advice
Vaccine Safety
Has the recent vaccine scandal in China made you wary of immunisation ? Are the vaccines we receive in Hong Kong safe ? Dr Sarah Borwein sheds some light
Recently China has experienced a series of public health scandals involving vaccines . Chinese vaccine maker Changsheng Biotechnology was found to have fabricated production and inspection records and changed process parameters and equipment during its production of human rabies vaccines . The same company was also responsible for the substandard production of diphtheria , pertussis , and tetanus ( DPT ) vaccines , which were administered to over 200,000 Chinese children . The investigation also uncovered that another Chinese pharmaceutical company , Wuhan Institute of Biological Products , had produced and sold over 400,000 substandard DPT vaccines . The Chinese government took swift action to investigate all vaccine makers . Understandably , though , such action may not provide much comfort to an increasingly disenchanted public , and distrust towards vaccines is likely to continue .
It is important , however , to remember that all of the vaccine production problems that have arisen over the past decade have originated from countries that do not provide vaccines globally and hence are not subject to international standards of control . In developing nations using internal vaccine providers , it is difficult for us to ascertain the quality and standard of the manufacturers . In these countries , the issue does not just pertain to vaccines , but also to other drugs , food and even water or soil quality .
World-wide vaccine providers are tightly controlled and subject to extremely high government and internal regulation . Global preferred providers have consistently provided safe and effective vaccines . And thanks to their widespread use , many of the diseases that terrified our grandparents – smallpox , polio , tetanus and measles , to name a few – are now either eradicated or so rare that many doctors have never seen a case . Many people now don ’ t even know what diphtheria is ( and even fewer can spell it !)
Today ’ s immunisations work by enhancing the body ’ s own immunity , much like virus-protection software on computers . Because they are effective , safe , natural and prevention-based interventions , I am sometimes surprised at the people who reject them . But then again , anyone with access to the Internet or TV talk shows will have heard the frightening anecdotes that suggest that immunisations cause everything from autism to multiple sclerosis .
This is not to say that vaccines are without risks . Nothing is risk-free . The important question is “ Do the risks of immunisation outweigh the benefits ?” For the commonly recommended vaccines , the equation is clear – they can be credited with saving more lives and preventing more illnesses than any other medical intervention . The risks from these vaccines are so minor ( a sore arm or fever ), so rare ( brain damage ), so speculative ( autoimmune disease ), or so dubious ( thimerosal poisoning ), that they are far outweighed by the benefits . Extensive studies have established that there is no identifiable link between vaccines and autism , diabetes , multiple sclerosis or sudden infant death syndrome . Every
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