The Latest Study On Vaccine Safety May Reassure Parents
The issue of vaccine safety has been going back and forth over the past few years. Parents have been understandably concerned about reports which suggested that certain vaccines posed a risk to young children, especially with regards to autism. Now a new study out of Italy may put some fears to rest.
According to reports, the study involved thousands of babies who received whooping cough vaccines. They were split into two groups based on the levels of the preservative thimerosal in all their shots. Thimerosal is a mercury-based vaccine. Mercury is at the center of the issue with those of us who opposes vaccines for children.
Ten years after they received the vaccines, 1403 of the children underwent a number of tests to assess their brain function. According to the researchers, they only found minor differences in two out of twenty four measurements, and in their opinion those cases “might be attributable to chance.” The results showed that the children in both groups had normal results on 11 tests in the areas of memory, attention, and motor skills as well as other brain functions. Even more noteworthy, they found only one case of autism and this was among the group that got a lower dose of thimerosal. The results were published in the February issue of the medical journal, Pediatrics.
The lead author of the study, Dr. Alberto Tozzi of Bambino Gesu Hospital situated in Rome, said, “Put together with the evidence of all the other studies, this tells us there is no reason to worry about the effect of thimerosal in vaccines.” This seems like good news on the face of it, but it isn’t clear how much it will do to quell the debate in the US and other countries worldwide.
Now the ingredient can only be found in some flu shots. It is used to prevent the growth of bacteria and fungus in the vaccines. European countries started removing it as early as 1999, and health officials in the US felt it was best to remove it in order to limit the exposure of children to mercury. In fact health authorities stopped using thimerosal in vaccines in 2001.
Interestingly the study was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, experts in the US who have been following the issue seem quite pleased with the results. Jennifer Pinto-Martin, an epidemiologist at the University of Pennsylvania was quoted as saying, “It’s yet another well done, peer-reviewed research study that has demonstrated there is no risk of any neuro-developmental outcomes associated with thimerosal in vaccines.”
Whether parents, not only in the US but also around the world will share her optimism remains to be seen. It would not be surprising if another study is released that contradicts this one at a later date. In the meantime it is hoped that this new information will help to allay fears and help parents make informed decisions about the health of their children.
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Dawn says...
That’s nice, but mercury is still a poison. They have made all children’s vaccines mercury-free–I hope this doesn’t mean they will go back to the old vaccines.
Good post though, thanks for sharing the research.