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Vaccines: Separating Fact from Fear Video Series
This video series answers questions many parents have about vaccines. It also contains the stories of several parents whose children suffered vaccine-preventable diseases.
Videos in this Series
- Introduction: Vaccine Safety Concerns
- Are Vaccinations Necessary?
- Are Vaccinations Safe?
- NOW PLAYING
Why are There So Many Vaccines? - Can My Baby Get Four or Five Vaccines at a Time?
- Is it Better to Be Naturally or Artificially Immunized?
- Is There a Link Between the MMR Vaccine and Autism?
- Do Vaccines Cause Chronic Illnesses?
- New Vaccines, Should You Wait?
- Vaccine Safety: Good Information vs. Bad Information
Transcript: Why are There So Many Vaccines?
Parent: Why are there so many vaccines nowadays?
Paul A. Offit, MD: I think that the answer to that question lies in our past. My mother and father were children in the 1920s and the early 1930s, and at that time there was just one vaccine, the small pox vaccine. But they were lucky. They were lucky that they weren't one of the hundreds of thousands that got diphtheria, many of whom died. By the time my brother and my sister and I were children, which was in the 1950s and early 1960s, there were five vaccines. But we too were lucky. We are lucky that we weren't one of the tens of thousands that got bloodstream infections or meningitis or pneumonia from bacteria like haemophilus or pneumococcus. Now, our children get 11 vaccines. And while we still live in a world where there are viruses and bacteria in our midst that can cause permanent harm or death, we still do need vaccines to protect us.
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