a peek inside the fishbowl

1 | The Moffman

August 27th, 2008 at 8:31 am

Interesting story. As far as believing in immunizing your kids, I think we should all rely on common sense and the word of trusted medical professionals and less on advertising (e.g., the HPV vaccine for young girls). The combined shot they’re referring to in this article (measles, mumps, rubella) has been around for a long time; long-term studies have shown that it’s safe and it works for most kids who get it. There’s really no sound reason to withhold it.
Newer vaccines are less clear-cut, since the first generation that gets it will necessarily be the guinea pig generation. I’m using the HPV vaccine as the example because it’s in the news and in your face, but this could apply to any new vaccine. Because it’s new, there are no long-term data available in large enough numbers of people to be able to conclusively say that a) it works as it’s supposed to; or b) that it’s safe.
Luckily for us, we have a pediatrician that always discussed each vaccine with us: its history, its side effects and the potential risks of not getting vaccinated. So far, we’ve always chosen to go with the vaccination.
As a father of two pre-school girls, I’ve been reading up on the HPV vaccine and I’m glad I don’t have to make that decision for another 8 years or so. By then, professional opinion should be pretty much solidified.
As an aside, “the mumps” is a pretty cool name for an infection. And I had them when I was in grade 1, although I’m pretty sure I would have been immunized against it by that point.