Vaccines aren’t tested–Myth vs. Science (updated)
Background
There are so many silly memes that have arisen from the anti-vaxxers, all of which have been thoroughly debunked. Everything from the well-worn (and worn-out) “vaccines cause autism” fable, quashed here, to the “these diseases aren’t dangerous”, which, of course, couldn’t be farther from the truth. One of the more annoying of the tales pushed by the vaccine denialists is that vaccines aren’t tested thoroughly before being used on unsuspecting infants. I do not know where this started, or why it started, but like much in the anti-vaccination world, it really doesn’t matter. It just passes from one person to another across google, and individuals with no research background hold this particular belief as if it were the Truth™.
This article was posted a couple of months ago, but I wanted to update it slightly based on those crazy photos that keep being passed around Facebook and Twitter. It’s easier to read 17 words and say “YES!” instead of doing some real research. And I wanted move ahead with my new “Myth vs. Science” series.
Myth
Science
Yes, our children do deserve better, and that’s why there are so many studies that do test vaccines in clinical trials with other vaccines. Below are just a sample of those studies:
- Hexavac with Hepatitis A–”A schedule of two doses of HA (hepatitis A) vaccine, 6 months apart beginning at 6 months of age is highly immunogenic and well tolerated when administered alone or concomitantly with HV vaccine or HEXAVAC (diphtheria, tetanus, 2-component acellular pertussis, inactivated poliomyelitis vaccine, Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugated to tetanus protein and hepatitis B) at 6 and 12 months of age.”
- Hexavalent vaccine with Rotateq–”In this study, concomitant administration of PRV (pentavalent rotavirus vaccine) with hexavalent vaccine was well tolerated and the immune responses to the antigens of the hexavalent vaccine were noninferior when compared with those of the control group. In addition, PRV was immunogenic when administered concomitantly with hexavalent vaccine.”
- DTaP with Hib–”Mixing DTaP and Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b) vaccines for primary immunization caused a decrease in anti-Hib antibody response, although after primary immunization as after booster doses, all subjects showed antibody concentrations considered to be protective for invasive Hib disease. Mixing of the vaccines did not result in increased reactogenicity.”
- PCV-13 with all infant vaccines–”PCV13 (13-Valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine) will be as effective as PCV7 in the prevention of pneumococcal disease caused by the 7 common serotypes and could provide expanded protection against the 6 additional serotypes. The PCV13 safety profile was comparable to that of PCV7.”
- MMR and Varicella–”The immunogenicities of M-M-RvaxPro (MMR) and VARIVAX (varicella or chickenpox vaccine) administered by the intramuscular route were comparable with those following subcutaneous administration, and the tolerability of the two vaccines was comparable regardless of administration route. Integration of both administration routes in the current European indications for the two vaccines will now allow physicians in Europe to choose their preferred administration route in routine clinical practice.”
- PCV-7 with MMR, Hib and Varicella–”The immune response to MMR, Hib and varicella vaccines, when administered concurrently with a 4th (booster) dose of PCV7, was noninferior to that of these vaccines when given without PCV7. These results support concomitant administration of PCV7 with MMR, varicella and Hib as part of the recommended immunization schedule for children 12-15 months of age.”
- Pediarix with Hib and Infanrix-hexa–”Both administrations of the candidate vaccine were found to be safe, immunogenic, and well tolerated. Although anti-PRP geometric mean antibody concentrations and the percent of subjects achieving the 1 microg/mL seroprotective level were lower after the mixed administration, they were in the range seen with monovalent Hib vaccines or with other DTaP-based/Hib combinations licensed in some European countries. Therefore both administrations have the potential to simplify childhood immunization.”
- New Hib with all infant vaccines–”PHiD-CV (Haemophilus influenzae protein D conjugate vaccine) and MMRV vaccine can be coadministered without compromising the safety and immunogenicity profiles of either vaccine.”
