WHY VACCINES ARE SAFE
A PUSU Fact Sheet for Young People · draft for schools
THE CLAIM
Vaccines are dangerous, cause autism, or contain secret microchips.
» How a vaccine works
A vaccine shows your immune system a harmless piece of a germ, or a weakened
version of it. Your body practises fighting it and remembers how, so if the
real germ ever turns up your defences beat it before you get ill. It is like
giving your body a wanted poster for a burglar.
» They are tested more than almost any medicine
Before a vaccine is allowed, it is tested in tens of thousands of volunteers
and then watched carefully for many years afterwards. Vaccines have wiped
smallpox off the face of the Earth and have very nearly ended polio.
» The autism scare was based on fraud
The idea that the MMR vaccine causes autism came from a single 1998 paper by
one doctor, Andrew Wakefield. Investigators found he had faked his results and
hidden that he was being paid. The paper was withdrawn and he was struck off
the medical register. Since then, studies following millions of children have
found no link at all between vaccines and autism.
» There are no microchips
No chip small enough to fit through a needle could do anything useful, and it
would show up instantly on any scan. There is no such technology and no reason
for it. Vaccines contain the germ-piece, water, and tiny amounts of ordinary
ingredients that help them work.
★ TRY IT YOURSELF ★
Ask a grown-up which diseases they were vaccinated against as children.
Illnesses that once filled hospital wards -- like measles and whooping cough
-- are now rare, and vaccines are the reason.