Did you know this about vaccines?

Vaccines contain a lower amount of toxins than we take in from our environment every day.
Vaccines contain tiny amounts of additives, such as aluminium salts or formaldehyde. These additives and adjuvants are necessary to ensure the vaccine’s effectiveness, shelf life and correct composition. The quantities are much lower than what we take in from food and beverages, indoor air, traffic emissions or even breast milk. The issue of adjuvants also involves ignorance: while aluminium itself is toxic, aluminium salts are not.

Diseases that are preventable by vaccines are uncommon in Finland thanks to good vaccination coverage.
These diseases will return if people fail to get their vaccines and the vaccination coverage falls. This has happened with measles, for example, in Germany and the UK. Few people today remember the diseases that have been eradicated or significantly reduced by vaccinations. This might lead some to think that the vaccinations are unnecessary because the diseases are not around anymore.

Good hygiene and nutrition only help prevent some infectious diseases.
The Hepatitis A virus, which causes inflammation of the liver, can be kept in check by ensuring good hygiene and proper cooking of food. Hygiene and nutrition play a lesser role in the spread of rubella. The bacteria that cause tetanus are impossible to prevent with good hygiene – we all have accidents in which our cuts or wounds are contaminated by soil or dirt.

Extensive studies have shown that vaccines do not cause type 1 diabetes, autism, multiple sclerosis or allergies.
The exact mechanisms by which type 1 diabetes, autism, multiple sclerosis and allergies develop are not yet known. However, studies show that there is no correlation between these conditions and vaccines. Previously published research on the link between autism and the MMR vaccine, for example, has been proven false.

Vaccines are safer and provide better protection than having the disease itself.
A vaccine is a controlled method for acquiring immunity against an infectious disease with minimal symptoms and sequelae. A bout with measles is 400 times more likely to lead to inflammation of the brain than the measles vaccine. No-one has ever died of the measles vaccine, while the actual disease kills one in 10,000 patients, even in countries with a high standard of living. It has also been observed that people who have been vaccinated against measles have fewer infectious diseases and fatalities than those who have had measles. Vaccines are continuously develop to maximise their safety and minimise side effects.

Vaccines do not place any more stress on a baby’s immune system than a mosquito bite.
An infant can produce antibodies at any given time for at least a thousand times the number of vaccines included in the National Immunisation Programme. A vaccine does not have the same impact on the human body as the actual disease. Vaccines only contain the part of the pathogen that is necessary for developing immunity.

Vaccines strengthen a child’s immunity.
Vaccines prepare a child’s immune system to deal with serious pathogens.

Vaccines do not carry the same risk of overdose as medicines do.
The human body is capable of receiving several different vaccines at the same time. Receiving multiple doses of vaccines at the same time does not increase the risk of side effects.

Vaccines are also suitable for children with allergies and asthma.
A vaccine is not administered if the child is allergic to any of its ingredients. If the child has had an anaphylactic reaction to a previous vaccine, the physician will conduct an individual assessment of whether and how to administer future doses of vaccines.

A runny nose and cough are no obstacle to getting vaccinated.
Vaccinations are not, however, administered to people who have a fever.

Further reading

• Rokote.fi: True or false about vaccines (in Finnish)
• THL: Questions asked about importance and safety of vaccinations (in Finnish)