Vaccine Myths and Facts

Immunisation is one of the most important ways to keep your child healthy, and vaccines are very safe — there are rarely reasons not to get vaccinated. Below are some common myths and the facts that answer them.

Myth: Most diseases are not serious

Fact: All the diseases children are vaccinated against are serious and can cause serious illness, complications and death, even with the best medical care, and many have no cure. Measles outbreaks still happen, with complications in about 10% of cases and 1–2 deaths per 1,000 cases. Pertussis (whooping cough) can kill, though rarely — about 1 in 400 babies who survive it has permanent brain damage. Tetanus kills 10% or more of its victims.

Myth: My child doesn't need vaccines because no one gets these diseases anymore

Fact: These diseases still exist, even if rare — thanks to vaccine programmes, vaccine-preventable diseases have declined, but when immunisation rates drop, they can come back. Many diseases uncommon locally still occur elsewhere in the world, and with travel and immigration there's a real risk of these diseases being "imported." Any unvaccinated child is at risk when that happens.

Myth: If so many other people are vaccinated, my child doesn't need vaccines

Fact: Relying on others to protect your unvaccinated child only works if everyone else is vaccinated — if many parents take this attitude, fewer children will be immunised and diseases will spread quickly. And for tetanus, whether others are vaccinated makes no difference to your child's safety, since it comes from bacteria in the soil, not from other people.

Myth: It's better to get vaccines one at a time

Fact: Combination vaccines let your child get protection from several diseases with one injection — examples include MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) and the 5-in-1 vaccine (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib disease). Studies show combination vaccines are safe and effective, and there's no reason to split them up — doing so means no delay in protection, fewer visits and fewer needles.

Myth: There will be fewer side effects if I delay my baby's vaccinations

Fact: Vaccines begin at 2 months of age to protect babies as early as possible against diseases that can make them very sick, like pertussis. Babies respond well to vaccines at a young age, and side effects are not more common in young babies than older children.

Myth: Vaccines are not adequately tested for safety

Fact: Vaccines must prove safe and effective at preventing the diseases they target before approval, and health authorities continue monitoring for side effects once a vaccine is in use. Serious side effects are very rare.

Myth: The MMR vaccine causes autism

Fact: No — there is no scientific evidence supporting this claim. Because early signs of autism can appear around the same age children receive the MMR vaccine, some people believe the vaccine causes it. Much of the controversy traces back to a single 1998 paper suggesting a link — it was later found to be fraudulent and withdrawn by the journal that published it. Many large studies worldwide have found no link between the MMR vaccine (or any other vaccine) and autism. Autism diagnoses have increased in recent years partly because the diagnosis now includes children with milder symptoms who wouldn't have been included in the past, alongside greater public awareness — and scientists have recently found a gene linked to autism.

Myth: Thimerosal in vaccines causes autism

Fact: There's no evidence linking thimerosal (a preservative once used in vaccines) to autism or any other developmental disorder — and thimerosal hasn't been used in infant and childhood vaccines for many years, yet autism numbers continued to rise after it was removed.

Myth: I'm breastfeeding, so my baby is protected from infections

Fact: Breastfeeding is not a substitute for vaccination. It provides some protection against certain infections, especially viral respiratory infections, ear infections and diarrhoea, but this protection is incomplete, temporary, and can be overcome by exposure to large amounts of a specific germ.

Myth: Natural is better — we shouldn't put foreign substances like vaccines into our bodies

Fact: Natural is not always safer — the germs vaccines protect against are part of nature but harmful, and some of the most powerful poisons come from plants and berries. Vaccines themselves are made from natural sources — some from live germs altered so they can't cause illness, others from just part of a germ, purified — and stimulate the immune system the way the actual infection would, without making us sick.

Myth: Nosodes are a safer alternative to vaccines

Fact: There's no scientific or medical evidence that nosodes — often called "homeopathic vaccines," made by diluting bacteria, viruses or tissue from someone with a disease until little or no active ingredient remains — prevent infectious diseases. They are not the same as being immunised.