Vaccines

[manOscience]

I know this subject has been covered time and time again on Skeptoid, but my wife is convince that we are putting our children at less risk by choosing NOT to vaccinate than we would be by choosing to vaccinate. Most of her information has come from a book called "The Vaccine Book" by Dr. Robert W. Sears. This book seems to be thoroughly researched and it claims to be an unbiased look at vaccines. It lists the standard vaccine schedules for newborns in the U.S. and gives all of the ingredients in each vaccine. It also lists possible side-effects of the vaccines as well as the frequency of occurrence of the disease in the U.S. that is being inoculated against.

I have tried to research the sources in this book, but since I don't have a whole lot of time or money, it is fairly difficult to review the studies that are cited. I've tried to look at reviews for the book across the web, but they are generally just 4 or 5 star reviews with no comments.

I'm wondering if anyone out there has read this book or researched the claims that it makes.

THANKS!!

[JJM 777]

Are there no pro-vaccination websites to help you out?

I would approach it this way: each vaccine is designed against specific diseases, print out the wikipedia pages introducing the said diseases, which probably includes data about its prevalence before and after vaccination campaigns were introduced.

Then do a google image search for photos of persons with the said diseases. Select the most horrible of these and print them out in A4 size.

Then make her read and watch all of it.

No wait, this can be done in a more fun and interactive way. Show her one of the A4 size photos at a time, and let her guess which disease it is. If she answers incorrectly, go through the wikipedia material together to see which of the diseases matches the photo. Then to the next photo, and so on.

[manOscience]

I don't want to scare her into sharing my opinion. I want to find information to determine which of our opinions is more valid. I know there are lots of risks associated with NOT vaccinating and that there are at least some risks associated with vaccinating. I just want to make sure that vaccinating is the safer choice.

[carlitos]

You might mention that the kids won't be able to go to school if they aren't vaccinated.

[Segnosaur]

Most of her information has come from a book called "The Vaccine Book" by Dr. Robert W. Sears. This book seems to be thoroughly researched and it claims to be an unbiased look at vaccines. It lists the standard vaccine schedules for newborns in the U.S. and gives all of the ingredients in each vaccine. It also lists possible side-effects of the vaccines as well as the frequency of occurrence of the disease in the U.S. that is being inoculated against.
You may already know this, but any arguments about vaccines based on the "frequency of occurrence" should be looking at how often the disease occurs in a non-innoculated population.

If the book gives the current rates of particular diseases, then it is being deceitful. Many people benefit from herd immunity... even though an individual may not be vaccinated, they can't catch the disease because everyone else has been vaccinated. The problem is, if too many people decide to avoid vaccinations, herd immunity breaks down.

Edited to add: If you want information specifically debunking the work in Dr. Sear's book, you can find it here:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/paul-offit-takes-on-robert-sears/
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/123/1/e164.full

[godless dave]

It also lists possible side-effects of the vaccines as well as the frequency of occurrence of the disease in the U.S. that is being inoculated against.

Many of the diseases that are inoculated against appear with low frequency because of aggressive vaccination programs. It would be more helpful to compare frequency of diseases before and after vaccines were available for them.

[Estellea]

I know this subject has been covered time and time again on Skeptoid, but my wife is convince that we are putting our children at less risk by choosing NOT to vaccinate than we would be by choosing to vaccinate. Most of her information has come from a book called "The Vaccine Book" by Dr. Robert W. Sears. This book seems to be thoroughly researched and it claims to be an unbiased look at vaccines. It lists the standard vaccine schedules for newborns in the U.S. and gives all of the ingredients in each vaccine. It also lists possible side-effects of the vaccines as well as the frequency of occurrence of the disease in the U.S. that is being inoculated against.

I have tried to research the sources in this book, but since I don't have a whole lot of time or money, it is fairly difficult to review the studies that are cited. I've tried to look at reviews for the book across the web, but they are generally just 4 or 5 star reviews with no comments.

I'm wondering if anyone out there has read this book or researched the claims that it makes.

THANKS!!A couple of important things about Dr. "Bob" is that he is, what I like to refer to as, a celebritrician; he is a business man first, doctor somewhere down the line. He hasn't produced any research of his own and frankly, his approach is to validate the unscientific fears of parents to sell goods and products. He literally pulled his schedule out of thin air but tries to justify it with dodgy studies and his own inability to understand vaccine research. I highly recommend Segnosaur's links to read and here are some additional ones exposing Dr. Bob's scientific illiteracy: http://justthevax.blogspot.com/2009/07/mmr-autism-claim-and-bad-science-part-i.html and http://justthevax.blogspot.com/2009/07/mmr-autism-claim-and-bad-science-part.html

His vaccine schedule actually leads to more vaccine excipients and doctor's visits and leave a child exposed to diseases. Ironically, he had four infants and children infected with measles in his own waiting room due to his intentionally unvaccinated seven year-old patient who had measles. Dr. Bob couldn't even correctly diagnose measles so do you want to take vaccine advise from this guy? I would suggest considering combination vaccines such as pentacel or pediarix, even if they are the only one given at that visit since your wife has been frightened. Let her get her courage up. Also consider and talk to your wife and paediatrician about potential exposures such as your occupations, daycare, where you live and travel. Dr. Bob doesn't consider any of these things and just as he has criticised the CDC schedule for "one-size-fits-all", his schedule is also "one-size-fits-all" except that it leaves children vulnerable to disease.

Este

[Lisa Simpson]

Dr. Paul Offit has written some excellent books about the vaccination controversy.

http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Choices-Anti-Vaccine-Movement-Threatens/dp/B005HKUA4O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325877913&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Vaccines-Your-Child-Separating-Fiction/dp/0231153074/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1325877913&sr=8-3

I remember my son's pediatrician writing on the paper that covers the exam table. He wrote down a number, something like 1 in a million (this was 21 years ago, I don't recall the exact number) odds that my son would be even a little ill from the vaccinations. Then he wrote another number, something like one in a few thousand, the odds he'd died from one of the diseases vaccinations treated. He got vaccinated and so did my other two sons.

[Estellea]

I don't want to scare her into sharing my opinion. I want to find information to determine which of our opinions is more valid. I know there are lots of risks associated with NOT vaccinating and that there are at least some risks associated with vaccinating. I just want to make sure that vaccinating is the safer choice.I agree and don't find scare tactics to be effective even though there are real and terrible complications from vaccine preventable diseases. Here are other very science-based links about the diseases and vaccine risks: http://www.vaccineinformation.org/ and http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/index.html Good luck.

Este

[LarianLeQuella]

*Sigh* You may want to point out that Dr. Sears's book with his alternative schedule has no basis from peer reviewed studies. If anything, his alternative schedule results in MORE visits to the doctor, at an expense of whatever your co-pay is.

A page that I put up with Todd W.'s help is http://factsnotfantasy.com/vaccines.php that outline and debunk most of the anti-vax pro-disease lies.

[Chris Haynes]

Y...
Edited to add: If you want information specifically debunking the work in Dr. Sear's book, you can find it here:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/paul-offit-takes-on-robert-sears/
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/123/1/e164.full

There is also this one:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/cashing-in-on-fear-the-danger-of-dr-sears/

[NewtonTrino]

The fact that this nonsense comes up so often shows you just how far down the tubes the country has already gone. Our grandparents would be horrified (my grandfather had polio as a child for example).

[Sceptic-PK]

I assume divorce has been ruled out?