4 Common Reasons Critics of Vaccines Cite for Their Abstention

Vaccine opponents, who have grown verbal during the past decade in shunning such medical treatments, decline getting themselves or their children immunized for a number of reasons.

Here are four of the most-common reasons for vaccine abstention.

1. Links to Chronic Conditions
Some people believe vaccines are linked to such conditions as autism. The website PublicHealth.org debunked the notion, which came into the spotlight with a research paper in 1997 that was later discredited.

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A later study done at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center found that “a high percentage of autistic children that they have tested with chronic bowel disease show evidence of measles virus in their intestines.” The researcher, Stephen J. Walker, Ph.D., cautioned against drawing the conclusion that the measles vaccine might cause autism or bowel disease.

2. Other Health Risks
Opponents say vaccines can cause someone to come down with the very disease they are being protected against. Doctors say that is highly unlikely — a flu vaccine will not give you the flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, one study suggested the influenza vaccine may put people at a greater risk for swine flu, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported in 2011.

A 2009 study done in Shanghai, China, found that rate of adverse drug reactions caused by vaccines was much higher than for other drugs, according to the National Institutes of Health.

3. Cost
Some vaccine opponents cite the growing cost of vaccinations, which are "soaring," according to The New York Times. Vaccine prices had risen significantly — from the single-digits to the triple digits during the past 20 years, The New York Times noted. The cost to fully vaccinate a child has risen from $100 in 1986 to more than $2,000.

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4. Lack of Necessity
Some say vaccines are unnecessary because most longterm disease risks have already been eliminated. This was the rationale used by some parents in California who refused a measles vaccine for their children amid an outbreak that was charted from Disneyland, The New York Times reported.

California is now set to pass what some say is one of the nation's strictest mandatory vaccination laws, requiring all public and private school children to be immunized as a condition of attendance.

This article is for information only and is not intended as medical advice. Talk with your doctor about your specific health and medical needs.