- MMR with Varicella–”Varicella vaccine does not appear to interfere with measles, mumps, or rubella seroconversions as indicated by this and previously published studies. Seroconversion rates were similar at all time points tested for measles, mumps, and rubella in the described studies. Varicella vaccine does not appear to interfere with measles, mumps, or rubella seroconversions as indicated by this and previously published studies. Seroconversion rates were similar at all time points tested for measles, mumps, and rubella in the described studies.”
- MMR-V with Hib-HepB–”The immunogenicity data support concomitant administration of MMRV with Hib/HepB. Limited data from an exploratory analysis indicate that MMRV can be administered concomitantly with DTaP. Concomitant administration of MMRV, Hib/HepB and DTaP is well-tolerated.”
- Meningococcal-C with Hep B and Pentacel–”The meningococcal C conjugate vaccine can be safely and effectively administered at the same visit as the other vaccine antigens routinely given to infants in Canada.”
- Pentacel with PCV-7–”The use of DTaP-IPV (polio)-Hib and the 7VPnC (pneumococcal) vaccine was safe, well-tolerated and immunogenic when given concomitantly at age 2, 3 and 4 months or when given separately with 7VPnC as a catch-up vaccination at age 6, 7, 8 months and as a concomitant booster immunization at age 11-15 months.”
Via Just the Vax: Vaccine Trials: Methods and Best Practices.
[...] av de mest innbitte mytene som florerer er påstander om at vaksiner ikke blir testet. Det er feil. Vaksiner testes svært inngående. Det tar mange år før en vaksine slippes på markedet. [...]
I'm doing a presentation on vaccinations in my health and society class. I wanted to use your myth graphic and then quickly scroll the studies that you cite for proving the myth incorrect. May I have your permission to use that graphic and your assembled list of studies? Feel free to contact me directly at jaysen [at] darwintech[dot]net.
Nice article. I despair of the idiocy about vaccines that I see spread about the internet like some sort of infectious manure. I would also add that as well as clinical trials, in the US the Vaccine Safety Datalink Project team has an active surveillance system called Rapid Cycle Analysis which monitors the health of more than 8.8 million people annually, representing nearly 3% of the United States population. Any increase in any illness caused by vaccines would be rapidly detected by this system.
Isn't this a "skeptic" blog? As a fellow skeptic, I would advise you to look at who is doing this "testing" which by the way is among the worst in the scientific world. Reading through some of these links, clearly the vaccines have bad side effects but the author of the studies proposes their opinion of safety. What is safety? When one in 30 kids gets diarrhea from a shot, or 1 in 4 gets a cough or gets sleepy? Who is defining safe? Its an opinion defined so conveniently by those who have something to gain from it.
If you like to study or find studies regarding vaccines, find one that compares unvaccinated to vaccinated…good luck.
Comparing "vaccinated to unvaccinated" would be highly unethical. You also conflate correlation (if there is any) with causation.
In other words, you completely lack an understanding of how to interpret clinical trial results.
You are not close to being a skeptic, so please don't group my thinking process with yours. You are a pseudoskeptic, a synonym of denialism, where evidence is willfully ignored to maintain a point of view. A real skeptic understands evidence, especially how to interpret and understand clinical trials. You obviously don't.
Your understanding of clinical trials is so limited that you would believe that any Institutional Review Board for any hospital in the world would approve a clinical trial of vaccines that would include a vaccinated and unvaccinated group. That's just amazing and amateurish. That just proves my point that you anti-vaxxers lack any scientific background, incapable of even holding the briefcase of real scientists who spend a lifetime of study and education. Your google science education is pathetic.
The proponents of vaccines always say the same thing, "It would be unethical to compare a vaccinated child with an unvaccinated." They assume that unvaccinated children are at danger. This is bull poo.
