Childhood Vaccines and the Strong Patient-Doctor Relationship
Anna Fox, MD
An infant went to the doctor for a checkup to include her first vaccines. The vaccines were not in the exam room, so the doctor left to retrieve them. While the doctor was out of the room, the infant had a seizure while in her mother’s arms. Had the vaccines been ready in the room from the beginning, the vaccines may have been administered moments before the infant’s first seizure. The child’s parents likely would have at least wondered if the vaccine caused the seizure, if not completely attributed the seizure to the vaccine. This would likely have been reported, as it should be, on the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), which collects “unverified reports of adverse events following immunizations.”
This story emphasizes why the large studies, comparing hundreds and thousands of children who have received vaccines to hundreds and thousands who have not, and identifying meaningful differences between these groups, are so important in understanding which events in the life of a child were likely to be because of a vaccine and which were likely to happen, regardless of the vaccine.
Parents are trying to keep their children safe. Parents work toward that goal in an environment of copious sources of variable quality information and misinformation, which can feel like a near-impossible task. It is especially important, then, to seek trusted, knowledgeable sources of information. Each parent should have access to a doctor or other healthcare professional who will listen, nonjudgmentally, to their questions, address those questions with evidence-based answers and education, and provide sound sources of information. We can help parents understand why the ingredients that are in vaccines help them to work better, why certain vaccines are given together to improve their efficacy, how the medical workup of a sick child without vaccination needs to be broader and look for diseases that have become nearly extinct in populations with high vaccine use.
Parents and doctors have the same goal: keep your child safe. The idea is not to convince parents to do whatever the medical establishment says, but rather to support parents; to help you understand the real safety, risks, and benefits to consider so that you ultimately can make an informed decision that is best for your child and your family.
Below are some excellent sources of vaccine information for parents. I especially recommend spending some time with the CHOP vaccine education center, which thoughtfully and thoroughly explains concepts around vaccines, which I find extremely helpful in having these discussions with patients and families, including my own.
American Academy of Pediatrics Vaccine Schedule
Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania (known as CHOP) Vaccine Education Center