Vaccine safety: state of vaccinations in California and debates about vaccine safety

Following the removal of exemptions from personal beliefs in the state of California, as Ken Cutler, Nevada County Public Health Officer pointed out, medical exemptions for vaccinations have increased: more than 4 000 kindergarten children became exempt for medical reasons during the 2017-2018 school year.

Some members of the state legislature of California, such as Senator Richard Pan, are trying to "curb the fraudulent medical exemptions relating to vaccines" and increase vaccination rates in the state by supporting Senate Bill 276.

On April 24, the Senate Health Committee held a hearing on the bill, which was referred to the Senate Supply Committee.

The doctor turned representative said that he hoped that Senate Bill 276 would be passed despite the death threats he had received in previous years for promoting a vaccine safety law.

Pan was recently attacked for capturing more than $ 95,000 worth of pharmaceutical companies. The chief executive of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America – the industry's leading professional group – said the organization was not taking a position on Senate Bill 276, even though it had previously supported vaccination.

For decades, vaccine manufacturers were getting very little benefit from their vaccines until recently, according to The Atlantic. Although it is difficult to know the benefits of the vaccine manufacturers because not all information is public, the World Health Organization estimated the value of the vaccine market at $ 24 billion in 2014 and to 100 billion dollars in 2025.

A debated theory

People are skeptical about vaccines since Edward Jenner created the smallpox vaccine in 1798. After vaccinating his family, Jenner was put away from his community.

More recently, skepticism towards vaccines has increased dramatically, some linking factors such as autism to certain vaccinations. In 1998, Gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield and 12 colleagues wrote an article claiming such a link between vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella and autism. There was subsequently a significant decrease in the number of vaccinations among the individuals concerned by such a correlation in the Western world.

Wakefield and his colleagues were later discredited, however, when later studies revealed that the correlation was false. In addition, when conducting the study, Wakefield did not disclose financial links with lawyers assisting parents in lawsuits against companies producing vaccines.

In 2010, the publication that affirmed Wakefield's conclusions retracted his study, finding the results "incorrect and contrary to the conclusions of a previous investigation".

However, Wakefield's skepticism persisted, as he later realized the film, Vaxxed, warning people of the dangers associated with vaccinations. One of the skeptical doctors about the vaccines in the film, Dr. William Thompson, would have finally refuted an article that he had published, asserting a link between vaccination and autism in the afro community American, according to what his colleague, Dr. Brian Hooker, said. written for the Focus for Health Foundation. (The foundation fights the rise of chronic diseases around the world.)

SOME DEBATES

Nowadays, people who believe vaccinations are safe show that vaccines have eradicated some viruses and saved millions of lives in the 20th century. Before measles immunization was widespread in 1963, 48,000 people were hospitalized, 4,000 developed encephalitis and about 450 died each year, according to the New York Times.

A Vox report on vaccines shows that public health organizations support vaccines for this reason: a long list of viruses, including "diphtheria, bacterial flu, measles, mumps, rubella and tetanus, among others Have been eradicated or controlled by medicine.

Some, however, like Dr. Suzanne Humphries, a nephrologist who left conventional medicine in 2011, argue that rates of many viral infections, such as polio in the twentieth century, decreased before vaccination.

Science Magazine challenges its findings, showing a history of diseases in the United States and display evidence how vaccines have effectively fought them.

There have been concerns about poisoning children with mercury in vaccines. According to the Centers for Disease Control, ethlymercury – and not the dangerous methylmercury – is found in the thimerosal preservative – a mercury-based preservative often used in vaccinations. However, because of parental concerns, thimerosal has recently been reduced or completely eliminated from many vaccines.

Many parents also worried about the amount of vaccine injected to children. The American Institute of Infectious Diseases, however, found that vaccines do not overload or weaken the immune system of children.

