Childhood vaccines have had a remarkable impact on diseases, such as smallpox, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, measles, mumps and rubella. These diseases have essentially been eliminated in the United States, while other diseases – like chickenpox and hepatitis B – are largely controlled in childhood due to vaccines.
That can change with low vaccination rates.
Peter Gulick, D.O., professor of Medicine at the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine Department of Medical Specialties, is an infectious disease expert who has been in practice for more than 40 years. He estimates that vaccines prevent tens of thousands of childhood deaths per year. He is highly concerned about vaccine myths and recent changes in federal vaccine recommendations.
“When people hear the CDC (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) telling them not to do it, then many of them, of course, decide they’re not going to get their children or themselves vaccinated,” Dr. Gulick said. “It's scary and it's ridiculous, because eventually we’re going to see the repercussions of these bad decisions. We’re going to have a lot of people who are going to get really, really sick -- not only kids, but adults and people with immunocompromised conditions.
“Diseases that were under control are going to come back again.”
Besides teaching infectious disease and hematology at MSUCOM, Dr. Gulick also works at three different federally funded clinics in Michigan that provide HIV/AIDS care to uninsured or underinsured people. Here, he shares some essential facts in response to pervasive myths about childhood vaccines and clarifies some of the confusion regarding recent childhood vaccination recommendations.
Vaccine myth #1: Vaccines can cause autism.
The biggest myth surrounding childhood vaccines is the ongoing theory that vaccinations can be linked to autism spectrum disorder, despite decades of scientific studies that have repeatedly disproven any such connection.
While diagnoses of autism cases have increased in recent decades, most researchers attribute the rise to growing awareness of the disorder itself and an expansion of its definition. Scientists believe autism results from a complex yet undetermined combination of genetics and environmental factors.
“It's a multi-dimensional condition that doesn’t result from one simple factor, like a vaccine,” Dr. Gulick said.
Vaccine myth #2: Vaccines can cause cancer, autoimmune diseases and other conditions.
Vaccines do not cause diseases, including cancer, but a few of them actually prevent cancer.
The hepatitis B vaccine prevents liver cancer, while the HPV vaccine can prevent cancers caused by a human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. These include cervical cancer, anal cancer and head and neck cancer. The HPV vaccine is recommended for all preteens, boys and girls, ages 9-12.
“We've had COVID long enough, and we've had millions of people getting vaccinated all over the world, and yet we don't see outbreaks of autoimmune disease or cancer everywhere as a result, and we certainly don't see millions of children suddenly become autistic,” Dr. Gulick explained.
Vaccine myth #3: Vaccines contain many harmful ingredients.
According to Dr. Gulick, vaccines contain ingredients at doses much lower than doses that people are exposed to in a natural environment. For example, thimerosal and formaldehyde are present in some vaccines in much lower amounts than in everyday products like nasal drops, cosmetics, antihistamines, mouthwash, etc. And trace amounts of aluminum are in some vaccines but much less than through exposure from foods, medicine or water.
Vaccine myth #4: Vaccine-preventable diseases are just part of childhood. It’s better to have the disease than become immune through vaccines.
So-called “natural” immunity is not safer than vaccine-produced immunity. Childhood diseases can have many serious complications that can be avoided through immunization. For example, according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, an estimated 20,000 children under the age of 5 are hospitalized due to flu complications each year. Most children who die from the flu have not been vaccinated, and many of the deaths occur in healthy children who have no underlying illnesses.
Vaccines work by safely introducing a piece of the virus or bacteria so the immune system can learn to fight it without risk of severe illness.
For example, while it’s still possible to develop a COVID infection despite being vaccinated, symptoms will be much milder. Because the body already has some immunity from the vaccine, it will be able to fight off whatever variant that one is exposed to naturally, avoiding serious complications requiring hospitalization and preventing death.
Dr. Gulick says another reason that kids should be vaccinated is to prevent transmission of disease to adults who are immunocompromised, and that includes yearly booster shots for influenza and COVID as new variants develop.
Vaccine myth #5: I don’t need to vaccinate my children because children around them are already immune.
Vaccine hesitancy lowers herd immunity, which increases the risk of disease transmission. Herd immunity is achieved when enough people are immune to a disease so that it can no longer spread easily – typically 89-93% of the population – protecting those who are not immune.
Pregnant women, young infants and immunocompromised people are most affected by lack of total herd immunity.
The hepatitis B vaccine
The CDC has officially stopped mandating the hepatitis B vaccine for all newborns; instead, it recommends it only if the mother has hep B or unknown status. For infants born to mothers who are hep B negative, the birth dose is no longer mandatory, though parents are encouraged to get their child the first shot by 2 months of age.
