Are the routine vaccinations for children really necessary?

In Japan, children are supported to have nine kinds of vaccinations before the age of one.

And, by the time of two years old, they are supported to have four more kinds of vaccinations.

Are those vaccinations really necessary?

In the legal point of view, the routine vaccination for children is not a “duty”, but a “duty of endeavor”.

In 1994, the government changed the law of the vaccination for children from a duty to a duty of endeavour.

So, we need to take responsibility for our own decisions on whether or not to vaccinate.

According to the majority of opinions, vaccinations should be given for the following reasons.

1. In a comparison of risks and benefits, the benefits are overwhelmingly higher.

2. For the sake of social prevention, we should be vaccinated.

I will try to deepen the discussion about these two issues in turn.

Risks and benefits

Are the risks of vaccination really low?

With all vaccines, there are certain cases of serious adverse reactions, which include death as the most adverse result.

However, pro-vaccination advocates argue that the incidence of adverse reactions is so low, that the number of people saved by vaccination is far greater.

The estimate of the risks may be wrong.

Basically, other than anaphylaxis, there are no proven cases of a causal relationship between a vaccination and an adverse reaction.

It doesn’t mean there is no relationship, but there are not enough determinants.

In fact, there are hundreds or thousands of fatal cases which are suspected to be adverse reactions.

In some cases, people have died on the day of vaccination.

In some cases, it was sudden death in a healthy person.

Modern science is not capable to determine whether or not there are any relationships between a vaccination and an adverse reaction, even in such cases.

For example, there are some suspected adverse reactions in COVID-19 vaccination, which are myocarditis and thrombosis and are not anaphylaxis adverse reactions.

They are currently under investigation.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) in Japan has set up Adverse Reaction Review Group.

A member said regarding the adverse reactions of COVID-19 vaccination,

“The public needs to understand the limitations of modern medicine.”

“Waiting for a causal relationship to be established will allow time for the disease to spread.

We experts are always worried about the balance between risks and benefits of vaccination.”

Are the benefits really overwhelmingly higher than the risks?

A forensic scientist says,

“It needs the accumulation of statistical data to clarify the existence or non-existence of causal relationship between a vaccination and an adverse reaction.”

It means they need sufficient parameters that can be statistically evaluated.

“Parameters” means the number of cases/incidents of adverse reactions.

Probably, “the number” is hundreds or thousands.

In other words, the parameters are the data accumulated by the hundreds or thousands of people among us who have suffered or died from adverse reactions.

We continue to be exposed to the risks until the causality is understood.

In order to avoid any misunderstanding, I would like to add that the experts’ comment is about COVID-19 vaccination.

Its risk may be much higher than other vaccines.

So we should recognise that not all vaccines have such serious risks.

However, the causalities of adverse reactions of all vaccines, other than anaphylaxis, aren’t understood at all even now.

Are the benefits overwhelmingly higher than the risks?

Almost all vaccines have been proven to be effective at least.

Yet, we should know about the diseases that vaccines are designed to prevent.

For example, do we avoid these diseases with vaccination?

Diphtheria: It only occurs if you are very malnourished. Even if you develop the disease, it can be treated with antibiotics.

Polio: Although poliomyelitis is a serious disease, its incidence is 0.5%. In addition, polio is not highly contagious and has already been eradicated in Japan.

Measles: Measles is a dangerous diseases because of strong infection and severe symptoms such as high fever.

However, half the number of patients have already vaccinated in Japan.

Does the vaccine really have on overwhelming benefit?

HIB (heart infusion broth), Pneumococcus: Both are commensal bacteria. It may become a serious disease if an under one year old baby is affected.

But it is more important to avoid exposure to crowded and pathogenic environments than be vaccinated.

As indicated above, depending on the type of disease, vaccination does not provide the expected benefits.

Social prevention of vaccination

This idea seems to make sense.

However, this approach is one in which individuals are willing to take risks for the good of society.

Is it worth the risk of adverse reactions?

Because it can’t be stated that way, did the government change the law to a duty of endeavour?

In addition, recently measles and rubella outbreaks have become a social problem.

Medical experts emphasized the importance of vaccination citing these incidents.

But, there is an important fact that immunity acquired through vaccination can only be maintained for 10-20 years.

This fact is acknowledged by MHLW.

On the other hand, self-acquired immunity can be maintained for life.

The recent outbreak of measles and rubella may be due to the loss of immunity in vaccinated people.

In this case, vaccines may inhibit social defence against disease.

Conclusion

There are a lot of diseases covered by vaccination.

Because each risk and benefit is different, it is not possible to draw a blanket conclusion on whether vaccines are necessary or unnecessary.

We have to research the details of risks and benefits of vaccinations and diseases, and decide actions on our own.