The truth about combination vaccines
The campaign to sow doubt and confusion around vaccines uses several different lies. One is the facially absurd notion that combination vaccines can overwhelm the immune system. A healthy infant’s immune system responds to thousands of antigens from their environment daily, far exceeding the number found in modern vaccines. Moreover, decades of experience the world over testifies to the safety and efficacy of combination vaccines.
‘For Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, a former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s immunization program who recently resigned, the proposal reflects politics rather than science.
“This isn’t about safety. It’s about ideology,” he said. “We’ve already seen directives issued without data to back them up.”
“Dr. Debra Houry, who recently resigned as the CDC’s chief science and medical officer, echoed the concern.
“The talk about separating MMR into individual components wasn’t coming from scientists,” she said. “It was being driven by political operatives with no public health expertise.”
‘According to Moss: “It’s not necessary, and monovalent vaccines aren’t even available in the United States. There’s no reason to go down that path.”
What are the benefits of combining vaccines like measles, mumps and rubella?
“Research from multiple countries shows that combination vaccines improve uptake and timeliness by reducing missed appointments and the number of injections required. Children receiving combination formulations are more likely to complete their full schedule on time, and low-income parents are less likely to fall behind when multiple protections are delivered in a single shot.”
So basically plenty of upside and no downside. Opposition to combined vaccines comes from superstition, conspiracy theories and outright lies.
Splitting up combination vaccines makes us all less safe
‘For Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, a former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s immunization program who recently resigned, the proposal reflects politics rather than science.
“This isn’t about safety. It’s about ideology,” he said. “We’ve already seen directives issued without data to back them up.”
“Dr. Debra Houry, who recently resigned as the CDC’s chief science and medical officer, echoed the concern.
“The talk about separating MMR into individual components wasn’t coming from scientists,” she said. “It was being driven by political operatives with no public health expertise.”
‘According to Moss: “It’s not necessary, and monovalent vaccines aren’t even available in the United States. There’s no reason to go down that path.”
What are the benefits of combining vaccines like measles, mumps and rubella?
“Research from multiple countries shows that combination vaccines improve uptake and timeliness by reducing missed appointments and the number of injections required. Children receiving combination formulations are more likely to complete their full schedule on time, and low-income parents are less likely to fall behind when multiple protections are delivered in a single shot.”
So basically plenty of upside and no downside. Opposition to combined vaccines comes from superstition, conspiracy theories and outright lies.
Splitting up combination vaccines makes us all less safe
You’d think that combination vaccines would be an obvious win. You only have to kick the immune system into high gear with an adjuvant once and get antibodies for several antigens. Breaking that vaccine into a series means repeated high gear. This assumes one is worried about immune system burnout or adjuvant side effects.
@Kaleberg,
“This assumes one is worried about immune system burnout or adjuvant side effects.”
Both are nonsense.
Kaleberg:
I am not that sure they could get that much liquid in syringe and have you stand still for a shot. There were times when we received inoculations, it was three+ in a row. Your arm(s) would be sore. If some caught hepatitis, we would all line up for a shot. “Not Fun!” It seemed to be like syrup going in.
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