Perhaps you have heard that people are afraid that vaccines cause autism? Autism is a mental disorder in which children have difficulties with things like knowing how others are feeling or with using words to express themselves. Very extensive studies in many of countries, involving tens of thousands of patients, have shown that autism has nothing to do with the measles vaccination or the combined MMR vaccine , which is a vaccine mixture containing the measles vaccine [ 3 ].
So, why do these fears still exist? Largely because it is easy to scare people, and hard to un-scare people. This story started with a corrupt doctor named Andrew Wakefield in the late s luckily, corrupt doctors are very rare! He was doing research on how measles infections not the vaccine! Wakefield was contacted by a lawyer representing the parents of children with autism [ 4 ]. The lawyer paid Wakefield a lot of money to produce data showing a link between vaccines and autism [ 5 ].
Wakefield examined just 12 children autism is estimated to affect 1 in 60 children, or more than 1 million children in the USA [ 5 ] alone, so 12 is a very small sample! Despite the tiny number of children tested, and poor evidence, his work was published in a leading medical journal called The Lancet.
Wakefield gave an exaggerated report of his data to the newspapers and television news [ 4 ]. The shocking but fake news of his findings spread and generated a crisis.
Parents were convinced that the measles vaccine was dangerous and stopped vaccinating their children. Herd protection dropped, and measles outbreaks are back in America and Europe [ 1 ]. Even though honest scientists have uncovered his many mistakes and his papers have been retracted, the fear still has not gone away. People continue to spread scare stories via the internet. However, just like zombie movies, these stories are never completely true! Measles is a serious infectious disease, caused by the measles virus, that spreads extremely fast if not enough people are vaccinated.
A vaccine, by definition, is a dead or weakened form of the microorganism. A vaccine will never be worse for you than encountering the real infection. The only exception is if you have a severe allergy to a vaccine ingredient. In this case, you also belong to the small fraction of the population who cannot be vaccinated, and you will need the herd protection of the population to protect you!
If you are vaccinated, you can be proud of the work that your immune system is doing to protect you, but also to protect those who are most vulnerable to the infection. Some viruses can infect human cells and cause disease. Bacteria and viruses are microorganisms. Some parts of the immune system can be trained by vaccines to recognize infectious microorganisms. These proteins are called antibodies.
This way, vaccinated people protect the few people who cannot be given the vaccine. Mumps and Rubella also known as German Measles are two other serious diseases caused by viruses. This vaccine generates protection against all three infections.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. Measles vaccine. Viral Immunol. Autism occurrence by MMR vaccine status among US children with older siblings with and without autism. JAMA When 2 doses of MMR are required, they can be given a minimum of 4 weeks apart. Since the MMR vaccine is a live vaccine, it can cause mild measles, mumps or rubella infections.
It should not be given if you:. Family medical clinics : Y ou can go to your family medical clinic for vaccinations. Either your doctor or a nurse can give the vaccination. Pharmacies : Many pharmacies are offering a free vaccination service for the MMR vaccine.
Usually no appointment is necessary and some pharmacies have longer opening hours than family medical clinics. A pharmacist can check your vaccination record and give the vaccination. Phone them first to make sure they can help you with the vaccination you need. Vaccines on the National Immunisation Schedule are free. Other vaccines are funded only for people at particular risk of disease.
You can choose to pay for vaccines that you are not eligible to receive for free. After a single dose of MMR vaccine, 90—95 out of people will be protected from measles, 69—81 protected from mumps and 90—97 from rubella. The MMR vaccine is given as an intramuscular injection injected into a muscle in your thigh or upper arm.
It is given as 2 doses, usually at 12 months and 15 months of age. Like all medicines, vaccines can cause side effects, although not everyone gets them. Most side effects are mild and short lived. The chance of a severe reaction from MMR is very small, but the risks from not being vaccinated are very serious. Because the MMR vaccine combines 3 separate vaccines measles, mumps, rubella in 1 injection, each vaccine can cause reactions at different times after the injection. Vaccines do not cause autism.
The confusion came about because in a British doctor thought there was a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. It has since been found that the doctor had changed the patient data and the laboratory reports were incorrect.
There are now many well-conducted studies that have addressed this issue, and some studies have more than one million children in them. These studies strongly show no evidence of any connection between autism and the MMR vaccine, even among at-risk individuals.
The MMR vaccine is very safe. Read more:. This section will be of most interest to clinicians eg, nurses, doctors, pharmacists and specialists. Looking for Where to get medical help A health professional or service Patient portals Newsletters View all. Measles : The infection can be serious, with 1 in 10 needing to go to hospital. Complications include diarrhoea which can lead to dehydration , ear infections which can cause hearing loss , pneumonia which is the most common cause of death and encephalitis brain inflammation , which can cause brain damage.
Read more about measles. Mumps : The symptoms of mumps are usually mild, such as swollen salivary glands at the side of your face , headache and fever, but it can cause serious complications such as deafness, swollen testicles or ovaries, and meningitis. Read more about mumps. Rubella also called German measles : This is usually a mild infection that gets better within about 7—10 days, but it becomes a serious concern if a pregnant woman catches the infection during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.
This is because the rubella virus can affect the development of the baby and cause severe health problems such as eye problems, deafness, heart abnormalities and brain damage.
Read more about rubella. Should older children who have missed one or both doses of the MMR vaccine still have the vaccine? Children who have had measles : These children still need to receive the MMR vaccine. Independent expert reviews have found no good evidence to link MMR and autism. A working party of the UK Committee for the Safety of Medicines 4 concluded the same, based on a review of the medical records of 92 autistic children released by a legal firm representing parents who believed that their child had been damaged by MMR.
Recent large-scale studies have failed to support a link between MMR and autism. They also found that, although the number of cases of autism diagnosed has been rising since , no sudden increase in the incidence of autism occurred after the introduction of MMR. The increase in the number of cases of autism since is most likely due to changes in diagnostic criteria.
Many parents believe that giving the vaccines separately is safer than using the combined vaccination. Wakefield suggested administering the single vaccines separated by 1 year, 11 although none of the other authors of the Wakefield report share this view. It is also commonly believed that the UK government uses MMR simply to save money, a single vaccine being cheaper than 3 vaccines.
In August , the UK government banned the routine use of separate measles and mumps vaccines for several reasons. First, no solid evidence supports the idea that using separate vaccines is any safer than using MMR. Second, giving separate doses leaves children unprotected for a longer period. Third, to be successful, national vaccination programs must minimize the number of vaccinations given.
If separate measles and mumps injections were given, many children would inevitably miss one or more vaccinations, leaving them open to infection. The MMR vaccine has some side effects. For example, about 1 in 6 children develop a fever 7 to 12 days after immunization, and about 1 in 3, develop febrile seizures.
These side effects, most of which are benign, are acknowledged by members of the medical profession. The benefits of MMR far outweigh the risks of these recognized side effects.
The vaccine has an excellent safety record. Hundreds of millions of children have safely received the vaccine worldwide. It is important that children receive MMR. Without a high uptake of the measles component of the vaccination, the possibility of outbreaks of measles increases.
Because 1 in 1, cases of measles is associated with encephalitis, the risk of this potentially deadly infection in children is also increased. Competing interests: None declared.
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