Child Safety Blog

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a statement out of its Immunization Safety Office saying that Gardasil, the vaccine designed to prevent human papillomavirus (HPV) which can cause cervical cancer, is safe and should be given to girls starting at age 11 or 12.

The article notes that some political groups are frightened that the vaccine will encourage girls and young women to engage in sexual activities that the groups do not approve of, and apparently do not feel that saving these women's lives outweighs this risk. These political groups have been trying to claim that Gardasil is not safe or effective. But the CDC statement points out that a study of 370,000 vaccinations showed no evidence of a link to increased blood clots or other serious health problems, meaning that claims of Gardasil's dangers are counterfactual. From the article:

"The results are really reassuring," said Dr. Paul Offit, chief of the infectious diseases division at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "There's a public perception that the vaccine is not safe. This is important for countering negative information."

The article points out that there are almost 4,000 deaths from cervical cancer each year. Doctors hope that this vaccine will reduce the number of these deaths.

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Posted In: Vaccines

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Until recently, public health officials only recommended flu vaccinations for children two years old or older.

But now, as flu season approaches, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have recommended that babies as young as six months get the vaccine.

From the article:

The flu vaccine is recommended for people 50 years and over, people with certain chronic medical conditions, people in nursing homes, pregnant women, and children 6 months to 18 years old unless they have a serious egg allergy. The vaccine is also recommended for health workers, and anyone in close contact with infants or others at-risk.

For further information, go to www.cdc.gov and check out the links about the flu.

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Posted In: Infants , Vaccines

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A small but growing number of parents across the U.S. refuse to vaccinate their kids, doubting the efficacy and safety of the vaccines.

The article suggests an intriguing reason for these refusals:

It is the absence, or close to it, of some illnesses in the United States that keep some parents from opting for the shots. Worldwide, 242,000 children a year die from measles, but it used to be near one million. The deaths have dropped because of vaccination, a 68 percent decrease from 2000 to 2006.

“The very success of immunizations has turned out to be an Achilles’ heel,” said Dr. Mark Sawyer, a pediatrician and infectious disease specialist at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. “Most of these parents have never seen measles, and don’t realize it could be a bad disease so they turn their concerns to unfounded risks. They do not perceive risk of the disease but perceive risk of the vaccine.”

Most of these concerns, however, are unfounded: the safety risk of most vaccines are negligible. And failing to vaccinate not only puts the non-vaccinated child at risk, but also his or her playmates. Even effective vaccines do not work 100% of the time, so a vaccinated child is not necessarily protected from his or her non-vaccinated friends.

For more information, see the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) fact sheet on common vaccinations.

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Babies under the age of one are especially susceptible to meningitis. They have the highest rates of infection, but the currently-existing vaccine cannot be used on them. It is restricted to children over two.

However, an experimental vaccine called Menveo may be effective in these infants. Here is what experts have to say about it:

The vaccine was about 94% effective when given in four doses, one at 2 months, 3 months, 4 months and 12 months — a dosing schedule that fits into standard vaccination programs in the U.K., says study author Matthew Snape, a pediatrician at the University of Oxford.

When given in three doses, one each at 2 months, 4 months and 12 months — the standard pattern for shots in the USA — the vaccine was 86% to 100% effective, providing more protection against some strains of the bacteria than others, Snape says.

If approved, a meningococcal vaccine could prevent half of the roughly 300 cases of meningococcal meningitis in babies under 2, says Amanda Cohn, a pediatrician at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Thirteen childhood diseases for which we have vaccines are causing fewer deaths than ever, according to a new study done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Deaths and hospitalizations from smallpox, diphtheria and polio have gone down one hundred percent since vaccines against them were approved. Deaths and hospitalizations from nine of the diseases have gone down ninety percent, and only in only four diseases (all of which have vaccines that were approved only recently and thus have had less time to take effect in the population) did they go down less than ninety percent. Those four diseases were hepatitis A and B, varicella and invasive pneumococcal diseases.

This is a striking demonstration of the value of vaccinating children--a practice that is sometimes controversial, as many parents oppose it either for religious reasons or because of skepticism about its efficacy. Hopefully studies like these will address some of that skepticism and promote the use of vaccines in preventing deadly diseases.

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Posted In: Vaccines

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