Dr. Brett Hill - Eat Think Move Chiropractic

 

I have no doubt that this will be the most popular (and the most inflammatory) column I have written for a while. Any time we speak out about vaccination it seems to stir up a real hornet's nest. The reason is that vaccination is a very personal issue, and one that is prone to very severe biases (from both sides of the agenda). Because of these biases, it can be very hard to figure out the truth. If you listen to the pro-vaccination lobby, you would swear that it is the best thing since sliced bread and that not vaccinating should be illegal! If you listen to the anti-vaccination groups, they will tell you that vaccines and vaccine manufacturers are pure evil and that they are killing and maiming our children in order to make a profit. The truth is most likely somewhere in between.

Firstly let me say that the principle behind vaccination is very sound. The best defence you have against almost any disease is your own body and your own immune system. Of course vaccines have side-effects as well - even the most ardent vaccine supporter will not argue with that - so the question then becomes, do the positives outweigh the negatives? Are we sure? And are there safer, cheaper and more effective ways to boost our immune system? If it can be shown that the benefits of vaccines outweigh the negatives, then yes, getting shots would be a good idea.

What we don't have is long-term, double-blind, randomised control studies comparing vaccinated and non-vaccinated groups - and we probably never will. Despite this being the gold standard in medical research, we have never had this type of research done, because vaccine supporters claim that it would be ‘unethical' to not vaccinate a group of people, in spite of the fact that many people (including a significant portion of doctors) choose not to vaccinate.

So we are left looking at population studies. People will often look at population studies showing a reduction in rates of communicable diseases and suggest that the reduction since the advent of the vaccine is proof of efficacy. However when you look at stats going back further, you realise that many of these communicable diseases had been on decline well before the introduction of the vaccine. The reductions were in fact more closely associated with cleaner water, better living conditions, improved sanitation and improved nutrition than they were to vaccination.

So the benefits may not be as significant as we have been led to believe. But what about the risks? One thing you need to remember when analysing the risk / benefit of vaccination is the fact that adverse vaccine reactions are severely under-reported - so much so that studies have reported that only 1-10% of vaccine reactions are ever actually reported. Think about it: that means that whenever you read about vaccine side-effects, you need to multiply the numbers by 10 to 100 times to get a true indication. This all starts to alter the cost / benefit equation a bit, doesn't it?

‘If I don't get the vaccine, won't I be putting my friends and family at risk?' Well, not if the vaccine works. If the vaccine is as effective as people claim, then surely a vaccinated person would have no need to fear you at all...? Remember also that just because someone is vaccinated does not mean that they are not able to carry and spread the disease. A vaccine helps your body to fight off the disease - it DOES NOT prevent you from getting it or carrying it. In fact a recent study that asked whether vaccinating healthcare workers helped to protect the elderly they were looking after showed that it made no difference to the patients' health outcomes.

So remember, we each have the right to accept or decline vaccinations based on our own informed decisions. I encourage you to do some research, investigate BOTH the pros and the cons and make a decision that sits comfortably with you and your family. If you do this, you will have made the right decision for you.