(picture from privatepracticeinsider.com)WARNING!!! My personal opinions about a controversial subject below!!
So I just finished watching last night's episode of Private Practice and all I can say is WOW. I'm shocked Hollywood took a pro-vaccine position, especially with recent activism by Jennna McCarthy. I'm a pediatrician, and I'm also a scientist who does brain research relevant to autism, so I definitely have formed some opinions on the vaccines/autism debate.
Vaccines are the only things doctors do that make people more healthy. Prenatal care? Doesn't improve infant mortality. Advice to lose weight? Still fat. But vaccines save lives. Incredible numbers of lives, and also spare untold pain and suffering from communicable disease. Hell, we even have a vaccine that prevents cancer now.
The autism/vaccines link has been researched quite thoroughly, without finding a link. I'm not going to bore you with the science, but I vaccinate my dog (who I love more than anyone in the entire world) who has had an ANAPHYLACTIC reaction to a vaccine. Yes, she almost died from a vaccine, but carefully and under close veterinary supervision she is vaccinated. Another testimonial... I got the Gardasil vaccine even though I'm in an age group that is low risk, and I paid four hundred dollars for the privilege (while I was a poor, underpaid trainee).
So, back to the episode of Private Practice. The mother in the episode knew that her child had autism, and was diagnosed at the usual age of two. She knew her son had received vaccines, and the two events were temporally related. However, even in the face of the critical illness of her non-autistic son with a vaccine-preventable disease, she chose not vaccinate her only remaining healthy child. Cooper (pediatrician character in show) then vaccinated him against her wishes, which honestly is probably assault. He should have gone through the proper legal channels, although I'm sure the character in the story was convinced that time was critical. The child had been exposed to the disease from which his brother was dying, and likely had the same genetic susceptibility as his brother.
Pediatricians who have seen children suffer and die from vaccine preventable diseases have intimate knowledge of the blessings of safe and widespread vaccination. The most frightening thing is that with growing numbers of unvaccinated children we are losing "herd immunity." When only a small number of children were not vaccinated, they were protected because almost all other children were vaccinated. Therefore they were very unlikely to encounter the organsims that cause vaccine preventable diseases unless they travelled overseas. Now, that protection is waning as more children are unprotected. As pediatricians, we need to do better at communicating the risks and benefits of vaccination to parents, so they can make truly informed consent.
If you have questions about vaccinating your child, talk to your pediatrician.
For the American Academy of Pediatrics information about vaccine safety click here.
For a comparison of the risks of vaccines versus the risks of vaccine preventable disease click here.
For a handout about vaccine safety click here.
Also, you can vist Vaccinate your baby for more information.