Critics worry that parents will delay getting their infant the vaccine if it’s not done right away, and the child could become infected as a result. While the common virus is spread through sex and blood, it can also live on inanimate objects for a long time.
“It's risky to not protect somebody from a virus that is not a virus like influenza or COVID, where it infects you, it goes away, and it's done,” Dr. Gulick explained. “The hep B virus is almost like getting exposed to HIV because it's a lifelong infection that can develop into cirrhosis of the liver, and it's also the number one cause of liver cancer.”
Expert Take: Eradicating Hepatitis in Michigan
Hepatitis A, B and C are well-known viral diseases in the U.S., and experts are working to eradicate hepatitis though education, testing and vaccinations.
The MMR vaccine
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recently voted to change recommendations for the measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine. The panel recommends that children under 4 years receive separate MMR and varicella vaccines and not the combined MMRV vaccine. However, it also voted to continue using MMRV for this age group in the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program, which covers children from low-income families.
The American Academy of Pediatrics continues to recommend families have the option of MMRV and said the move promotes “false claims and misguided information about vaccines as part of an unprecedented effort to limit access to routine childhood immunizations and sow fear and mistrust in vaccines.”
Dr. Gulick says the immune system doesn't overreact from multiple vaccines at one time because each vaccine is programmed to give a different immunity response. Receiving multiple vaccines offers convenience, which is why people are encouraged to get the flu and COVID vaccines at the same time, for example.
“It's ridiculous to not give these vaccines, especially when you see the measles outbreaks that are occurring,” said Dr. Gulick. “Measles may not always be a significant problem in a child, but if a child gets measles and passes it to an adult who has an immunocompromised condition, those people can die from it. And kids can still die from it, too.”
The COVID and RSV vaccines
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends updated COVID vaccines for children, like annual flu shots, especially for young kids whose immune systems are still developing. The vaccine protects children from severe illness and long COVID, and reduces community spread.
The AAP also recommends the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine for most infants under 8 months entering their first RSV season and for certain high-risk children ages 8-19 months entering their second season. RSV is the leading cause of hospitalization in infants.
By Lynn Waldsmith
Childhood vaccines have had a remarkable impact on diseases, such as smallpox, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, measles, mumps and rubella. These diseases have essentially been eliminated in the United States, while other diseases – like chickenpox and hepatitis B – are largely controlled in childhood due to vaccines.
That can change with low vaccination rates.
Peter Gulick, D.O., professor of Medicine at the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine Department of Medical Specialties, is an infectious disease expert who has been in practice for more than 40 years. He estimates that vaccines prevent tens of thousands of childhood deaths per year. He is highly concerned about vaccine myths and recent changes in federal vaccine recommendations.
“When people hear the CDC (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) telling them not to do it, then many of them, of course, decide they’re not going to get their children or themselves vaccinated,” Dr. Gulick said. “It's scary and it's ridiculous, because eventually we’re going to see the repercussions of these bad decisions. We’re going to have a lot of people who are going to get really, really sick -- not only kids, but adults and people with immunocompromised conditions.
“Diseases that were under control are going to come back again.”
Besides teaching infectious disease and hematology at MSUCOM, Dr. Gulick also works at three different federally funded clinics in Michigan that provide HIV/AIDS care to uninsured or underinsured people. Here, he shares some essential facts in response to pervasive myths about childhood vaccines and clarifies some of the confusion regarding recent childhood vaccination recommendations.
Vaccine myth #1: Vaccines can cause autism.
The biggest myth surrounding childhood vaccines is the ongoing theory that vaccinations can be linked to autism spectrum disorder, despite decades of scientific studies that have repeatedly disproven any such connection.
While diagnoses of autism cases have increased in recent decades, most researchers attribute the rise to growing awareness of the disorder itself and an expansion of its definition. Scientists believe autism results from a complex yet undetermined combination of genetics and environmental factors.
“It's a multi-dimensional condition that doesn’t result from one simple factor, like a vaccine,” Dr. Gulick said.
Vaccine myth #2: Vaccines can cause cancer, autoimmune diseases and other conditions.
Vaccines do not cause diseases, including cancer, but a few of them actually prevent cancer.
The hepatitis B vaccine prevents liver cancer, while the HPV vaccine can prevent cancers caused by a human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. These include cervical cancer, anal cancer and head and neck cancer. The HPV vaccine is recommended for all preteens, boys and girls, ages 9-12.
