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We know how important it is to have relevant, timely information for your family.

Animated Videos

We’ve answered your most frequently asked questions with these short & fun videos. Watch what interests you or the whole series.

Don’t see what you’re looking for? Scroll below for more common concerns and answers.

What are vaccines?

How do vaccines work?

Why are vaccines given to babies?

Are vaccines safe?

What is community immunity?

Why so many vaccines?

Why is there aluminum in some vaccines?

Who profits from vaccines?

Vídeos Animados

Hemos respondido a sus preguntas más frecuentes con estos videos cortos y divertidos. Mira lo que te interesa o toda la serie. ¿No ves lo que estás buscando? Desplácese a continuación para obtener respuestas e inquietudes más comunes.

¿Qué son las vacunas?

¿Cómo funcionan las vacunas?

¿Por qué se vacunan a los bebés?

¿Las vacunas son seguras?

¿Qué es la inmunidad colectiva?

¿Por qué tantas vacunas?

¿Por qué algunas vacunas contienen aluminio?

¿Quién obtiene ganancias de las vacunas?

Common Concerns About Vaccinations

There's a lot of misinformation about vaccines online and among parenting groups.  We help you sort out what's credible and what's not.

Below are some of the most common questions and answers about vaccines.  If you have additional concerns, please attend our community workshop, talk to your pediatrician, or email info@boostoregon.org.

  • Vaccine manufacturers list everything used in the manufacturing process of a vaccine, not only what is in the actual, finished vaccine. Imagine reading the ingredients for a bag of peas if the manufacturer had to list everything used to grow the peas: “Soil,” “cow manure,” and the numerous chemicals found in the fertilizer would be listed. Similarly, many of the items listed as vaccine ingredients are used to create the vaccine but are not contained in the final product. Ingredients that are worth noting are:

    Aluminum Salts: These are used in some vaccines as “adjuvants,” which are mild immune stimulators that help make vaccines more effective. The aluminum salt stays where the vaccine was inserted in the body and is slowly absorbed over time. Aluminum is a very common element -- the third most common element in the Earth’s crust -- and we constantly eat, drink, and breathe it. The aluminum in vaccines is such a small amount, and is cleared from the body so effectively, that we can’t even detect a change in the amount of aluminum in the body after vaccination.

    Thimerosal: This is a preservative that used to be in some vaccines to keep them sterile and safe. Oregon banned thimerosal in pediatric vaccines necessary for school entry immunization requirements. Thimerosal was removed from all childhood vaccines in 2001. Some versions of the flu vaccine that are shipped in multi-dose vials contain thimerosal to keep the vaccine sterile between uses, but it has not been found to be unsafe. Thimerosal contains a small amount of ethyl mercury, which does not accumulate in the body and is quickly cleared out by urination. The type of mercury found in a can of tuna fish -- methyl mercury -- is more dangerous because that does accumulate in the body. Regardless, the vast majority of flu vaccines come in single-use syringes and does not contain any thimerosal or other preservatives.

  • Immunizations are some of the most studied, regulated, and monitored medical products available. They undergo rigorous testing for years before they are made available to the public. They are then monitored for safety indefinitely through two separate but connected surveillance systems: The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD). For more information about the safety of vaccines, and a list of studies, check out this resource from the American Association of Pediatrics.

  • Vaccines are extensively tested before being licensed for general use and continue to be monitored regularly after licensure. For details about the licensure and recommendation processes, check out this resource from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

  • Yes! Vaccines have been tested against placebo (an inactive injection). The MMR vaccine was even tested against an unvaccinated population: Because it was one of the first immunizations developed, there was a large population who were completely unvaccinated at the time it was studied.

  • Vaccines are made by taking a naturally-occurring illness and either destroying it or weakening it to the point that it cannot cause disease. When it is injected in your body, it allows your immune system to practice responding to it. Immunizations use your immune system’s natural ability to protect you from illness by letting it have a “dress rehearsal” at fighting off an illness. The antibodies you make from immunizations are the same that you would make from contracting the disease, but, with vaccines, you don’t have to get sick in order to get immunity.

