Vaccine Safety

¶ … public policy formulation: case thimerosal vaccines Critique Requirements 1-2 pages You APA formatting (accordance requirements Publication Manual American Psychological Association) paper. The process of public policy formulation: The case of thimerosal in vaccines One of the paradoxes of the success of vaccination in the 20th century is that people are more aware of the risks of vaccines than they are of the benefits.

Many individuals have never encountered someone who was negatively impacted by polio, measles, rubella, or any of the host of childhood illnesses for which we now have vaccinations. One of the most frequently-expressed concerns about vaccines pertains to thimerosal, a mercury-containing compound that used to be a minor component of some common vaccines. At high levels, thimerosal can be toxic, hence the concern.

In a survey of the vaccinations to which children are commonly exposed, it was determined that "an infant 6 months old who received all recommended vaccine doses on schedule could be exposed to up to 187.5 _g of mercury" (Freed et al. 2002: 1154).

In terms of hazardous conditions likely to be caused by high doses, the most commonly-reported side effects were allergic reactions such as skin sensitization or, at very high doses (more than 1000 times higher than would be found in the vaccines), thimerosal was found to cause "neurologic and renal toxicity" (Freed et al. 2002: 1155). In setting standards for minimum exposure, the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) based its guidelines for exposure to thimerosal ethyl mercury on existing methyl mercury guidelines.

"Based on these calculations, the CBER determined that potential exposure to mercury from the recommended childhood vaccines in the first 6 months of life could exceed the EPA methyl mercury guideline, but not the ATSDR, FDA, or WHO guidelines. However, the CBER was unable to determine with certainty whether exposure to thimerosal in vaccines was harmful" (Freed et al. 2002: 1155).

Concerns were pressing enough that leaders of the major organizations devoted to setting immunization policy held a meeting and eventually released a policy statement on the issue: "during that time, these individuals and their organizations worked diligently to develop a response that they believed balanced the potential risk from exposure to thimerosal with the actual risk of vaccine-preventable disease and would ensure continued public confidence in the nations' immunization system" (Freed et al. 2002: 1155).

There was significant disagreement amongst the different parties regarding the safety of the timing of various vaccines which unfortunately led to confusion amongst many health practitioners: for example, the recommendation to delay the Hepatitis B vaccination led to many infants being exposed to the contagion because of late immunization. One of the reasons there continues to be such debate and uncertainty regarding the safety of vaccinations is the conflicting evidence presented by experts on such expert panels.

Risk assessment may vary depending on the prioritization given to the possibilities of individuals with unusual sensitivities to the components having reactions and the extent to which the side effects which result from very high.