“We've had COVID long enough, and we've had millions of people getting vaccinated all over the world, and yet we don't see outbreaks of autoimmune disease or cancer everywhere as a result, and we certainly don't see millions of children suddenly become autistic,” Dr. Gulick explained.
Vaccine myth #3: Vaccines contain many harmful ingredients.
According to Dr. Gulick, vaccines contain ingredients at doses much lower than doses that people are exposed to in a natural environment. For example, thimerosal and formaldehyde are present in some vaccines in much lower amounts than in everyday products like nasal drops, cosmetics, antihistamines, mouthwash, etc. And trace amounts of aluminum are in some vaccines but much less than through exposure from foods, medicine or water.
Vaccine myth #4: Vaccine-preventable diseases are just part of childhood. It’s better to have the disease than become immune through vaccines.
So-called “natural” immunity is not safer than vaccine-produced immunity. Childhood diseases can have many serious complications that can be avoided through immunization. For example, according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, an estimated 20,000 children under the age of 5 are hospitalized due to flu complications each year. Most children who die from the flu have not been vaccinated, and many of the deaths occur in healthy children who have no underlying illnesses.
Vaccines work by safely introducing a piece of the virus or bacteria so the immune system can learn to fight it without risk of severe illness.
For example, while it’s still possible to develop a COVID infection despite being vaccinated, symptoms will be much milder. Because the body already has some immunity from the vaccine, it will be able to fight off whatever variant that one is exposed to naturally, avoiding serious complications requiring hospitalization and preventing death.
Dr. Gulick says another reason that kids should be vaccinated is to prevent transmission of disease to adults who are immunocompromised, and that includes yearly booster shots for influenza and COVID as new variants develop.
Vaccine myth #5: I don’t need to vaccinate my children because children around them are already immune.
Vaccine hesitancy lowers herd immunity, which increases the risk of disease transmission. Herd immunity is achieved when enough people are immune to a disease so that it can no longer spread easily – typically 89-93% of the population – protecting those who are not immune.
Pregnant women, young infants and immunocompromised people are most affected by lack of total herd immunity.
The hepatitis B vaccine
The CDC has officially stopped mandating the hepatitis B vaccine for all newborns; instead, it recommends it only if the mother has hep B or unknown status. For infants born to mothers who are hep B negative, the birth dose is no longer mandatory, though parents are encouraged to get their child the first shot by 2 months of age.
Critics worry that parents will delay getting their infant the vaccine if it’s not done right away, and the child could become infected as a result. While the common virus is spread through sex and blood, it can also live on inanimate objects for a long time.
“It's risky to not protect somebody from a virus that is not a virus like influenza or COVID, where it infects you, it goes away, and it's done,” Dr. Gulick explained. “The hep B virus is almost like getting exposed to HIV because it's a lifelong infection that can develop into cirrhosis of the liver, and it's also the number one cause of liver cancer.”
Expert Take: Eradicating Hepatitis in Michigan
Hepatitis A, B and C are well-known viral diseases in the U.S., and experts are working to eradicate hepatitis though education, testing and vaccinations.
The MMR vaccine
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recently voted to change recommendations for the measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine. The panel recommends that children under 4 years receive separate MMR and varicella vaccines and not the combined MMRV vaccine. However, it also voted to continue using MMRV for this age group in the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program, which covers children from low-income families.
The American Academy of Pediatrics continues to recommend families have the option of MMRV and said the move promotes “false claims and misguided information about vaccines as part of an unprecedented effort to limit access to routine childhood immunizations and sow fear and mistrust in vaccines.”
Dr. Gulick says the immune system doesn't overreact from multiple vaccines at one time because each vaccine is programmed to give a different immunity response. Receiving multiple vaccines offers convenience, which is why people are encouraged to get the flu and COVID vaccines at the same time, for example.
“It's ridiculous to not give these vaccines, especially when you see the measles outbreaks that are occurring,” said Dr. Gulick. “Measles may not always be a significant problem in a child, but if a child gets measles and passes it to an adult who has an immunocompromised condition, those people can die from it. And kids can still die from it, too.”
The COVID and RSV vaccines
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends updated COVID vaccines for children, like annual flu shots, especially for young kids whose immune systems are still developing. The vaccine protects children from severe illness and long COVID, and reduces community spread.
The AAP also recommends the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine for most infants under 8 months entering their first RSV season and for certain high-risk children ages 8-19 months entering their second season. RSV is the leading cause of hospitalization in infants.
By Lynn Waldsmith