Frontline: The Vaccine War: A Review

Vaccines are a hotly debated subject, particularly where I live, in Portland, Oregon. There is a fine balance between the clear benefits of the vaccines in disease prevention and the potential risks of the vaccines for our children. After giving birth to our son, Todd and I spent a lot of time researching vaccinations... and it seemed like the more I learned, the more confused I was. If you don't vaccinate, and your child gets sick and dies from a preventable disease, then you spend the rest of your life feeling guilty. If you do vaccinate, and they have a terrible reaction, then you spend the rest of your life feeling guilty about that.... either way, it felt like we were playing Russian Roulette.
We eventually decided in favor of vaccination (for most vaccines), but on our own schedule. This means that we will never give 5 or 6 vaccines at a time, like is routinely done in doctor's offices around the country. Instead, we will get one shot at a time (sometimes this will include up to 3 vaccinations, however, as many vaccines are bundled and nearly impossible to get when separated). We also decided to delay some of our vaccinations a bit and chose to start them a little later in life when his immune system was a bit more built up. Now, this may not work for some families, especially those whose children go to a large daycare at a young age, but for us it has worked just fine. We have also opted out of some of the traditional vaccines... like getting a Hepatitis B vaccine (Hep B is a sexually transmitted disease) at birth. I can assure you that my son will not be having sex for many years still, and so I can worry about that one later. Same with chicken pox. Sure, you can die from chicken pox, but you could much more easily die from eating undercooked chicken. So, there are some risks that we have decided are not worth vaccinating against and others that we decided are.
I have read many articles and books about the subject, but I just watched a pretty good video that sums up some of the pros and cons in less than an hour. Frontline: The Vaccine War is currently available as an instant play on Netflix or you can watch it for free on the pbs website, and is a good place to start if you are beginning to research vaccinating your children. The Vaccine War is a somewhat unbiased video, and presents both sides of the debate. However, I got the feeling from the way that each side was presented that the producers were more on the pro-vaccine side, and at times those who were against vaccinations were portrayed as very shelfish or ignorant.
Anyways, here is a summary of some of the information from the film:
Since vaccinations have been around, our lifespan has increased by 30 years and lots of pain and suffering has been prevented form the management of 16 diseases that are now preventable via immunization. Vaccinations typically have minimal side effects, with most patients reporting swelling and tenderness as the worst of what happens.
On the other side of the coin are the folks who don't think vaccines are always the correct decision. When our children get sick, it isn't such a bad thing.. it builds their immunity and makes their bodies stronger. Some of the disease we vaccinate for, like chickenpox (as I mentioned above) or rotovirus are diseases that will make you sick, but very rarely (in our country) cause fatalities. Rotovirus is basically a really bad bout of diarrhea. In less developed countries where folks don't have medical access, this disease is a major killer. In the US, where we have medications and IV fluids, almost no one dies from this disease (even when they do contract it). So, is it really necessary to vaccinate for it?
There has also been an anecdotal connection between vaccinations and children having major personality changes, with a lot of hype about a link between vaccines and autism (yup, the Jenny McCarthy bandwagon). Several scientific studies were run looking at MMR vaccinations and rates of autism, as well as mercury exposure from the thimerosal preservative found in some vaccines and rates of autism. All of these studies found no correlation between MMR and autism or mercury exposure and autism. However, thousands of parents have reported that after a round of immunizations their child regressed (either mentally and/or physically) and was later diagnosed with autism, ADHD, or another disorder. So, do we believe these parents even though science tells us not to? Or is there maybe a correlation that we haven't yet found? Hopefully more research will be done, but as for now, nothing seems to be 100% conclusive.
The biggest problem that the pro-vaccine folks have with the no-vaccine folks is the idea of herd immunity... if enough of a population is vaccinated against a disease, it will eventually be eradicated because there won't be enough people for it to spread to. This is how we got rid of smallpox. However, when some communities (like Ashland, Oregon, San Diego, and here in Portland) have a relatively high percentage of folks either not vaccinating or under-vaccinating, than this herd effect could fall short. This could harm those who haven't been vaccinated-- which is not only the ones who aren't vaccinated by choice, but also those who aren't vaccinated due to weakened immune systems. So do parents chose based on the safety of their own child, or based on the best choice for their community as a whole even if it may not be the best choice for their child personally?
Vaccines are a confusing issue with a lot to be said on both sides, and when you are a new mom already trying to figure everything out, deciding on vaccinations may be the last thing on your to-do list. In most areas of the country, vaccinating your child may not even seem like a decision, as doctors normally just tell you what you are supposed to do instead of asking what you want. But you do have a choice if and how you vaccinate your child, and at least if you have made an informed choice, you will know that you haven't let the system dictate how you raise your child.
So, this film is a good starting point for vaccine research and beneficial to watch even if you have already decided how to vaccinate your child. If you are just starting to make decisions about vaccinations, you will likely find yourself reading several books and doing lots of internet research. I hope that I haven't offended anyone on either side of this argument.... as I said, this issue was horribly confusing for me to work out for my own family, and the decision we did come to took months (and honestly, I'm still not 100% sure that we decided correctly!).