  • Yes. We immunize against the most dangerous infections because there are real risks to catching these illnesses. For example, for every 1,000 cases of measles, we can expect to see approximately: 200+ hospitalizations; 80-100 cases of dehydration from diarrhea; 70 ear infections; 60 cases of pneumonia; 6-7 seizures; 1-2 deaths; and 1-2 cases of encephalitis (25% of patients with measles related encephalitis will have permanent brain damage). As of November 2019, we’ve had over 1,250 confirmed measles cases in the United States, the most in over 20 years.

  • Different vaccines have different levels of protection. For example, the measles immunization is 97% effective after the second dose, and its immunity lasts a lifetime. Others, like the tetanus vaccine, are very effective but need booster doses over time to offer continuous protection. The flu shot is less effective and needs to be updated each year. No vaccine is 100% effective, which is why community immunization rates must be high in order to keep vaccine-preventable diseases at bay.

  • Immunization is only effective if around 95% of the population does it. Once rates start to drop below 95%, we begin to see outbreaks of disease. The more people decline vaccines, the more outbreaks of preventable diseases occur (like the measles outbreaks throughout the United States in 2019). There are also some people who cannot have vaccines. Some people are too young, some have a medical condition that compromises their immune system, and some have a severe allergy that prevents them from receiving immunizations. These people rely on the rest of us to be vaccinated and prevent exposing them to disease.

  • Immunizations are recommended at the times in our lives that we are most susceptible to bad outcomes from getting sick. Our immune systems can respond to a huge number of things without becoming overwhelmed, and the small exposures from routine immunizations are a drop in the bucket of the number of things our immune system encounters in a single day. In fact, because we know which parts of a bacteria/virus are best at creating immunity, we can put just those parts in the vaccine, so the number of things your immune system needs to process from a vaccine is far lower than if you got the illness it prevents.

  • There is no benefit to giving shots one at a time or otherwise delaying vaccines. We give immunizations when children are young because that is when they best respond to immunizations and are most susceptible to disease. Spacing out or delaying vaccines leaves your child at risk of catching these illnesses, and there’s no evidence that giving multiple vaccines at the same time is harmful. The best protection for your child is to vaccinate her on time.

  • There has been a huge amount of research into this question and no connection whatsoever has been found between immunization and autism. The most recent research has looked at very large populations of children (600,000+) and found no relationship between vaccines and autism, even in families with other risk factors for autism diagnoses.

  • MTHFR stands for methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, an enzyme that is involved in many processes in our bodies. There are several versions of this enzyme, and, depending on which version you inherited from your parents, your individual enzymes may be more or less active. A large percentage of us have variations in this enzyme, and as many as 40% of us have a lower-functioning variant of the enzyme. Some have argued -- without evidence -- that these genetic variations increase susceptibility to “vaccine injury.” There is no evidence that an MTHFR gene variation makes one more likely to react negatively to a vaccine, and there is no reason to avoid immunizations just because you have an MTHFR gene variation. In fact, because these variations are so common, it is not recommended to test for them at all. For more information you can read this article by The Atlantic.

  • Even though vaccines are extremely effective, they are not perfect. For example, a vaccine that is 90% effective means that 1 in every 10 people who are vaccinated will not be fully protected from the disease. When the disease affects a community, unprotected people are more likely to be infected. This includes those who were not vaccinated and the 10% of people who were vaccinated but did not get full protection. Vaccinated people who get the disease can experience a milder form of the disease. For example, for whooping cough (pertussis), we know that vaccinated children have fewer symptoms, are sick for a shorter time, and are less likely to spread the disease to others. We need more than one dose of most vaccines to get the protective immunity. Some vaccines require booster doses throughout a lifetime to maintain protection.

Have more questions?

Join us for a community workshop where you can learn the science behind vaccines. Unlike other such forums, it is not intended to scare people into or out of anything, or to tell you what to do.

How to Comfort Your Child During Shots

No one likes needles. But you can make your child’s vaccine appointments more comfortable. Learn how below.

Before The Shots:

(Adapted from "Parents Can Help Reduce Pain And Anxiety From Vaccinations")

  • Talk to your child on the morning of the shot and walk through the events of the day, including the medical visit and shot. Then talk about the next event so that your child focuses beyond the vaccination (e.g., “We’re going out for ice cream afterward”).

  • Remind older children that vaccines are part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, just like using a car seat and seat belts for safety.

