Person1: ugh… tomorrow is my baby’s one year checkup and we gotta get a bunch of shots again. He always hates those… it just stresses me out too, seeing him crying like that
Person2: Oh I definitely agree. I dunno, I don't really get why they have to get all of those shots at once. It seems like it would be pretty bad for their body, don’t you think?
Person1: hmm… maybe. I’ve felt that way before, but I did some research on that and it seems like that isn’t really the case… but i don’t fully know. There’s just a lot of conflicting info out there on the internet… it would make sense, but aren’t their bodies already built for that? To deal with all the bugs out there?
Person2: Huh I guess that makes sense. Wait… is your kiddo getting the mmr vaccine?
Person1: yeah why?
Person2: I’ve heard that it might cause autism, I think there was a study in 1998 by some british guy? I might avoid that if I were you. I probably will with my kiddo when she has to get it in a couple months from now
Person1: Oh yeah i’ve heard that too… that study, the Wakefield one right?
Person2: yeah yeah that’s the one, now I remember his name. It was published in the lancet meaning it’s probably true
Person1: well I wouldn’t say that. I checked out that paper and it didn’t seem that great. Especially considering other studies have been done that weren’t able to replicate the results
Person2: wdym?
Person1: well… he only had a sample size of 12 kids which is very low, especially since other studies are surveying thousands of children.
Person2: oh wow i didn’t know that
Person1: yeah also all the behaviors are self-reported by the parents, some showing up months to years after getting the vaccine which just doesn’t make sense to me. All the vaccine stuff would’ve left the body by then so i dunno that demonstrates causation. Also selfreporting is just pretty inaccurate
Person2: huh yeah I guess that makes sense. But like isn’t it causing some intestine issues? Which is causing the autism?
Person1: well thats the claim. But like i said it hasn’t been able to be replicated. In fact, scientists have figured out that both autistic and non-autistic kids have those intestinal issues at the same rate so it shouldn’t be causing those neurological issues, right?
Person2: huh okay. I mean outside of that what if our kids get sick because of it? It’s supposed to be a ‘live attenuated’ vaccine. Which i think means that it’s just weakened. What if it reactivates? I’ve heard it can cause brain swelling… which is pretty terrifying if you ask me
Person1: well, first of all, it’s perfectly normal for your kiddo to get a little sick after a vaccine. Even though, i will admit, it is quite scary. But that just means the body is doing its job! That’s what you want to happen. Also, with the weakened virus, this rarely ever happens and if it does it was weakened incorrectly.
Person2: yeah i guess
Person1: alongside that, with the encephalitis, the likelihood of getting that is significantly lower than getting it from the actual disease. I believe it’s like 1 in a million compared to 1 in a thousand. I mean really the only people that aren’t recommended to get it are pregnant women and the immunocompromised which is pretty standard for vaccines
Person2: oh wow that’s crazy i did not know that! I just hear all these rumors y’know?
Person1: yeah i get that. I’ve fallen for them as well in the past. I think too its just like that the benefits of vaccinating, especially MMR or really any of the big vaccines, just completely outweigh the risks both of getting the vaccine and getting the disease y’know? Against measles, the mmr vaccine is like 95% or so effective. I think too we forget how dangerous these diseases were or are. Measles was a leading cause of childhood death back before the vaccine. So the harm of the disease vastly outweighs any potential harm from the vaccine.
Person2: that definitely makes sense. I think i’ll talk to my kid’s doctor about this. Maybe he can point me towards some good resources
Person1: thats a really great idea. It’s something i did. I could probably email you some of the resources i’ve found over the past few months. Definitely don’t want to listen to the internet all the time…