What is the truth about vaccinations?

We don't need to debate Vaccines, they are safe and necessary.

"Ending polio in India is world’s greatest health achievement" - Bill Gates You know how that happened? We frickin vaccinated people! I simply can't believe how this ludicrous "Anti vaccine" trend started. I sincerely  hope that this "trend" doesn't catch up in India, it will undo all the good the government has done all these years.

I think part of the problem is that this question tends to polarize people into two camps: People who are anti-vaccine. They focus far too much on the side effects and not enough on the disease. People who support vaccines because the advantages outweigh the risks, The problem with this group is that most tend to hush-hush actually talking about the risks (they admit it exists, but say it is small and quickly move on to other topics), making it difficult to make a balanced decision regarding which vaccines are necessary/worth the risk and which may not be. Not being transparent about the risks might contribute to people being paranoid of vaccines. At least two people in my family have had negative reactions to vaccines, and have been advised by a doctor for other family members to avoid certain vaccine(s). Anyone who has had or heard of such an experience could quickly become paranoid of all vaccines, unless transparent information is provided regarding what the rate of adverse reactions is, which vaccines are higher risk vs higher benefit, etc. This phenomenon is displayed in this thread. Most of the answers admit there are risks, but downplay them and quickly move on - not providing any precise data or facts for people to make educated decisions. The OP asked for stats on the actual risks of vaccinations, but all they got was stats on the risks of not getting vaccinations. In other words - if we want people to believe that the benefits outweigh the risks, we must provide transparent data on the risks, not just the benefits. P.S. I just noticed that 's answer gives this data.

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The use of themerisol, even though it's nevver been shown to be harmful, has been reduced almost to homeopathic levels (2.5mcg of Hg). Vaccines carry risks - some people CAN get the dsisease from the vaccine - and it's possible that without having been vaccinated, they wouldn't have gotten sick. It's also possible to put 4 bullets into a revolver and play Russian Roulette all day and live. The odds of getting the diseases we vaccinate against are SO much higher than the odds of getting the disease FROM the vaccine, that it's playing Russian roulette to not get vaccinated - except that the gun holds 5,000 rounds, once it fires it keeps on firing, and you're in a large auditorium packed with people.  You don't get vaccinated, you get sick, you infect a few other unvaccinated people, they infect others and pretty soon you get a pandemic. Look at the yearly numbers for polio in the US since the Salk vaccine.  When it no longer became something mothers thought about, they stopped having kids immunized - and the infection rate went up. The only reeason anyone should be allowed for not getting immunized is religious objection - and those people should be quarantined - both for the good of the general population and to keep those not immunized from becoming infected.

