Health and Wellbeing

Why vaccinate? Risk versus benefit

Many things in life involve balancing risk and benefit. The chance of dying in a car accident, for example, is one in 6,000 a year, yet few of us would forego the convenience of travelling by car. To balance vaccination in the same way, consider that 90 per cent of children used to catch measles by age 20 before vaccination was readily available, and one in 3,000 would die, while one in 25 developed serious pneumonia.

Yet when 1.78 million children were vaccinated during the Measles Control Campaign in 1998, there were only 89 reported reactions. Almost none of these required treatment and there were no long-term problems.

MMR vaccine, autism and Crohn's disease

Sometimes things can be associated without having a direct link. For example 70 per cent of car accidents on the way to work occur within one hour of having breakfast.

The association between MMR vaccine and autism is another example of this process. Signs of autism usually develop after a child reaches 14 months. Considering that children receive their first dose of measles, mumps, rubella vaccine (MMR) at 12 months, it is understandable that parents of a seemingly normal child blame the vaccine when trying to understand why this illness has then occurred. However, several hundred million doses of the MMR vaccine have been given worldwide since its introduction and extensive data have consistently demonstrated its safety and effectiveness.

The World Health Organisation, British and American health authorities, as well as independent experts and research groups, re-examined the data following the recent Wakefield study and concluded there was no causal link between the MMR vaccine and autism or Crohn's disease.

SIDS

No evidence links cot death to vaccination, yet you sometimes hear that SIDS in Japan fell when the age for first vaccination was moved to two years. Actually, the rate remained the same at 1.2 per 1,000 births while the death rate from vaccine-preventable illness rose, so Japan has since reintroduced infant vaccination.

The rate of SIDS in Australia was two per 1,000 until 1988 when parents were advised to put their babies to sleep on their backs. Since then the rate has fallen to 0.5 per 1,000, yet our vaccination rates improved during this time. Two Australian studies of SIDS infants found more than half were either under-vaccinated, or not vaccinated at all.

"A healthy lifestyle protects against illness"

While death rates from all illnesses fell, with improved levels of sanitation and health care, the actual rates of catching each illness did not fall until vaccination was introduced.

For example, before HIB vaccination was introduced in 1993, about 500 Australian children had serious infections a year with 10-15 deaths and 60-120 cases of permanent disability. Without any significant change in our standard of living the rate has now declined, with 74 cases in 1995 and 30 cases in 2000.

In the health conscious, but low vaccinating Northern Rivers area, there were 341 cases of whooping cough in 2001. This represented 7.66 per cent of the recorded cases of whooping cough in NSW for a region with only 2.47 per cent of the population.

Precautions

Despite ongoing research towards safer and more effective vaccines, adverse reactions do still occur. It is important for vaccine providers to be aware of the risks and to comply with the guidelines to reduce the chance of these occurring. In particular, some people should not receive certain types of vaccinations, for example, those with abnormal immune systems.

However, the adverse reactions are usually mild, and the benefits of preventing the illnesses far outweigh the risk of vaccination.

Dr Sue Page is a GP, and manager of the immunisation project of the Northern Rivers Division of General Practice. This is an edited version of her article Why Vaccinate?, which can be found in full on www.vaccination.org.au

Exercise in Evans

ICAN! Evans Head is currently running a series of exercise walks, Walking for Pleasure, which are supervised by a leader and aimed at promoting physical activity for everyone in the community.

The walks are held as follows:

• Monday 9.15am – meet Tanya at the Evans Head kiosk for an easy one-hour walk (stroller friendly).

• Tuesday 7am to 4pm – meet Catherine at Evans Head kiosk for an easy one-hour walk.

• Friday 6.30am – meet Karen at Evans Head kiosk for easy one-hour walk.

• Saturday 6.30am – meet Merle and Annette at kiosk for a one-hour beach walk at low tide/river walk at high tide.

Every fourth Sunday of the month people are also welcome to meet Ken at the kiosk from 9am for a moderate one to two hour nature walk (check community noticeboard outside newsagency for details).

Join in these easy walks anytime or grab a pre-walk health assessment form from the Community Health Centre. Phone 6682 4899 for more information.

Some other health options in Evans include:

• Tai Chi classes ($4 per class). Phone 6620 7523.

• Exercise classes tailored to specific needs ($4 per class or $30 for 10 classes). Phone 6620 7523.

• Low impact aerobics. Phone 6682 4345.