The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declined to associate serious problems like brain damage and seizures to the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Several million people receive the vaccine every year, but only a few cases of serious issues come up.
The most common reactions witnessed on administering vaccines include redness around the area of administration of injection and fever. These, however, are temporary and minor. Serious problems, such as deafness, brain damages, etc. are so infrequent that the CDC doubts their connection to the vaccines in the first place.
In this context, an assistant professor at the University of Florida’s biostatistics department, Eben Kenah, provided his findings. He said that the odds of the vaccine causing serious concerns are one in a million. He commented that the situation is similar to the event that a million people get the vaccine, and one gets hit by the bus when he walks out. In such a case, to establish a connection between serious illnesses and vaccination would be difficult.
Public health experts agree with the CDC’s view that vaccines and autism are less likely to be connected. As of now, there is only one research paper that seeks to establish a connection in this regards. The CDC further emphasizes that it would less than one case in a million that vaccination caused a child to slip into a coma. Despite this, it has been found that parents refrain to get their children vaccinate, exposing them to higher risks. Some argue that children need to be tested for allergies before being administered vaccine shots.
The risks threatening children who do not receive vaccines outweigh the potential troubles of vaccination. Statistics reveals that 1.6% of children affected with whooping cough die and 23% will develop pneumonia. One of a thousand children who contracts measles develops brain swelling that results in mental retardation or deafness.
Leave a Reply