It's multifactorial as in any other case in the field of medicine. It may be inherent[1] in the vaccine (vaccine factor) itself, vaccinee[2] factor, caretaker[3] of the vaccinee factor, geographical[4] factor. All can act independently or in concert with one another depending on the case that maybe. From what I have encountered from a short encounter (1+2 days) of my vaccination experience with polio in India on the year of its eradication status here, it is the caretaker factor that has a major role to play. Thiomersal is used in a few vaccines only, the DPT for example, and such factors relating to the vaccines are minimum at the best to cause adverses with the current rigorous control of standards of manufacture,  coldchain, standardized procedures, preservation/preservatives, vaccine vial monitors. [3] Caretaker factor: It may be easily surmised that it would be ignorance, negligence and half-knowledge are the main causes. Contrary to popular belief it is not ignorance but negligence and half-knowledge that's rampant. To quote the pulse polio drive, it is customary to have day 1 of booth vaccination followed later by two days of house-to-house visit. On booth days people get the vaccinee to booths set up at various places: schools, temple yards, colleges. But the later two days are an active search for left out cases to be vaccinated. From the drift of my explanation you would have realised what I am getting to: some people didn't get their children on day 1 for the negligent assumption that we would show up in front of their doors the next day. People are less ignorant of vaccines than would be expected. But they have misconceptions of it that has been with any revolutionary changes that has been in medicine. But what's more interesting is the so-called educated people who are the majority in harbouring such misconceptions/half-knowledge. People of poor background treat you as someone who has come to save their children of predicaments. But the learnt people see you with an eye of suspicion, from what they have deduced learning of a few sporadic adverses that has occured in the past. They always think that they are the 1 in the 1 in 10000000 chance of an unexpected reaction. Forget vaccination, we had been to a family survey study where people of slum went to the extent of offering us to join them for lunch while a learnt person was on the the verge of chasing me out to the street when interrogated of survey questions. You know what they say about half-knowledge; very dangerous. Either be on the ignorant side or the knowledgeable one but never in the grey area between the two. [4] Geographic factors: One can't expect a major decrease in morbidity of TB by administrating BCG in places of its low endemicity.  While the same vaccine when given to newborns in the places of high TB prevalence protects them from dangerous manifestations of TB of disseminated disease and meningitis. So the efficacy ranges from a zero to 80% depending on the geographic area and the target group (children for BCG). [1] inherent factors: Not all vaccines are killed, there are many of them which are live-attenuated like that of oral polio. And a living microbe has got the potential to mutate. But this accounts to very less number of cases (VAPP) when compared to the humongous number being vaccinated. [2] Vaccinee factors: Tonsillectomy in a vaccinated child of polio vaccine can have a fulminant course. There are examples to quote for every vaccine of its administration's contraindications. By and large human factors is the leading cause, be it ignorance, unskilled technique, negligence on part of the vaccinator or otherwise. Uncertainty is a part and and parcel of medicine.

Different vaccines have different risks. The risks are acute - if you don't have an immediate adverse reaction, the health effects are simply positive. Most vaccines have no response from people, and the usual adverse reaction is either a fever or rash. There's always a risk of an allergic reaction, perhaps severe - though it's extremely rare. The worst health effects tend to be localized pain or swelling around the injection site and fever. A few, like TDAP and LAIV can cause cold and flu-like symptoms for several days. Smallpox vaccine can be very dangerous to those with compromised immune systems (those with HIV, on chemotherapy, transplant recipients, etc.). The vaccine for Yellow Fever is perhaps the most dangerous with about 1 in 250,000 suffering organ failure from it (mind you, 1 in 30 of the people that get yellow fever die from it - so if it's going around...).

