These myths may be keeping parents from protecting their children from dangerous diseases, when there’s every reason to get them vaccinated.
Vaccines prevents six million deaths worldwide every year, CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta writes.
And there’s basically no reason not to get them. Only one in a million children has a serious adverse reaction.
Those are great odds. You’re 100 times more likely to get struck by lightning than have an allergic reaction to a vaccine, Gupta says. Taking aspirin, for example, is much more likely to cause brain bleeding.
Still, five nail-biting notions continue to scare away people from the protection they need.
1. THEY CAUSE AUTISM
The fear:
This is the big one.
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And 2014 was a big year for measles cases with 644 in the United States.
CDC: Measles spreads to 14 states. Deadly virus blamed on anti-vaccine movement http://t.co/waiaeWDc1y @CNN pic.twitter.com/WTLqe1k8FJ
It’s not harmless. It can lead to pneumonia, lifelong brain damage, and deafness, and death.
Globally, it’s still a major killer of children, the World Health Organization says.
Between 2001 and 2013, 28% of children younger than 5 years of age with measles had to be hospitalized in the United States, the CDC says.
Before the measles vaccine was introduced in the 1960s, there were between 3 to 4 million cases a year, resulting in 400 to 500 U.S. deaths, the CDC says.
Measles vaccination in this country has reduced the rate of infection in the population by 99% when compared to times when no vaccine was available.
CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta contributed to this report.
