Vaccines: What Your Doctors Know and Don’t Know

What did your doctor learn about vaccines in medical school?




Dr. Suzanne Humphries:


Dr. Bob Sears:


Dr. Larry Palevsky:



Marcia Angell sums it up well:


Worldwide, the vaccine market is approximately $30 billion. The U.S. claims two-thirds of that total, or $20 billion. [5] Which leads to another question: Should pharmaceutical companies be responsible for what doctors are taught about vaccines? They have everything to gain by selling vaccines and nothing to lose.










The AAFP’s curriculum includes real-life scenarios of parental concerns and suggested responses for doctors. Here are a few.

Concern: Parents who think vaccines cause autism






Concern: The source of vaccine-hesitant parents’ information



Concern: Parents who want to follow an alternate schedule



Concern: Serious side effects



Concern: The purpose and safety of vaccine ingredients




Pediatricians and other doctors aren’t the only ones giving vaccines. All 50 states allow pharmacists to administer shots. And they do so—at the rate of millions each year.

The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) has developed a certificate program for pharmacists. Besides learning about vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases, they are taught marketing skills for increasing vaccine rates and strategies for dispelling common myths about vaccines. [11]

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) provides recommendations for pharmacists and their role in decreasing the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases. They include reminders to patients; disseminating information through phone, postcards, brochures, e-mail, television, and newspapers; presentations to community and professional groups; participation in public events; and seizing opportunities for screening (for example, a patient buying bandages and antibiotic might need a tetanus shot). [12]

Like physicians who increase vaccination rates, pharmacists get awards—the Immunization Champion Awards. In addition to six other categories, this year’s program (supported by Novartis Vaccines) awarded honors for “special recognition and lifetime achievement.” The activities by the more than 100 nominees included a “Beat the Bug” campaign with “little green squeezy bugs” for customers and a “bug mascot” at the state fair”; an off-site clinic at the local radio station that gave a flu shot on the air; and inflatable syringe balloons in a pharmacy along with associates standing outside the store in a pig costume with a sign saying “PROTECT YOURSELF AGAINST THE SWINE FLU.” [13]







Do you think doctors read any of the studies that show a definite link between vaccines and autism? Studies like Dr. Wakefield’s and the subsequent ones that replicated his findings? I doubt it. They’re too busy reading articles published in journals like Pediatrics and written by pharmaceutical company board members. Articles teaching them how to handle anti-vaccine parents and lessen the pain of vaccines. Anything that will raise vaccination rates.







2. www.askdrsears.com/topics/vaccines/inside-vaccine-book

3. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/04/11/vaccination-impact-on-childrens-health.aspx

4. http://bostonreview.net/BR35.3/angell.php

5. http://jutiagroup.com/20120412-vaccine-therapies-hold-promise-for-investors-stephen-dunn/

6. www.cdc.gov/vaccines/ed/courses.htm

7. www.immunizationed.org/

8. www.eqipp.org/index.cfm?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3a+No+local+token

9. www2.aap.org/immunization/pediatricians/communicating.html

10. www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/education-professional-development/20120409vaccinesafetycurriculum.html

11. www.pharmacist.com/Content/NavigationMenu3/ContinuingEducation/CertificateTrainingProgram/PharmacyBasedImmunizationDelivery/Pharmacy_Based_Immun.htm

12. www.uspharmacist.com/content/d/feature/i/783/c/14501/

13. www.pharmacist.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Pharmacist_Immunization_Center1&template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=28075

14. www.oneandonlycampaign.org/about/the-campaign

15. www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/six-reasons-to-say-no-to-vaccination/


Photo Credit

Jennifer Hutchinson
