Irresponsible and unscientific reports published in the past few years have linked vaccinating children with the outbreak of various diseases. The reports spoke of children who were immunized and after a certain period - days, months, years - were diagnosed with a disease such as cerebral palsy, autism, multiple sclerosis and diabetes.
A link in time between a vaccination and the outbreak of a disease is not necessarily a causative relationship. Solid logic shows that if 90 percent of children in Israel are vaccinated, 90 percent of the diseases that appear in the future will appear among children who have been vaccinated. Some 90 percent of the children who will be hurt in road accidents will also probably be children who were vaccinated in the past. How is it possible to know whether there is a causative link between vaccination and a complication or disease?
There are scientific tools for doing this test; for example, a controlled scientific comparison of the rates of illness among children who have been vaccinated and those who have not. Repeated and independent scientific tests that have been carried out have entirely rejected any connection between vaccinations and permanent or prolonged illnesses.
Success proves dangerous
It can be said that the great enemy of vaccinations is their huge success since the public, and even some doctors, have not been exposed to diseases such as polio, tetanus or diphtheria. Since these diseases are not well known, there are people who doubt that there is any need to offer vaccinations against them.
However, diseases have not disappeared from the face of the earth. The germs or viruses that cause them still exist in various regions. The world is a global village and the movement of people across the globe is more frequent now than at any other time in the past.
Along with the people, diseases are transmitted as well. The vaccination against smallpox was stopped when the disease was wiped out and the oral vaccination against polio has been stopped in the wake of the drop in morbidity. When additional infections are wiped out, the vaccinations to prevent their spread will probably be dropped, too.
An example of the effectiveness of vaccinations can be seen in the case of measles. The vaccination is effective in preventing morbidity that is caused by the virus, and with its aid the number of deaths in the world has been reduced, with most deaths today being found in developing countries; the number dropped from 750,000 deaths in the year 2000 to 197,000 in 2007. But while the death rate from measles was cut by 74 percent, the disease still exists.
At the same time, incorrect reports about a possible connection between the vaccination and various diseases (a link in time) have led to a significant decrease in the rates of vaccination against measles in the western world. The results were not slow in coming.
In the years 2006 and 2007, there was a sharp increase in cases of measles in countries like Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States. There were also reports of isolated cases of death and of infected people who developed complications. An outbreak of measles in Switzerland even led to doubts about whether to hold the European football championships in that country last summer.
In Israel too there was an outbreak of the virus among a population that had a low level of vaccination against measles. This outbreak was triggered when a tourist who was ill with measles came to a wedding in Israel in July 2007 and infected many of those present. Within about one year, there were 1,423 cases of measles as compared with 11 cases in 2006 and not even one case in 2005. There were a large number of hospitalizations among those infected and the life of one little boy was in serious danger. He was saved from death after being attached to a heart-lung respirator. Efforts on the part of health authorities and vaccination campaigns has resulted in a decrease in morbidity from that disease.
Intestines, lungs and cervix
The non-scientific criticism of vaccinations has not stopped the momentum of those who are developing them and new vaccinations have recently been developed that are safer and more effective. Medical bodies recommend these vaccinations that are gradually about to become routine in Israel.
The vaccinations are not cheap but they are provided at a discount to people who have supplementary insurance. The three vaccinations include:
b The Rota virus vaccination. The virus is the most common cause of intestinal viruses among small children and its symptoms are fever, vomiting and diarrhea. These lead to a loss of fluids and to dehydration and sometimes require hospitalization and administering fluids and salts intravenously. This virus leads to some 4,000 hospitalizations annually in Israel (some 14,000 days of hospitalization). The infection appears mainly during the winter months and currently the children's wards in the hospitals are flooded with babies suffering from this infection.
The vaccination is given to babies by mouth and is able to almost completely prevent hospitalization from the virus.
b The vaccination against pneumococcal diseases. This is the most common cause of pneumonia, meningitis, sepsis and so forth. A vaccine against seven strains of the germ has been approved in Israel but is routinely given only to children at risk. The vaccine is recommended for all children and is given via injection starting at the age of two months.
b The human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination. This virus causes a prolonged infection, pre-cancerous damage and cancer of the cervix. In Israel some 160 women are diagnosed every year with cervical cancer and approximately 70 of them die. Innovative vaccines have been developed against the strains of this virus and they are given via injection and recommended for girls and young women.
The writer is head of Pediatric Department A. and an expert in infectious diseases at Schneider Children's Medical Center in Petah Tikva. He is also a member of the medical faculty at Tel Aviv University.
