Expert Insight on Vaccines

December 15, 2023

Check out this MoneyGeek article with IHLA director Jessica Schwind, PhD.

Why should people get vaccinated?

Simply put, vaccines help keep you and others safe and healthy. A vaccine helps protect people and animals by creating a ‘memory’ in the immune system that assists in recognizing and preventing future infections and/or diseases. Without vaccines, you and your loved ones are at increased risk of sickness, disability and even death.

What common safety concerns should people know about when it comes to vaccinations?

As with any medical intervention, vaccines have the potential to cause side effects. Many of these side effects are minor, such as a sore arm or low-grade fever, and tend to go away within a couple of days. In rare cases, people may experience more significant adverse events that may require a visit to the doctor. Adverse reactions may be purely coincidental, or they may be indicative of a larger issue. The United States maintains a comprehensive early warning system called the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) to help ensure that any potential safety problems are quickly identified and responded to. It should be noted that all vaccines given in the United States are held to very high safety standards. Vaccines are designed to protect against deadly diseases and not harm, so rigorous testing is done to ensure this is the case even before the first vaccine is administered.

What are the most important things that parents should know about vaccinations?

For anyone who has questions about vaccines, I encourage them to reach out to a trusted healthcare provider or public health professional to get their questions answered. Decisions about their health or their child’s health should not be based on fear but rather on an informed decision based on scientific evidence and honest conversations. Unfortunately, vaccine hesitancy has been named as one of the top ten threats to global health because that hesitancy is at an all-time high. Decades of research and scientific advancement have gone into helping people live long lives by no longer experiencing early, vaccine-preventable deaths. Vaccines are our best line of defense against many serious and potentially deadly diseases and have a profound community effect, so I encourage everyone to stay up-to-date with their recommended vaccination schedule.