During The Appointment:

  • When it’s time to get the shot, the most important thing you can do is remain calm. Your child knows right away when you’re feeling anxious, and she will feel more anxious as a result.

  • Your child’s position during the shot can make a difference. Try holding your child in a way that’s more like being hugged and less like being restrained. Letting an older child remain upright establishes a sense of control and decreases fear.

  • Skin-to-skin contact, breastfeeding, or pacifiers may soothe your baby during a shot. Drinking sugar water before or during the shots can provide some relief from pain, perhaps by replacing the plain with a pleasurable sensation.

  • With older children, try taking deep breaths. The child can leave loose the arm receiving the shot, take in a deep breath before the shot, and then release a full, relaxing breath out during the shot. Focusing on one’s breath provides a distraction that may compete with the pain.

  • Talk to your medical provider about using a numbing agent before the shot, like 4% lidocaine cream (available over-the-counter at most pharmacies). It is applied to the skin and numbs the area so that the shot is less painful.

  • Ask your medical provider about a shot blocker, which is a plastic tool that blocks the pain from the needle’s insertion. If your provider doesn’t have one, you can buy it online or at most pharmacies.

After The Shots:

(Adapted from the Immunization Action Coalition, “After the Shots . . . ”)

  • Immediately after the shot, try to distract your child with a game, a cartoon, a stuffed animal, or a song. Don’t dwell on the shot once it’s over. Emphasize what went well and then move on.

  • If your child is fussy after vaccination or develops a fever, you can give acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil) to reduce discomfort. If your child is uncomfortable for more than 24 hours, or the fever reaches a temperature that your medical provider has told you to be concerned about, call your provider.

  • If your child’s arm or leg is swollen, hot, or red, apply a clean, cool, wet washcloth over the sore for comfort. If the redness or tenderness increases after 24 hours, call your medical provider.

Boost Oregon is a community-driven organization.

We educate families and communities about vaccines and dispel rumors that circulate online or among their peers. We're a group of parents, medical providers, and community members who want to give all Oregonians the best shot at a healthy life!

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 Stories From Parents

Featured
Vaccines Prevent the Spread of Diseases
Vaccines Prevent the Spread of Diseases

By: Leah, mother, Portland, OR

I have lived and worked in other countries, and I have family in northeastern Brazil, a place where some vaccines only became available to the general public recently. I have family and friends who are doctors and scientists, some of whom have treated illnesses that could have been prevented with vaccines. They have had to comfort the parents of children who were disfigured, brain-damaged, or died as a result of preventable illnesses. I lived in Denver, Colorado, where one of my colleagues still walks with great difficulty and the help of crutches, as he has for most of his life, because he did not receive the polio vaccine as a child and then contracted the disease.

I know that most people in Oregon have not seen the horror that diseases can do. That is not just because we are lucky. That is because modern medicine has developed vaccines to prevent the spread and the damage of those diseases.

Recently while on a vacation, my family witnessed a terrible car accident. One car had flipped over several times and landed on its roof. In the other car, a passenger was stuck between his steering wheel and his seat back. As the first responders, we kept the victims alert and talking until the paramedics arrived. Every single one of them was wearing a seat belt. Every single one of them walked away with only minor injuries.

Their outcome was not luck; it was the result of the science behind seat belts, air bags, and crumple zones, technology that allows us to live longer, healthier lives and to survive the things that killed and maimed people in the past.

Similarly, I think of vaccines as life-saving technology. My children and myself will be out in the world, and there is always a chance that we will be exposed to a disease that could hurt or kill us. Thanks to the modern technology of vaccines, we have a chance to walk away from them, unharmed.

Choosing Not to Delay Vaccination
Choosing Not to Delay Vaccination

By: Rachel, mother, Portland, OR

When my husband and I had our first child, we talked heavily about vaccines. In our Portland community, this was a much-debated topic often fueled by emotion, rather than science or facts. My husband was pretty pro-vaccine, as he works in the travel industry and often sees the importance of vaccines globally. I, on the other hand, wanted to take as “gentle” an approach as possible. As a new mom, I consulted mid-wives before doctors, breastfed both babies past 16 months, and attempted to avoid as much Western medical interventions as possible.

I thought a lot about every decision, including vaccines. For our first child, we gave him most (not all) of the CDC [Centers for Disease Control] recommended course, on a delayed schedule, one at a time. As he grew older and he was more afraid of shots, it became a huge challenge and inconvenience to go back and forth to the doctor.

