Debunking Common Myths and Misconceptions About Childhood Vaccines

When was the last time you met someone with polio or someone who had whooping cough? Thanks to childhood vaccines, these health issues are no longer the threat they once were, but they’re still out there.

Thanks to the recent global pandemic, vaccinations have held the spotlight for the last couple of years, and as a result, a fair amount of misinformation has been making the rounds.

Unfortunately, this has caused parents to question whether childhood vaccines are a good idea. Now we’re seeing rises in diseases that were all but eradicated, such as whooping cough.

From microchipping to autism, our team of health care providers here at LaSante Health Center wants to take a closer look at — and debunk — some of the more common myths about childhood vaccines.

Natural immunization isn’t always better

When your child first enters the world, they have very little immunity, which means they are far more susceptible to every potential infection out there. Given the world we live in, which is far more connected, it’s hard for their small bodies to keep up with the sheer number of threats.

Yes, each time they develop a cold, they build immunity, but we don’t want to overwhelm their weak systems. Through vaccination, we can minimize 14 of these threats, reducing the number of battles their infant immune system needs to wage.

Not to mention, many of the illnesses we protect against through childhood vaccinations can have lifelong consequences, such as loss of hearing after mumps or paralysis due to polio.

Vaccines and autism

In 1997, a study emerged out of Great Britain that suggested that the vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella was increasing autism. While proponents of this theory continue to reference this older study, an ample amount of research has been conducted since, and this theory has been discredited.

Vaccines contain toxins

To preserve the vaccines, small amounts of formaldehyde and mercury are often used.

While these are toxins that are known to be harmful to the human body, it’s important to put things into perspective. For example, mercury is found in the water and in the air and the amount used in vaccinations is very small compared to these sources.

And formaldehyde is also everywhere and even produced by your own body. The trace amount used in vaccinations doesn’t really stack up to other sources.

Vaccines contain microchips

The vaccines we administer to your child (or you, for that matter) do not contain any microchips.

Vaccinations make your child sick

Most of the vaccines we deliver contain killed forms of the virus so they do not give your child the disease. The few that contain active viruses only contain enough to initiate an immune response, not a full-blown illness.

For example, the chickenpox vaccine may lead to a rash, but this means that the vaccine is working and your child’s immune system is fighting back and building antibodies. This rash is better than a full-blown chickenpox outbreak.

If we haven’t answered your concerns here about childhood vaccinations, we invite you to sit down with one of our pediatric specialists.

To get started, contact our Brooklyn, New York, clinic. We serve the Flatbush and East Flatbush, Crown Heights, Park Slope, Little Haiti, Little Caribbean, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens communities.