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CNN Live Today
Healthy Children
Aired August 12, 2003 - 10:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It's back to school time for thousands of children across the country, but before they go back to class, a lot of kids are stocking up on the essentials, school supplies and shots.
Joining us now to talk about back to school vaccines is Dr. Paul Offit, author of that book, "Vaccines, What You Should Know."
Good morning to you, doctor. Thanks for being here.
You know, this is a confusing topic I think for a lot of parents out here. First of all how to keep track of which vaccines your children have had along the way, which ones they need, and then again really deciding which ones you feel comfortable with. Where do you start?
DR. PAUL OFFIT, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: The fact is, all the vaccines that we get in the first few years of life are important. They're just important for different reasons. For example, you know, you have vaccines like chicken pox vaccine or whooping cough vaccine or the pneumococcus vaccine or hepatitis b vaccine. All those vaccines prevent diseases which cause hospitalizations and deaths in this country every year. So it's important to get them to prevent the real and immediate possibility you could be hurt by those viruses or bacteria, and there's a sort of second group like measles, and mumps and German measles, and a bacteria called mofflus (ph) influenza type b.
And those diseases kind of smolder below the surface. There's 50 to a couple of hundred cases a year in the United States. They're not that common. But if we, you know, let our guard down, they'll rage back as they have in the past.
And then have you diseases like polio which has been eliminated in this country for 25 years, or diphtheria, which is very rare in this country, but the fact is, is that they're not rare in the world, and because international travel is common, it's still important to get those vaccines.
COLLINS: All right, we are looking, doctor, at a graphic right on our screen. You mentioned mumps, and polio and tetanus as well. But this is at four years old. Now there are specific key age groups where you really need to be doing particular vaccines. Can you explain that just briefly for news.
OFFIT: Yes, probably the best way to understand this is that the American Academy of Pediatrics several years ago said that they recommended an adolescent visit, so that not only should only infants and young children get vaccines, but we need to start thinking about vaccines as being something an adolescent does, and frankly, and adults do.
So the reason that they did that was to make sure the adolescent, meaning the 11-12-year-old got, vaccines, the chickenpox, the MMR vaccine -- which is measles, mumps, rubella -- the diphtheria tetanus booster vaccine and the hepatitis b vaccine. And as a way of capturing that adolescent so that they understand that these vaccines are important for them as well.
COLLINS: And then at 11 years old, that's another key age group, too, just for tetanus?
OFFIT: No, I'm sorry. I've gone through the 11-year-olds. But it's not just for tetanus. It's also barasella (ph), measles, mumps, rubella and hepatitis b.
The four-year-old group, I think you went through that before and we did that a little bit earlier, but there's actually 11 vaccines that are routinely recommend for all children.
You're right, it can be a little bit confusing, but they're all necessary.
And in fact, I think we probably won't need vaccines anymore when I can go into the hospital where I work and not see children that are admitted with severe and occasionally fatal infections that are potentially preventable by vaccines.
COLLINS: Right, so what should a parent do? How do you keep track the best that you can with your own records, with your doctor's records and then what happens if you move or if you change doctors? I mean, it can really get to be a paperwork mess.
OFFIT: Yes, well, you said it. I mean the best way is to -- certainly your doctor does keep records, and sometimes there are cards which parents can have that can help them keep the records, so that should they move to another state, another area, they would have the record they could show to their new physician. You're exactly right.
COLLINS: All right. What about some of the concerns some parents have about doing vaccines at all? We have heard reports about complications and possible autism with certain vaccines. Are these scares or are these concerns legitimate?
OFFIT: Well, I think it's certainly parents have a right to be concerned and should be concerned. I think you should be skeptical about anything that you put into your body. It's understandable how, for example, autism could be something one considers, because the symptoms of autism often occur between the first and second birthday at a time when children are getting some vaccine. So the parent says, all right, the child was fine, they were playing with people normally. They were doing everything they had done, then they got the vaccine, and within a month, they started to develop these symptoms. So I think asking the question is perfectly reasonable. But if you look, you find that the incidents of autism in children who got vaccines is the same as the sentence in children who didn't get the vaccines. So parents, for example, who choose to delay or withhold vaccines to try and avoid autism aren't going to decrease their child's risk of getting autism; they're only going to increase their child's risk of getting these other diseases.
So when people have questions about chronic diseases like multiple sclerosis or diabetes or asthma or allergies, you know, those have been studied, and the incidence is no greater in a vaccinated versus an unvaccinated group of children.
