The Health | april, 2019
12
issue: Vaccine
Concerns
concerning vaccines
Dato Dr Musa Mohd Nordin, a paediatrician and neonatologist explains why parents
may have certain worries about vaccination and why they should override those worries
Parents concerns on vaccination
One of the main concerns parents have are related to
the side effects of vaccines, both short and long term.
In the majority of cases, the vaccines are effective in
protecting the person from various Vaccine Preventable
Diseases (VPD) and cause no side effects whatsoever.
AEFI
A few may experience mild side effects – for example;
soreness, swelling or redness at and around the injec-
tion site, low grade fever or slight malaise. While even
less might experience an Adverse Effects Following
Immunisation (AEFI). AEFI may include severe level of
the mild side effects, as well as the individual getting
infected with the very disease the vaccine was created
to protect against.
AEFI is the type of side effect that would under-
standably make parents feel alarmed in getting their
children vaccinated.
Having said that, only a handful of cases of AEFI have
been reported since vaccines were used to immunise the
world’s population. Therefore, the benefits of getting
vaccinated tremendously outweighs the risk of having
any adverse effects.
Autism
The notion that autism is an adverse effect following
immunisation is one of the biggest myths in medicine.
Researchers who referenced 67 scientific papers that
have unequivocally debunked the link between MMR
(Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine and autism.
The content
The other concern relates to the contents found in vac-
cines. The ingredients used to make vaccines are not so
easy to understand, resulting in many questions being
raised about them.
It important to understand that vaccines do not
contain harmful ingredients. Each ingredient serves
a crucial function in the making of the vaccine. They
also ensure that the vaccine is effective and safe for use.
Every batch of vaccine is tested rigorously for safety of
the individual to be immunised.
Parents can rest assured that the ingredients found
in vaccines are minute in amounts, often much below
the levels found in the human body and breast milk
(as the case for aluminium). Unfortunately, others use
these ‘ingredient issues’ to manipulate, distort facts
and raise alarm on the purported ‘poisons’ in vaccines.
Dato Dr Musa stresses the role of every parents
to immunise their children, as it has become a
responsibility for them not to endanger other
people around them.
Elimination through absence
Some parents also feel that vaccines are no longer nec-
essary today because we no longer see children being
infected by the terrible effects of vaccine-preventable
diseases.
This has made us victims of our own success.
Immunisation have done so well in the last genera-
tion that today’s generation are taking good health for
granted, forgetting that our parents and grandparents
vaccinated us in the past to protect us from vaccine-
preventable infectious diseases. We do not have to
wait another generation to see the effects – already
the diseases there were once almost wiped out, like
measles, pertussis, and mumps are coming back.
Why are there still controversies on vaccines?
With the advent of the internet, we are today in a global
village where trends from the West are just a Facebook,
Twitter, or Whatsapp share away. The internet is full
of news on vaccines and most people do not check the
authenticity of the news they read.
While researchers and scientists spend over a decade
researching on a vaccine to ensure its efficacy and
safety, the ‘internet researchers’ only take minutes to
Our children should be able to play and socialise
with their peers without the fear of a life-
threatening disease.
Google to find their negatively-driven results.
Webmasters of anti-vaxxers (name given for the
anti-vaccine movement) utilise SEO and Google Analyt-
ics to ensure their websites or blogs get top rankings
in search engines. Most of these sites are either sell-
ing something (health supplements, programmes or
alternative medicines) or subscribe to ‘pay-per-click’
online programmes. The vaccination debate is a good
way to make money and gain followers fast!
On the other end is another group of parents, the
rural communities who are simply misinformed that
vaccines contain ‘haram’ contents. When there is an
element of doubt, Muslims begin to shun vaccines,
wrongly believing that they are making a better choice
for their offspring.
Is vaccination a choice?
The issue of immunisation does not only involve your
child or mine. It is not about the rights of individuals. It
involves our children and all the children in the world.
Parents who refuse immunisation do not realise that
it involves the whole community, extending beyond
their immediate and extended families. Many think
that it involves just their own children, making them
satisfied that their children are healthy. They do not
realise that it takes only one person to be infected or
be a carrier, for a vaccine-preventable disease to start
spreading.
So please do not say that refusing vaccination is
your right. It is also my right to convince and educate
you and others about the importance of immunisation
for the health and life of my children, our children.
My children also have the right to play without fear of
catching a preventable infection from friends whose
parents believe everything they read on the internet.
Freedom of choice is a good thing. But the freedom
to harm others is not.
There is a responsibility to protect the weak, those
more susceptible among us – ill babies, those with
immune deficiencies, the ageing population. These
are the susceptible populations if more people refuse
vaccination. Your freedom is bound by the freedom of
others; we live in a community and the safety of the
community should override personal freedom. — The
Health