Anti-Vaccine

         Perhaps the most common argument against vaccines is due to the concern that there is a link between autism and vaccinations. Enter “autism” and “vaccines” into a Google search bar and 2.7 million results will populate. This theory stemmed from a paper written in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield that was published in The Lancet, a general, peer-reviewed medical journal (Dyer, 2010). Wakefield concluded, based on twelve study participants that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine was directly connected to autism as well as gastrointestinal disease.

            Wakefield was found guilty by the General Medical Council in 2010 of dishonesty and a flagrant disregard of ethics (Dyer, 2010). Following the judgment, The Lancet officially retracted the paper. Among some of the charges were his false data reports, breach of ethics, abuse of power, obtaining children’s blood samples without parental consent, and performing invasive procedures (lumbar punctures and colonoscopies) on children without probably cause. 

Additionally, Wakefield received funding from a company that was suing for the MMR vaccine patent, which the General Medical Council declared as a conflict of interest.     

One study found that the most common reasons that parent’s choose not to vaccinate are as follows: (a) it’s unnecessary/unneeded, (b) not recommended, (c) vaccine safety concerns, and (d) side-effect concerns (Darden et al., 2013). However, the reasons for refusing Gardasil, human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, varied widely and increasingly over the course of the study. The more common reasons for declining Gardasil are as follows: (a) not sexually active, (b) concerns that it condones sexual activity (c) safety concerns. To add to the controversy, in 2013 Utah’s Southwest Department of Public Health (USDPH) stopped stocking Gardasil and no longer recommends it (Stewart, 2013). The decision to do so was made by USDPH’s director, Dr. David Blodget. Blodget stated that Gardasil only marginally reduces the risk of cervical cancer and offers no long-term protection guarantee. Blodget also blamed Gardasil for the public’s distrust of scheduled immunizations. Currently, Gardasil is only available by prescription in the counties served by USDPH.

While some immunizations boost adaptive and innate immunity, one observational study suggests that other immunizations; specifically the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine (DTP) may compromise the immune system (Brooks, 2013). This was discovered when a large group of infants in Western Africa were unable to receive the DTP vaccine due to shortage. The study found that the children who received the DTP vaccine were twice as likely to die during their hospital admission compared to other non-DTP vaccinated infants. However, the study did conclude that this information was not grounds to discontinue administering the DTP vaccine. Instead, it suggested giving the DTP vaccine in conjunction with BCG (which has been proven to boost immunity).

What about the fear of mercury exposure? According to the FDA, thimerosal, or thiomersal as it is known outside the United States, is an organic compound whose weight is composed of half mercury (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2014). Any organic compound that contains mercury is classified as one of many organomercurials. Some organomercurials, like thimerosal, are considered safer than others, like methylmercury, which has a long history of being neurotoxic with excessive exposure.

Thimerosal has been used as a medical preservative in vaccinations (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2014). Preservatives prevent things from contamination by both bacteria and fungi and are considered an essential component in many drugs, specifically multi-dose drug vials. However, when in vaccines, it has been broken down in to ethylmercury/thiosalicylate, which is distinctly different from methylmercury. A “safe” dose of ethylmercury is much greater than the “safe” dose of methylmercury and is considered less neurotoxic. Studies have shown that infants and children are much more susceptible to the neurotoxic effects of mercury exposure (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2014). Due to this, the use of thimerosal in vaccines has been dramatically reduced but not entirely eradicated.  

Many of the studies on the negative effects of thimerosal were performed on animals. However, one peer-reviewed study followed 196 infants during their first three years of life and compared the development of those who received vaccines containing thimerosal and those who were vaccinated with thimerosal-free formulas (Augustyniak, Kieltyka, Majewska, & Mrozek-Budzyn, 2012). The study found that the psychomotor development of the infants who received vaccines containing thimerosal was poorer for the first two years than in the infants who received thimerosal-free vaccinations. However, by the age the three, the psychomotor development had equalized in both groups. The study suggested that, when possible, it would be best for thimerosal to be completely removed from vaccines. The study concluded that while there was not sufficient evidence to suggest that vaccines containing thimerosal caused permanent developmental delays; there is a slight possibility that thimerosal could impair psychomotor development.