To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate: Bust Common Misconceptions

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? That’s been the question in the latest news headlines. Recently, there’s been a debate among parents and guardians nationwide – do vaccinations protect children or are they causing more harm than good?

Lindsay Gobble-Keeney, a Physician Assistant at Ripley Family Care, breaks down common misconceptions associated with recommended vaccinations:

Many opposed to vaccinations believe that toxins and metals are found in vaccines and can lead to complications for their child. However, many of those toxins and metals are actually already found in our bodies.

“Some of these are found in our food and beverages that we consume on a daily basis and things in our environment that we’re in contact with daily,” said Gobble-Keeney.

Some people also believe that a child’s immune system is too weak to receive the recommended vaccinations. Children are exposed daily to millions and millions of toxins and bacteria more so than vaccines contain, and therefore Keeney said that idea is just simply not true.

“Vaccines all together end up having 150 to a little over 200 different antigens. So in comparison to what your child is exposed to on a day to day basis, it’s not even debatable that vaccines have more toxins than the immune system is able to handle,” she said.

The recommended vaccine schedule has been studied out by multiple different sources. “They go through extensive testing to make sure that they are safe for your children to receive in the recommended schedule,” said Keeney, “So delaying these vaccines could actually cause more harm than good as they are recommended at those specific ages based on extensive research they are put through.”

However, if for some reason a child is behind on their vaccinations, a catch-up schedule is readily available and can be found on the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Website.

The CDC website is a trusted site to find answers to questions and information about specific details on what exactly is in vaccines. Gobble-Keeney advises not to trust all sources found online, but rather, patients should talk to their primary care provider about any concerns they may have about the vaccines and the vaccination guidelines.