A 7 week old baby nearly died in Brantford from whooping cough. Whooping cough is an avoidable illness. This little girl was just one week shy of her first round of immunizations.

If enough people had been vaccinated, she probably wouldn’t have gotten sick in the first place.

The internet and social media have democratized information in an extraordinary way. People now enjoy access to specialized information without having to go through specialized training programs. The downside to this has been the spread of misinformation, largely because posting on the internet does not require vetting or authorization or proof. This misinformation has led to many parents questioning the need for and the evidence behind vaccines. It has also led to outright vaccine-refusal by many parents.

I firmly believe that parents want to do right by their kids. But the misinformation out there has clouded the issue and made it tougher for parents to make an informed decision about vaccines.

Here are some facts:

• Vaccines contain antigens that prime your immune system to recognize and protect against disease. Some vaccines are a one-shot deal, but many need boosters throughout a person’s childhood or lifetime.

• Vaccines are safer than cars. Decades of research have proven this.

• The risks of catching an illness are higher than the risks from a vaccine. 

• Vaccines work by preventing illness in the first place. Catching these illnesses means weeks of being really sick, hospitalization and life-threatening complications. 

• Vaccines are not a 100% guarantee and they don’t work in everybody. In fact, not everyone can get a vaccine. This is why herd immunity matters.

• Herd immunity is like building a wall to keep illness at bay. Each person who gets vaccinated is another brick in the wall. This wall protects all the people who can’t get some or who don’t respond to vaccines: pregnant women, newborn babies, seniors, and people with cancer or other immune-suppressing illnesses.

• Your immune system can handle multiple vaccines in one visit.

• Missing a vaccine can be fixed by using a catch-up schedule.

Unvaccinated babies and kids are 6-35x more likely to get sick than kids who are immunized. Measles, mumps, whooping cough, influenza and so on are highly contagious diseases that spread like wildfire from person to person. For example, a person with measles can easily and rapidly infect up to 18 other people nearby. A single case can quickly become an outbreak. Right now, there are measles outbreaks in British Columbia, US, France, Ukraine, Japan, the Philippines and so on. Hundreds of thousands have been infected, thousands of required hospitalization, and hundreds have died. 

These are not mild illnesses. These deaths are not only devastating, but entirely preventable.

Kids are more vulnerable and can get very sick within hours. Measles can cause pneumonia, encephalopathy (brain inflammation) or serious problems years after the initial infection. Whooping cough can cause hospitalization requiring life support, stroke or death. Tetanus can cause seizures, brain damage and death. Meningitis can cause pneumonia, heart infections, blood poisoning and death. Even chicken pox can cause deep skin infections, pneumonia, seizures and encephalopathy. Surviving the initial infection can still expose your child to devastating consequences.

So what should parents do?

Talk to your doctor about vaccines. Mention your concerns. Get the facts. This is one of the most important decisions a parent will make for their child. It literally is a matter of life or death.