Myths About Immunizations

MYTH #1: The development of vaccines was not substantial.

• Before the start of immunizations 150 years ago, 4 million people were effected every year by diseases that are now preventable, including 30,000 deaths.
• In the United States 98% of these cases have been eliminated.
• Vaccines are considered one of the greatest developments in modern medicine.

MYTH #2: Childhood diseases occur throughout the world, but not in the United States.

• Diseases can be easily carried from country to country through travel.
• Un-immunized or under-immunized child or adult travelers can pick up a disease abroad, become infected with it, and spread it in the United States.
• Disease outbreaks have occurred in recent years in the United States due to diseases being brought back into the country.

MYTH # 3: Receiving the required or recommended amount of immunizations will overwhelm a baby’s immune system, suppressing it so it does not function properly. 

• There is no evidence that suggests that childhood vaccines can overload the immune system.
• The amount of toxic antigens in vaccines today are not that great. 20 years ago the amount of toxic antigens that entered the body were 10x greater.
• Breast milk may contain more toxic antigens than current immunizations do.
• New toxic antigens enter into a child’s body as bacteria or other microorganisms through food or hand to mouth contact every day.

MYTH #4: Children receive disease immunity from breast milk.

• The benefits from the immunity infants receive from breast milk only last for a short duration (1 month – 1 year).
• Some diseases, such as whooping-cough, are excluded from immunity.
• If the mother does not have immunity to a certain disease, the immunity will not be provided in her breast milk.

MYTH #5: It is safer for a child to wait to be vaccinated at a later age.

• Babies and younger children are more susceptible to vaccine preventable diseases such as diphtheria, whooping-cough, and polio.
• If a child is not vaccinated, and, therefore, never exposed to a certain disease, the child may not be strong enough to fight the disease off.
• An infants body is better at responding to antigens int the immune system. From the time they are born babies are exposed to thousands of germs and develop ways to respond to them.  

---