When the answer to vaccines is “No”

5. Vaccines are just another way for “big pharma” to make “big money.”

Patients may benefit from knowing that in the earlier days of vaccines, pharmaceutical companies actually moved away from production of vaccines because they were not very profitable. These days, with worldwide distribution, drug companies are back in the swing of making vaccines and, as we would expect from all companies, are in business to make a profit.

That said, health care providers receive no payments from drug companies for offering vaccines or for offering one vaccine over another. The reason we recommend vaccination is because we know it is best for our patients’ health and the health of the community.

6. We don’t see polio anymore. Why do I need the vaccine?

One of the factors contributing to the rise in antivaccine sentiment is that we rarely see vaccine-preventable illnesses (such as polio, measles, and mumps). But the absence of these illnesses is precisely due to prior years’ vaccination efforts.

Smallpox, a deadly and disfiguring disease that killed many millions of people and contributed to the downfall of the Roman, Aztec, and Incan empires, was eradicated from the planet in 1979, thanks to focused vaccination efforts by the World Health Organization. Vaccination works, but we have to keep at it.

While we no longer see as many of these vaccine-preventable illnesses in the United States, they are still present in other parts of the world. Our world is much smaller than it used to be. International travel is common, and illnesses can be reintroduced into a community with relative ease. We must remain vigilant.

Continue to: 7. I heard that vaccines are made from aborted fetal tissue.