http://www.ms.academicjournals.org/journal/JPHE/article-abstract/C98151247042 Check the graphs in the study above, they are worth a thousand words: autism spiked exponentially  in 4 DIFFERENT MOMENTS when introduced in 4 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. There is zero probability that another environmental factor was introduced in those 4 countries at that exact different timing. This means those unethical vaccines CAUSE autism.   It is not the only serious research linking vaccines to autism: http://www.rescuepost.com/files/theoretical-aspects-of-autism-causes-a-review1.pdf http://sharylattkisson.com/cdc-responds-to-allegation-it-omitted-vaccine-autism-study-link Some papers from the CDC linking autism to vaccination: http://www.translationalneurodegeneration.com/content/3/1/16     The Vaccine Court (VICP) has recognized 83 cases of autism regression due to vaccines.   And there is much more under the hood of “safe vaccines”: Some viral vaccines in the US are contaminated with unsafe human DNA levels and virus that shouldn't be there: a. Fetal DNA levels ranged anywhere from 142ng - 2000ng per dose, way beyond the so-called "safe" level b. HERV (human endogenous retrovirus, the only re-activatable endogenous retrovirus), associated with childhood lymphoma  a, leukemia and cancer: all vaccines derived from fetal cell line WI-38 (MMR II and chickenpox vaccines, etc.) Source: http://www.globalresearch.ca/new-study-in-journal-of-public-health-finds-autism-and-cancer-related-to-human-fetal-dna-in-vaccines/5402912 Some vaccines are contaminated on purpose to produce mass infertility: https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=hcg%20site%3alifesitenews.com   The Cal‐Oregon project sponsored by Generation Rescue surveyed parents of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated U.S. children: http://www.generationrescue.org/pdf/survey.pdf Of the 17,674 children included in the survey, the results showed:  • Vaccinated boys had 146% more autism. • Vaccinated boys had 185% more neurologic disorders. • Vaccinated boys had 317% more ADHD. • Vaccinated children had 120% more asthma. Girls represented only 20% of the total number of children in the survey.  Low incidence of autism among unvaccinated Amish children: http://www.vaccinationcouncil.org/quick%E2%80%90compare%E2%80%902 More studies on autism: http://childhealthsafety.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/japvaxautism/ http://childhealthsafety.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/britvaxautism/ This must stop. This is not about an irrational anti-vax sentiment. We want effective safe vaccines, REAL safe. We want Big Pharma independent unbiased science. We want vaccines which have nothing to do with murdering innocent children (abortion). We want ethical alternatives NOW. We want informed choice/consent NOW. Parents should be informed about the probability of each side effect and the unethical origin of certain vaccines. It is the parents’ right to decide vaccination, not the Police State.   Please help us save millions of children from autism, leukemia, cancer and other permanent disabilities: ·        Help us spread the word ·        Send us scientific information: we are building a repository to help educate pediatricians and parents (by the way, the CDC, FDA, WHO, EMA, etc. already received the information and did NOTHING). ·        Help us find doctors or scientists willing to be interviewed for a documentary, a documentary director, a screen writer for a movie about this unbelievable conspiracy, a webmaster, an animator, etc. ·        Help us with contacts: non-profits which could ally or help with funding, politicians, lawyers for a class action to override the vaccine court in the Supreme Court, etc. ·        A voluntary individual database like the Danish, for date and type of vaccines and medicines, on one hand, and illnesses, on the other: this would allow REAL research on the long term impact and side effects. ·        Help us with funds: any buck means much ·        Help us researching or funding research: believe it or not, there are no studies comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated considering: o  Proper post-infection treatment o   Origin, type and date of vaccination (delaying vaccination in children until the immune system is more mature reduces some side effects). There are no cohort studies comparing vaccination schemes and incidence of disabilities. Neither international comparison. o  Side effects discriminated by genetic/ethnic group (found to be unacceptably higher in certain ones) o  Breastfeeding added “dosis” (breastfeeding is what I call the “super vaccine”) o  Other possible causes of autism: § Abortion: has incidence in prematureness and low weight at birth of the next child, two factors associated with autism. § STDs: some cause the same as above and/or may even be undetected (e.g. chlamydia) § IVF: related with prematureness and low birth weight § Non barrier contraception. It’s unbelievable that even if the FDA knows they can harm the unborn babies, it is neither disclosed for informed consent, nor required a pregnancy test + sexual abstinence during the undetectable window period. ·        They cause a thinner or dysfunctional uterine lining and when failing in preventing conception, result in a risk pregnancy, possibly associated with autism. ·        b) The false unscientific notion of "safe sex" give a false sense of security of not being pregnant and therefore those mothers have risky behavior that affects the unborn child: hormones from the hormonal contraception, hormonal treatments, medicines and vaccines not recommended during pregnancy, smoke (active or passive), alcohol, drugs (legal and illegal), X-rays, PET scans and other "invasive" analysis, anesthesia, surgery, cosmetics (hair dye), neurotoxic ingredients in food like MSG, eating mercury in certain fish, inhaling volatile petroleum derivatives or handling mercury in broken CFLs and thermometers, handling cats possibly infected with toxoplasmosis, exhausting/violent/risky sports (marathon, horseback riding, etc.)…. § Irresponsible actions during pregnancy (even knowing the risks): same as above. o  Why are government agencies not researching the obvious?   Please write to me Prof. Fred A. Nazar Founder of http://Epistimi.org f.nazar at http://gmail.com

Vaccines work really well. Of course, no medicine is perfect but most childhood vaccines produce immunity about 90 - 100% of the time….Vaccine Reminder is an app for you to keep a track of your child’s vaccination. Apart from the vaccination chart and schedule, registered users receive a reminder e-mail couple of days before the shot is due. Also, there are separate sections to Vaccine Updates with articles on vaccines for Doctors and Parents.