Vaccination: For or against immunisation?

There is a group of mums chatting at preschool, waiting to collect their kids. One mum holds court talking about the scary stuff she’s read online about vaccinations. The women, some pregnant, others with babies, look panicked. It’s a scene being played out across the country and it raises questions. What should parents do about immunising their kids? What are the facts? How can mums and dads make informed decisions?

UPDATE: Child health risks increase as immunisation rates drop

Doing the figures

Vaccination rates in Australia have been falling. According to the Australian General Practice Network (AGPN), for traditional childhood diseases the vaccination rate is at a seven-year low, with just under 83 per cent of four-year-olds fully immunised. As a result of vaccination rates slipping, the AGPN warns that our country could face a resurgence of diseases not seen in wide circulation for decades.

Australia’s national schedule of childhood immunisations currently includes vaccines against a total of 16 diseases, including whooping cough (pertussis), diphtheria, tetanus, polio, chickenpox, mumps and rubella. While some believe these diseases are generally relatively harmless (some even childhood rites of passage!) they can be very serious. For example, worldwide, measles is considered the fifth leading cause of death and disease in childhood, causing an estimated 770,000 deaths in 2000. Vaccination is drastically reducing this number, however, with 424,000 deaths reported more recently in 2004.

Each year whooping cough is responsible for many hospitalisations and can reach epidemic proportions. Between 1993 and 2005, there were four epidemics in Australia in which more than 84,000 cases were reported and 18 deaths confirmed of which all but two were children under 12 months.

So why aren’t Australians immunising their kids? Some believe it’s because parents simply forget or that there’s
not an effective enough incentive scheme in place. Others blame ‘scaremongering’ online and the proliferation of anti-immunisation material through the web.

Whatever the reasons, working out what’s fact and what’s fiction in this extremely emotional immunisation debate can be a minefield for parents.

For immunisation

The Federal Government’s position on immunisation falls completely on the pro-vaccination side. Through its Immunise Australia Program (www.immunise.health.gov.au), it funds many of the vaccines and provides information on many key concerns, like vaccine safety and side effects.

Also in strong support is the Australian Medical Association.

Quite vocal, in fact, about the need for childhood immunisation is it’s WA president, Dr Gary Geelhoed, also director of the emergency department at Perth’s Princess Margaret Hospital for Children.

“It is so frustrating to see groups which purport to be giving information about immunisation continue to promote discredited theories,” he says in a blog on wangle.com.au.

“I can almost weep when I have young parents tell me in the emergency department they have made a choice to not immunise their child, where in the same department over many years I have comforted the parents of children who have either died or suffered irreversible damage due to these preventable infections.”

Talking to Practical Parenting, he adds: “The problem with immunisation is that it has become too successful and over time the many tragedies caused by these preventable illnesses have been forgotten by the community, and all the talk instead is about the possible side effects of vaccinating our kids.”

Dr Geelhoed concedes side effects can and do occur, but notes that they are generally mild, such as fevers and soreness at injection sites. The risks of not vaccinating are greater, he says.

“The result, if immunisation rates fell to a certain level, would be new epidemics of old illnesses. Though they don’t think of it in these terms, parents [who don’t vaccinate their children] are relying on the responsible decisions of those who do.”

He says these parents should also consider that while their own child may contract an infection and recover,
they may be responsible for passing the infection on to someone who will not.

The arguments against Meryl Dorey, media spokeseperson for the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN), says she’s not exactly anti-immunisation, she just wants to help parents “investigate before they vaccinate”.

She believes there is evidence that questions the safety of vaccinations and is calling for more studies to be undertaken in Australia to help parents make more informed choices.

“It’s just not good enough to go to the doctor and let them have that control over your family’s health without knowing the consequences of the actions,” she says.

The AVN website lists what they believe to be the most common reasons parents are choosing not to vaccinate. These include questions over the contents and effectiveness of vaccines, fear of contamination, the possibility of immediate and long-term side effects and the view that some childhood illnesses have beneficial effects, so prevention may not be in the best interests of the child.

Meryl says the AVN and others in the anti-immunisation lobby are not fearmongers, they just want parents to be able to have access to the facts about vaccines.

“There are side effects, both immediate and long-term, which parents need to know about before they agree to the immunisations,” she says. “Organisations like ours are trying to help them get that information.”

A final thought

Dr Geelhoed warns that information presented by medically-unqualified groups such as the AVN is not always accurate. “If you look at their publications and website, it’s clear they have a very biased view and would appear to discount all the very obvious benefits of vaccination while greatly exaggerating the side effects,” he says.

“They claim to be scientific, but any objective examination of the pros and cons for vaccination would lead a reasonable person to conclude the benefits are truly overwhelming.”

At the end of the day, to vaccinate your child or not is a personal choice. Arm yourself with all the facts by talking to your doctor and doing your own research through reputable organisations, then make the choice that’s right for your family.

Mum For
Emma is the mum of two boys aged three and nine months
“When I was pregnant with my first child, I started doing some research. I looked at the internet which had some scary information on it and I spoke to my doctor and some medical friends.

I like to think I’m fairly inquiring, so I also tried to drill down into the research.

I decided that it was better to keep my kids healthy from these diseases than risk exposing them. We travel a lot overseas, so while these diseases may now be rare here, they could be rampant in another country.

If either of my children got measles and there was a complication and they ended up really sick or worse, I’d never forgive myself for not immunising them. At this stage, though, I’ve given that flu vaccine that’s had problems a wide berth.”

Mum against
Rebecca is a mum of two children, aged six and three
“I started researching vaccinations when I was pregnant and decided for several reasons not to immunise my children.
Firstly, I don’t think the statistics on how effective the vaccines are are good enough. Another reason is the side effects, and the actual safety of the vaccines themselves.

In my case, I don’t see the diseases that people are vaccinating against as life-threatening. I have read quite a lot of information now that having these illnesses can be good for our immune systems.

Basically, there’s just not enough information out there which would make me comfortable with immunising my children.”

The MMR and autism link

The AMA’s Dr Gary Geelhoed is emphatic that there is no evidence to show any link between the measles, mumps and rubella immunisation and autism. He says an earlier study which suggested links has since been thoroughly discredited.

“Many more extensive studies have been done since which tested this theory and concluded that there was no link,” he says.

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