Written by Lisa Chedekel
About one-third of parents of young children worry that vaccines may cause learning disabilities such as autism, while more than 40 percent question whether they are safe, according to a new survey published in Health Affairs.
The survey, analyzed by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services National Vaccine Program Office, found that the vast majority of children in the U.S. are getting regularly scheduled immunizations for infant and childhood diseases. But only 23 percent of parents reported having no concerns about childhood vaccines, suggesting that health care providers need to do more to build confidence in the safety and value of vaccines, the authors said.
“The good news is that almost all parents are getting their children vaccinated. But that doesn’t necessarily mean all parents have a high level of confidence in those vaccines,” said lead author Allison Kennedy, an epidemiologist in CDC’s Immunization Services Division. “These findings point us toward what we need to focus on to better answer questions and concerns parents have about why immunization is important.’‘
Kennedy said parental education should include thorough explanations as to why infant immunizations should occur before age two. As to concerns voiced by some parents about vaccine safety, she said, “There is no credible evidence that vaccines are associated with learning disabilities, including autism.”
About 2 percent of parents surveyed said that their children would receive none of the recommended vaccines, and 5 percent intended to vaccinate children with only some vaccines.
Chief among the concerns expressed by parents were that their children were getting too many vaccines in one doctor’s visit; that vaccines could cause fevers in their children; that vaccines could cause learning disabilities; or that the ingredients in vaccines were unsafe.
The study found that while parents get information about vaccines primarily from pediatricians, family, and friends, the Internet is increasingly becoming a source of information. A quarter of parents said they get information from the web—more than twice the number reported in 2009 in a different survey.
Kennedy said the CDC needs to do more research to better understand what sources parents are turning to and how they make use of the Internet, so the agency can make sure parents are getting accurate information.
Earlier this year, a Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll found that 18 percent of respondents believed vaccines, such as the measles-mumps-rubella [MMR] vaccine, can cause autism. The poll was conducted soon after reports surfaced that the lead researcher of a controversial 1998 study linking autism to the MMR vaccine had used fraudulent research.
Learning disabilities? Autism? How about death? How about asthma, allergies, cancers, diabetes, seizures? There are all manner of serious side effects from vaccines. What’s worse, none are guaranteed to work, if you even believe they do. They produce antibodies but that is NOT proof of immunity. It’s proof of response from the vaccines. And who checks to see if that happens anyway?
No, vaccines are a big, money-making scam. All of us have been brainwashed to believe they work but do your research. Look at the facts. Read the package inserts. Be aware that diseases had steeply declined BEFORE vaccines came along but we’re not told that. Vaccines are given credit after the fact. Read Neil Z. Miller’s books. Check out NVIC.org.
Know your rights. All states give exemptions to vaccination for school. All but two give religious ones, about half give philosophical ones.
Injecting your children with toxins is NOT necessary for good health. In fact, it’s the opposite. Look at the state of health of our children these days.
By the way, I used to be avidly pro-vaccine. Then my child had a reaction to the MMR and became severely allergic and asthmatic. THEN I finally did my homework. Parents should do theirs, and should go beyond dutifully reading propaganda.
Read books like Andrew J. Wakefield’s “Callous Disregard” (Skyhorse Publishing Co.) where he sets the record straight about the MMR vaccine scandal in the UK, “Silenced Witnesses” Vols. I and II (www.slingshotpublications.com), where parents’ in the UK tell their children’s stories of MMR vaccination and autism, Neil Z. Miller’s “Vaccine Safety Manual,” Mary Holland, Esq. and Louise Habakus’ ” Vaccine Epidemic.” Check on Amazon for more titles. It isn’t enough to keep spouting “Vaccines are safe” when 1 in 100 American children are developing autism. Parents, do your research. They are giving children so many more vaccines now than when my children were babies 25 years ago, and they think nothing of giving a newborn a hepatitis vaccine on the first day of life “because they can.” Well, not if say no. Read what Dr. Russell Blaylock says about children’s brains and vaccines in Neil Z. Miller’s book. People lose trust when they are lied to. Not telling both sides of the story to let parents choose what is best for their children isn’t honest and isn’t good journalism; it’s propaganda.
Nervous? I am not nervous, I am completely devestated. My beautiful and healthy 9 month old son was permenantly disabled by the Hepatits B vaccine. This is a vaccine that is transmitted through risky sexual practices and IV drug use. My son ZERO risk factors for Hepatitis B. ZERO. Now he will need care for the rest of his life. What an insulting article. Parents darn well should be nervous. Thousands of innocent lives are destroyed every year by vaccines, and all government does about it is try to cover-up the carnage. God help their miserable souls.