Del Bigtree, founder of Informed Consent Action Network, a nonprofit skeptical about the vaccine, said double-blind studies had been conducted. One individual received the placebo and the other received treatment – the gold standard for research – had not yet been tested.

Kayla DeBusk, a health program specialist from the Spokane Regional Health District in Washington, said vaccines were rigorously tested.

"They are taking people who have not received the vaccine and are comparing them to those who have received it," DeBusk told Spokane Public Radio, adding that it would be contrary to the law. Ethics of exposing people to a disease and giving them a placebo.

Although rare, there have been cases where previously vaccinated individuals have been diagnosed later with the disease.

A recent Yale study showed that the occurrence of specific neuropsychiatric disorders was related to vaccination, but the authors cautioned that the vague correlation should be "taken with a grain of salt" and requires additional studies with a sample bigger.

WHAT THE MOST SCIENTIST SAY

According to a Pew Research Center study, 86% of scientists at the American Association for the Advancement of Science believe that children should be forced to get vaccinated.

Harvard scientists have indicated that vaccines are important because, because of their collective immunity or community immunity, the disease does not spread in a given area when the vast majority of them are immunized. They say this is the best result when an individual takes a vaccine because it protects many people, which poses a risk to public health when people do not vaccinate.

Nevertheless, the government has spent a large amount of money for potential mistakes. The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has provided $ 4 billion since 1988 to 6,465 vaccine applicants, or to people claiming for vaccine damage.

The allocation of payments, however, "does not necessarily mean that the vaccine has caused an alleged injury," according to the Health Resources & Services Administration, an agency of the department of health and social services that distributes funds to applicants vaccination.

The agency said that she could not answer specific cases due to legal constraints, but suggested that there is a wide range of grievances ranging from allergic reactions to arthritis chronic and anaphylaxis.

According to a letter from the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, "It is not necessary to demonstrate that the vaccine actually caused the disease" in order to receive compensation from the program. On the contrary, if a negative reaction occurs within a certain time after obtaining the vaccine, it is presumed that the vaccine caused the injury. The program's experts also wrote: "Lawyers are entitled to reasonable fees, whether or not the plaintiff obtains compensation from the court, if certain minimum conditions are met."

They referred to the Centers for Disease Control's approximations, saying that from 2006 to 2017, billions of doses of vaccine, there were 1,157 concessions paid. In other words, they wrote, "for every million doses of vaccine distributed, about one individual was compensated."

According to the New England Journal of Medicine, after the adoption of the National Child Vaccine Injury Law in 1988, families of children injured by vaccination were compensated and "the number of lawsuits against manufacturers of vaccines has decreased dramatically. "

According to an article published by Mary Holland in the Emory Law Journal, the decline in the number of lawsuits is a problem. Holland states that the National Child Vaccine Injury Act provides "almost total liability for damage caused by vaccine damage".

Holland wrote that people should be able to hold vaccine manufacturers directly responsible for protecting consumers and improving vaccines.

"Empirical work indicates that leaving the doors of courthouses open increases the safety of vaccines," she wrote.

Although President Donald Trump has considered setting up a committee on vaccine safety, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could eventually lead it, there is already a committee on vaccine safety. Many scientists think this is transparent and effective. Kennedy's family recently dismissed his skeptical claims about the vaccine as "tragically false".

HOW PUBLIC OFFICIALS RESPOND

Sharyn Turner, coordinator of health services in Nevada County Schools, said that until recently, a larger group of people had different feelings about vaccines, considering them safe.

"No one has ever doubted vaccination," she said. Turner believes that the best way to inform others about vaccine safety is to act in a non-critical way and build trust.

"We provide scientific information," she said. "We have information given to parent groups."

Ashley Neumann, a member of the Nevada County Education Council, believes that the message of openness and trust is important, but that it must also be put into practice by public officials.

"If public health officials want people to be vaccinated, they need to be more open to people who are skeptical about vaccines," she said.

Contact Sam Corey at 530-477-4219 or at [email protected].