Vaccination is safe
We are at the precipice of a crisis when it comes to vaccines. Celebrities spread false accusations of danger, perpetuating the myth of a causal link between vaccines and autism. When science does not support their statements, they accuse the pediatric physician community of being in the pocket of the vaccine companies, accepting large grants and small gifts in exchange for our continued support of vaccines.
They falsely claim we make large profits in our practices from the sale of vaccines, and that this alone would cause us to turn our backs on all that is true, safe and ethical. They falsely claim that we would continue to give vaccines even if we knew they were dangerous. In some communities this false rhetoric has convinced large numbers of parents to refuse vaccines.
When 15 percent of the population is unvaccinated, there is loss of herd immunity - protection of the group as a result of there being only a small number of susceptible individuals. In several Western states there are large geographic areas where 20 percent to 35 percent of children are unvaccinated due to parental refusal! Some states, such as our neighbor West Virginia, have solved this problem by passing "no exception" legislation, requiring every child to be vaccinated for public health reasons.
Fortunately, we are not yet seeing high refusal rates here in Maryland, but the rates are climbing.
Unvaccinated children get preventable diseases. IIf vaccine refusals increase, we will see thousands of cases of preventable diseases, and hundreds of deaths from preventable diseases.
Virginia Keane, M.D., BaltimoreThe writer is president of the Maryland chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
Risks can't be dismissed
Your editorial, "A Dangerous Denial" (June 1), was objectionable in many ways. Characterizing the vaccine-autism issue as "a suspicion that has been thoroughly investigated and authoritatively debunked" is both wrong and irresponsible. None of the 19 shots most American children receive in their first six months has been studied for its relationship to autism. The majority of the studies that have been done are rife with conflicts of interest, including contributing authors who received funding from vaccine manufacturers.
The "odd beliefs" you describe don't seem so outlandish to Dr. Bernardine Healy, former director of the NIH, who said the government has been "too quick to dismiss the concerns of these families without studying the population that got sick." Condescending tone aside, the implication that these parents are anti-vaccine is an over-generalization. Along with many other parents who believe the current vaccine schedule played a role in our children's regression into autism, I believe that immunizations should be delivered at a pace that makes sense for children's developing systems and not at a rate that is merely convenient for health insurers.
Alison Hamilton, CroftonThe writer is co-coordinator of the Maryland/DC chapter of Talk About Curing Autism
