rates as high as 85 – 90% still see frequent outbreaks and complications of the disease. Herd immunity does not protect your child at the same level as vaccinations do and is not a substitute to getting vaccinated.

5

Truth:

It is true that natural infection usually causes better immunity than vaccinations in most instances. This is because when an infection is naturally acquired, the body is exposed to a much higher dose of virus or bacteria, resulting in more severe symptoms and a greater immune response. In contrast, vaccinations use the smallest dose of the virus required to generate a protective immune response. Hence, higher levels of immunity from vaccines are acquired only after several vaccine doses.

However, acquiring natural immunity through infections can be dangerous. They can be severe and lead to complications such as pneumonia or brain infection from chickenpox, brain damage from Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), lung damage from pneumococcus or death from measles.

There are also some vaccines which cause better immune responses than natural infections. These include the Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine (Hib vaccine), the pneumococcal vaccine, tetanus vaccine and the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV vaccine).

6

Truth:

While fevers are a common side effect of vaccinations, they only occur in 10 – 25% of immunisations and occur more commonly after the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccinations. Almost all children respond to vaccinations and will have an immune response even when there is no fever. About 95% of children have an immune response after the 1st dose of a vaccine and close to 100% after the 2nd dose. Vaccination failure is extremely rare.