Vaccines
Vaccine are Safe
The American Academy of Pediatrics offers the following advice to parents about how vaccines are created, proven to be effective, and proven to be safe:
When a new vaccine is developed it goes through multiple rounds of research testing. This includes basic lab research, animal testing, and multiple phases of clinical trials to prove the vaccine is both safe and effective.
Most childhood vaccines were tested originally in randomized clinical trials that include a placebo or comparison groups. A placebo is a fake treatment, like a sugar pill or salt-water shot, that has no real medicine inside. It looks like a real treatment, but it does not change the body on its own. Doctors use a placebo in science tests to see if the new real medicine makes a difference. If the vaccine is for a disease that currently has no vaccine, administering a placebo is intended to demonstrate that the vaccine actually improves the outcome compared to those who receive the placebo. If the vaccine is a potential replacement for an existing, older vaccine, the comparator group may receive the older vaccine that has already been tested rather than an inert placebo. If the new vaccine improves outcome compared to the standard treatment, the new vaccine replaces the old vaccine.
When a safe, effective vaccine already exists against a disease, children in the comparison group are not given a placebo because it offers no protection against that disease; such treatment is unethical. No child in a vaccine trial goes unprotected without a very clear scientific and ethical reason. That’s why comparison groups may use an existing vaccine instead of saline. It’s still rigorous science—and it keeps kids safer.
After testing is concluded, the vaccine manufacturer submits research data to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which reviews the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness and determines if it should be licensed. Once a vaccine is licensed, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reviews the data and recommends if, how, and when people should receive it. Finally, the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other groups make a formal recommendation for specific populations.
After a vaccine is in use, the CDC and FDA continually monitor it to make sure it remains safe, and the CDC regularly shares vaccine safety monitoring findings with other federal agencies, the public, health care providers, vaccine manufacturers and advisory committees like ACIP.
The CDC and FDA monitor vaccine safety using several different systems. These include the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), V-safe, the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), the Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment (CISA) Project, the Biologics Effectiveness and Safety (BEST) System, and others. They also collaborate with government agencies and non-government partners to ensure vaccine safety. Vaccines are the safest and most effective way to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, including measles, whooping cough and polio.
New vaccines for newly identified pathogens and diseases are tested through randomized controlled trials, comparison groups, and placebos. All existing vaccines have been through this process, as well as ongoing safety monitoring that can identify even very rare side effects.
Leading medical organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) emphasize that childhood vaccines are thoroughly tested to ensure safety and effectiveness.
The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases offers the following advice to parents -
10 Reasons to Get Vaccinated:
Vaccine-preventable diseases have not gone away. Viruses and bacteria that cause disease still exist and can be passed on to those who are unvaccinated and unprotected. While many preventable diseases are no longer common in the US, global travel makes it easy for diseases to spread.
Vaccines help keep you healthy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends vaccines throughout your life to help protect against many infections. If you skip vaccines, you may be at risk for diseases including flu, measles, and HPV and hepatitis B–both leading causes of cancer.
Vaccines are as important to your overall health as diet and exercise. Like eating healthy and exercising, vaccines help play a vital role in protecting your health.
Vaccination can mean the difference between life and death. Vaccine-preventable diseases can be deadly. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 50,000 adults died from vaccine-preventable diseases in the US each year. Routine childhood immunizations are estimated to have prevented more than 1 million deaths in US children between 1994–2023
Vaccines are safer than the diseases they prevent. The US has a robust approval process in place to ensure the safety of all licensed and approved vaccines. Potential side effects associated with vaccines are uncommon and much less severe than the diseases they prevent.
Vaccines do not cause disease. Vaccines contain either killed or weakened viruses, making it impossible for vaccines to give you the diseases they are designed to prevent.
Young and healthy people can get very sick, too. Although infants and older adults are at increased risk for serious complications, vaccine-preventable diseases can strike anyone, at any time. If you are young and healthy, getting vaccinated can help you stay that way.
Vaccine-preventable diseases can be expensive. Diseases have a direct impact on individuals and families, and also carry a high price tag for society as a whole, exceeding an estimated $10 billion per year. An average flu illness can last up to 2 weeks, typically with 5 or 6 missed work or school days. And adults who get hepatitis A lose an average of one month of work. Vaccination is a cost-effective way to save lives. Studies have found that every $1 spent on childhood immunizations results in a savings to the US economy of approximately $11. In adults, 1 study found that an adult vaccination program can return up to 19 times its initial investment.
When you get sick, your children, grandchildren, and parents may also be at risk. Adults are the most common source of pertussis (whooping cough), which can be deadly in infants. Staying up to date on all recommended vaccines helps protect you and your family as well as those in your community who are unable to be vaccinated.
Your family and co-workers need you. In the US, millions of adults get sick from vaccine-preventable diseases each year, causing them to miss work and leaving them unable to care for those who depend on them, including children and/or aging parents.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention < https://www.nfid.org/immunization/10-reasons-to-get-vaccinated/ >
BEWARE THE ABUSE OF DATA
If you troll the Internet, you will find reports of bad effects associated with vaccines.
In 1998 Andrew Wakefield published a study of twelve (12) children in Lancet suggesting an association between exposure to MMR vaccine and autism. This report triggered a world-wide response that lead to concern about vaccine exposure and vaccination. This report was flawed because the study singled out children with newly diagnosed autism shortly after receiving MMR vaccination where the mothers reported mild inflammation in their child after the vaccine administration; it is important to note that mild inflammation after vaccination is a normal finding commonly associated with vaccination, and one wonders if the inflammation triggered an autistic response that contributed to the diagnosis. Since there was no control group associated with this study, there was no way to assess these concerns. This report was published in 1999. It was later withdrawn from publication, refuted, and later proven to be fraudulent because of the failure to include an appropriately age and health experience-matched control group. Unfortunately, the damage was done before the scientifically unsound suggestion could be refuted. To this day, people believe what they want to believe regardless of the truth.
Since 1999 there have been numerous studies performed attempting to associate autism with a wide variety of vaccine regimens. One of the largest published in 2013 was a meta-analysis of ten prior studies comparing 1,256,327 children. Using rigorous statistical analysis, the authors found no relationship between vaccination and autism, no relationship between MMR vaccine and autism, and no risk of autism following exposure to vaccines incorporating mercury or thimerisol. < Vaccine 32 (2014) 3623–3629 >
In 2025, The World Health Organization issued the following statement: Upon comprehensive review of the latest evidence published since January 2010 through August 2025, the WHO reaffirms its previous conclusion that there is no evidence of a causal relationship between vaccines and autism.
Unfortunately, there continue to be reports that surface on the Internet that have proven to be false. Today (8/14/26), Facebook displayed a YouTube video that Senator Ted Cruz created some time in 2021 stating that the Covid vaccine produced an 82% miscarriage rate. Further review will reveal that Senator Cruz withdrew that statement in 2021 claiming it was incorrect, but it still circulates. Go ahead, search the internet - you should find the interview with a reputable reporter where Crus withdraws the statement.
BEWARE THE INTERNET!!!
At this time, President Donald Trump and Secretary of Heath Robert Kennedy do not agree with the findings of the scientific community nor the World Health Organization regarding the safety of vaccines. You should make an informed decision on this with your personal health care provider.
FINAL MESSAGE:
1. VACCINES ARE GOOD
2. VACCINES ARE YOUR FRIEND IN THIS WILD WORLD OF INFECTIOUS AGENTS.
3. YOUR CHILDREN MAY BE ALIVE BECAUSE OF VACCINES.
3. THANK THE MANY SCIENTISTS WHO CREATE THESE PRODUCTS.