Due to my exhaustion of schlepping the kids to the doctor on multiple occasions, my son’s emotional fear of needles as he grew, and the fact that I had yet to read any current medical evidence that routine vaccine schedules were dangerous (in fact, I started hearing about local outbreaks of preventable diseases in our city), we decided to follow the CDC guidelines for our daughter. I have cut my trips to the doctor by more than half, and I also have peace of mind when I let her play and interact with children of all geographic locations, both at home and when we travel.

The Importance of Community Immunity
The Importance of Community Immunity

By: Alison, mother, Portland, OR

Terror is the word I use to describe what it feels like to learn that your child has cancer. A chill that takes over your body, rapid heartbeat, mind racing.

But we cheered in our six-year-old daughter's hospital room when told that her type of Leukemia has a treatment plan with a high cure rate. It would mean more than two years of bone marrow biopsies, surgeries, transfusions, spinal taps, and chemotherapy. So much chemo. The drugs would kill the cancer and save her life but they would also kill her immune system, leaving her vulnerable. We did what we could to keep her safe as she endured the treatment-- stocking up on hand sanitizer and limiting where we took her. Weeks were spent trapped in an isolation hospital room when fevers struck.

We did our best to push aside the terror and keep our family thriving, but I could not stop the terror when told that there was a child with Whooping Cough at my daughters' school. Nor could I stop it as we canceled our trip to Disneyland during the Measles outbreak.

Our community was not protecting our daughter.

Our loving community that cooked us meals, helped care for our other daughter, sent our children gifts; the wider community that made a custom wig, built a dream playhouse, provided a special getaway. I will never forget the waived dental bill, or the unordered donuts that appeared with a hot chocolate. There are so many kind people that want to help.

I long for a day when all forms of cancer have a treatment plan. I hope that the treatments we do have can become less toxic. And in the meantime, I want everyone to know that they can help. Vaccinating your children and keeping your community healthy is the most important thing you can do to help all people with cancer.

Vaccines Did Not Cause My Son’s Autism
Vaccines Did Not Cause My Son’s Autism

By: Brenna, Mother, Portland, OR

I do not believe that vaccination caused my son’s autism.

I do not believe it because a mountain of scientific evidence has established that there is no link between vaccines and autism. But on a much more personal level, I do not believe it because when I look at my son I do not see a damaged version of someone he was supposed to be. I see a sweet, bright, empathetic boy who is growing into a warm and loving young man. I see the son I have wanted since I was a little girl. My son has always been who he was meant to be.

But that is not how too much of the world sees autistic people. No one has ever died from autism, and in fact autistic people have made and continue to make foundational contributions to our communities and society. But the link between vaccine-hesitancy and autism exists in no small part because autism is more frightening to many people than diseases that claim lives. The thing that makes autism more frightening than measles, mumps, or rubella is stigma. That stigma bears much blame for the resurgence of vaccine-preventable disease.

In some ways, I can’t blame other parents for their fear. Parenting a child with autism is not easy. But the parents of any special needs child will tell you that the soul-crushing aspects of this experience aren’t caused by our kids, they’re caused by other adults. They are caused by the amount of time and effort and energy we spend justifying our children’s humanity to people and institutions who would deny them education, medical care, and the support they need to lead lives as members of their communities. We spend our days fighting school districts, state agencies, and health insurance companies, resisting the casual judgments of strangers, pleading with our elected officials to preserve what little social safety net there is, and worrying about what will happen to our children when we can’t fight these battles anymore. I can’t blame anyone for being afraid of this experience. But it is not caused by autism, it is caused by stigma surrounding autism.

No amount of posting or tweeting or righteous indignation is going to change anyone’s mind on the subject of vaccines. But there are things each and every one of us can do each and every day to combat this stigma. Reach out to the special needs family in your neighborhood. When you see an older child having a melt-down in a grocery store, instead of shooting judgmental looks at her parents then turning your back, offer to help. As parents, when your child has a classmate who is struggling, express your support to the teacher, the school, and especially your child. As employers, explore ways you can hire and retain neurodiverse individuals. You might find they add unique skills to your workforce. And most critically, vote for a robust and equitable social safety net.