There have been studies done in Europe of unvaccinated and vaccinated children, following their health over a number of years. They can to this because they keep really good records. In the USA, this kind of large-scale medical record monitoring would be met with suspicion from the masses. You can more here and there are links to the different studies. http://informedparentsofvaccinatedchildren.wordpress.com/2012/06/20/vaccinated-versus-unvaccinated-bachmair-study/
Michael Simpson I watched my 38 year-old sister almost die from whooping cough, a preventable disease because she never got her booster because she bought into the anti-vax propaganda, she has come around to reason after it almost cost her life. I have autism, as does my son, I just read a study that there is a genetic componant that can be triggered before or directly after birth-which is likley why my son showed signs of autism at 9 months(which most autistic children do, but the parents don't recognize the symptoms, and lay blame when the symptoms can't be ignored), the study was by Harvard Health, I doubt Harvard is in the pocket of "big pharma". My spouse has to rely on "herd immunity" as vaccinations are contraindicated due to prior allergic reactions, I get my flu shot every year because of this(spouse also has severe asthma-so part of the "at risk" population), thankfully my job has a company nurse that provides them.
There are numerous studies that compare vaccinated groups with unvaccinated groups. Such studies are one reason we know, for example, that Autism is more prevalent among the unvaccinated, and that GB syndrome occurs more frequently among the unvaccinated than that vaccinated. It's senseless to cite side effects, bad or otherwise, without reference to the rate of occurrence among the normal population and among unvaccinated groups. The rates of the "bad side effects" you mention are no greater among vaccinated groups than unvaccinated groups. This strongly suggests what theory already strongly argues: these effects have nothing to do with the vaccinations at all. The idea of "gain" from vaccinations is simply ludicrous. These products are singularly unprofitable, so much so in fact that producers need public incentives to remain in production…which is very good, since otherwise the unvaccinated poor would largely be forced to do without, and get sick and die, while those affluent enough to afford vaccination would still get them…. But then…perhaps THAT is exactly what the Anti-vaxers are all about after all….using superstition and sloppy thinking to secure lasting advantages to existing wealth while imposing handicaps on potential rivals….
Hey take it easy on Brian. He is a chiropractor. They are not trained in science and medicine.i
Brian Hooten,
"If you like to study or find studies regarding vaccines, find one that compares unvaccinated to vaccinated…good luck."
You mean like this one? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3057555/
It looked at 13,453 individuals and found no statistically significant differences between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated except, predictably, lower rates of vaccine-preventable diseases in the vaccinated. If vaccinated children had even a fraction of the diseases that antivaccine fanatics are always claiming they have, it would have shown up in this study, but it didn't. It concluded, "The prevalence of allergic diseases and non-specific infections in children and adolescents was not found to depend on vaccination status."
Test.
Nothing is ever tested. It's just put out there for the masses to consume. It's part of the evil plot to ensure we all die of various incurable diseases and illnesses!
Oh, and purple unicorns only have sex with pink elephants!
Brian Foster Hah. My Facebook commenting system is borked. I see it here. And it shows up on my wall. But it refuses to show up in my WordPress Dashboard, which is bad for managing comments. Especially when annoying commenters talk about unicorns and such.
Japanese & British Data Show Vaccines Cause Autism « Health …
childhealthsafety.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/japvaxautism/
Jun 3, 2009 – Court evidence now available on-line at the University of California library …. In Japan when MMR was introduced, single measles vaccine was …
Your clueless….vaccines are killing and ruining people's lives. I will NEVER vax my kids and I no longer engage pro vaxxers in dialogue… Can't trust them!
Jiri Moor Don't quote a blog, cite specific studies. Give a link directly to them. If there is court evidence provide a link and a case. Cite a study supporting any claims you make about MMR in Japan
Of course, the reams of evidence, which I've published several times in this blog, not cherry picked junk science, have shown no link between MMR and autism. And they went to look for it. Jiri, you're just inventing stuff.
Thank you! Sharing on my wall at informed parents of vaccinated children.
Thanks for your support. I've signed up for your page, adding to the dozen I watch on FB.