COLLINS: Certainly something to stay on top of, that's for sure. Dr. Paul Offit, we appreciate your time this morning, author of "Vaccines, What You Should Know." Great, we appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 12, 2003 - 10:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It's back to school time for thousands of children across the country, but before they go back to class, a lot of kids are stocking up on the essentials, school supplies and shots.
Joining us now to talk about back to school vaccines is Dr. Paul Offit, author of that book, "Vaccines, What You Should Know."
Good morning to you, doctor. Thanks for being here.
You know, this is a confusing topic I think for a lot of parents out here. First of all how to keep track of which vaccines your children have had along the way, which ones they need, and then again really deciding which ones you feel comfortable with. Where do you start?
DR. PAUL OFFIT, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: The fact is, all the vaccines that we get in the first few years of life are important. They're just important for different reasons. For example, you know, you have vaccines like chicken pox vaccine or whooping cough vaccine or the pneumococcus vaccine or hepatitis b vaccine. All those vaccines prevent diseases which cause hospitalizations and deaths in this country every year. So it's important to get them to prevent the real and immediate possibility you could be hurt by those viruses or bacteria, and there's a sort of second group like measles, and mumps and German measles, and a bacteria called mofflus (ph) influenza type b.
And those diseases kind of smolder below the surface. There's 50 to a couple of hundred cases a year in the United States. They're not that common. But if we, you know, let our guard down, they'll rage back as they have in the past.
And then have you diseases like polio which has been eliminated in this country for 25 years, or diphtheria, which is very rare in this country, but the fact is, is that they're not rare in the world, and because international travel is common, it's still important to get those vaccines.
COLLINS: All right, we are looking, doctor, at a graphic right on our screen. You mentioned mumps, and polio and tetanus as well. But this is at four years old. Now there are specific key age groups where you really need to be doing particular vaccines. Can you explain that just briefly for news.
OFFIT: Yes, probably the best way to understand this is that the American Academy of Pediatrics several years ago said that they recommended an adolescent visit, so that not only should only infants and young children get vaccines, but we need to start thinking about vaccines as being something an adolescent does, and frankly, and adults do.
So the reason that they did that was to make sure the adolescent, meaning the 11-12-year-old got, vaccines, the chickenpox, the MMR vaccine -- which is measles, mumps, rubella -- the diphtheria tetanus booster vaccine and the hepatitis b vaccine. And as a way of capturing that adolescent so that they understand that these vaccines are important for them as well.
COLLINS: And then at 11 years old, that's another key age group, too, just for tetanus?
OFFIT: No, I'm sorry. I've gone through the 11-year-olds. But it's not just for tetanus. It's also barasella (ph), measles, mumps, rubella and hepatitis b.
The four-year-old group, I think you went through that before and we did that a little bit earlier, but there's actually 11 vaccines that are routinely recommend for all children.
You're right, it can be a little bit confusing, but they're all necessary.
And in fact, I think we probably won't need vaccines anymore when I can go into the hospital where I work and not see children that are admitted with severe and occasionally fatal infections that are potentially preventable by vaccines.
COLLINS: Right, so what should a parent do? How do you keep track the best that you can with your own records, with your doctor's records and then what happens if you move or if you change doctors? I mean, it can really get to be a paperwork mess.
OFFIT: Yes, well, you said it. I mean the best way is to -- certainly your doctor does keep records, and sometimes there are cards which parents can have that can help them keep the records, so that should they move to another state, another area, they would have the record they could show to their new physician. You're exactly right.
COLLINS: All right. What about some of the concerns some parents have about doing vaccines at all? We have heard reports about complications and possible autism with certain vaccines. Are these scares or are these concerns legitimate?
OFFIT: Well, I think it's certainly parents have a right to be concerned and should be concerned. I think you should be skeptical about anything that you put into your body. It's understandable how, for example, autism could be something one considers, because the symptoms of autism often occur between the first and second birthday at a time when children are getting some vaccine. So the parent says, all right, the child was fine, they were playing with people normally. They were doing everything they had done, then they got the vaccine, and within a month, they started to develop these symptoms. So I think asking the question is perfectly reasonable. But if you look, you find that the incidents of autism in children who got vaccines is the same as the sentence in children who didn't get the vaccines. So parents, for example, who choose to delay or withhold vaccines to try and avoid autism aren't going to decrease their child's risk of getting autism; they're only going to increase their child's risk of getting these other diseases.
So when people have questions about chronic diseases like multiple sclerosis or diabetes or asthma or allergies, you know, those have been studied, and the incidence is no greater in a vaccinated versus an unvaccinated group of children.
COLLINS: Certainly something to stay on top of, that's for sure. Dr. Paul Offit, we appreciate your time this morning, author of "Vaccines, What You Should Know." Great, we appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