Combating vaccine-hesitancy with autism awareness may seem counterintuitive. But in a society that embraces autism’s gifts and offers help with its challenges, there would be no reason to risk disease out of fear of autism. Even more fundamentally, a society that does not support all of our children does not truly support any of them. None of our children is guaranteed a smooth path to adulthood. All of our kids know that they will struggle sometimes, and they worry about how we adults will respond. Seeing kids who are struggling receive support and empathy from the adults around them is the best evidence we can offer our children that they are valued for who they are, and that makes them stronger, braver, and kinder. Disability generally and autism in particular have been a normal part of human experience for as long as we have been human. If we learned to embrace that reality, we would all be better off.

Vaccines Protect Immune-Compromised People Like Me
Vaccines Protect Immune-Compromised People Like Me

By: Tom, Father

My family and I have experienced firsthand both the relief of being covered by vaccines and the fear of contracting a deadly disease through exposure to others who have not been vaccinated.

My wife and I have three grown daughters. Our youngest is allergic to all trees, grasses, and flowers. She must visit her doctor’s office on a monthly basis to receive injections that enable her to live a normal life, as she encounters these allergens on a daily basis.

In 2013, I was diagnosed with a liver condition. When my liver is inflamed, it affects the function of not only my liver but also my kidneys, gallbladder, pancreas, and spleen. All of these organs can become susceptible to failure without warning.

After I received my diagnosis, because I was at high risk for reduced liver and immune system function and organ shutdown, I received the hepatitis A, hepatitis B, HIV, shingles and tetanus vaccines to better protect my body and continue to enjoy my quality of life. My family and I could then live with less fear about the risk of my exposure to these deadly diseases.

However, a recent experience brought all of these fears back to life. My youngest daughter attends college in North Carolina. In early October, the school informed us that there were 3 suspected cases of mumps on campus. Several days later, the number of cases jumped to 11 and then to 18. Some of these students missed weeks of classes, and a few students had to drop classes after more than 3 absences.

Our daughter must visit the same health center every week for allergy injections where the students were diagnosed with the mumps. Thankfully, because she received her MMR vaccine on schedule, she was still able to receive her injections with only a low risk of contracting the disease. However, we had planned that I would visit my daughter and drive her home for her mid-term break. Instead, because of the risk of my contracting mumps and the awful consequences that could result, I was unable to visit her school. When she came home on her own, we were forced to sanitize everything she brought with her so I wouldn’t be exposed to the disease.

A few parents who chose not to vaccinate their children put others at risk who have lower-functioning immune systems. People like me are at risk to dangerous complications of mumps, such as pancreatitis and organ failure, due to my already-compromised pancreas and other organs.

It is terrible that a disease from our grandparents’ generation is resurfacing because parents are disregarding vaccination recommendations that are closely monitored for safety. I hope that other parents will read my story and make the choice to vaccinate their children. They will be saving not only their own family’s lives, but other lives as well.

(Mumps outbreaks can still occur in U.S. communities of people who previously had one or two doses of MMR vaccine. This is particularly common in close-contact settings. High vaccination coverage helps limit the size, duration, and spread of mumps outbreaks.)

I’m a Pediatrician, and I Vaccinate My Kids
I’m a Pediatrician, and I Vaccinate My Kids

By: Katharine, mother and pediatrician, Portland, OR

As a pediatrician, I have seen many children hospitalized with vaccine-preventable diseases - including my own patients. These diseases are scary! I vaccinated both of my girls as soon as I could because I knew it was one of the best ways to protect them.

Every year, we treat kids at our hospital with vaccine-preventable diseases. Their stories are heartbreaking. In contrast, in my 12 years of pediatric practice, I have never seen a child experience a serious reaction to a vaccine. I know these reactions to vaccines can happen, but the reactions are so much less common than the diseases the vaccines are intended to prevent.

I think some parents think about the risks of vaccinating, but pediatrician parents think all the time about the risks of not vaccinating! That’s why every pediatrician I know vaccinates. I also know that vaccinating my kids is an important way to keep people who cannot get vaccines for medical reasons safe.

Some people think pediatricians profit off vaccines, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I encourage my patients to vaccinate, and I vaccinated my kids, because it’s the best way to avoid certain terrible diseases. My practice and I do not receive financial benefits when a patient vaccinates.