April 8, 2025 • 67 mins
We’re already back with our first episode of season 8! This week and next, we’re exploring childhood vaccine schedules - what diseases they protect us from, how the schedule is arranged, and who decides on the vaccines to include and the timing of vaccinations. In this first episode, we start with a refresher on how vaccines work before running through the entire schedule we have here in the US, vaccine by vaccine, comparing pre- and post-vaccine mortality rates. We close out the episode by discussing why vaccination is so important, not just for personal protection but for our communities. Stay tuned for more childhood vaccine schedule talk next week!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
A calamity of the most serious kind has swept down
upon this beautiful group of islands, and its ravages will
have to be computed not by the hundred, but by thousands.
A most extraordinary scene was presented of whole towns, with
the houses closed, the lanes and squares silent as death,
and the inhabitants all down, old men and infants, young
(00:23):
men and mothers of families, one heap of illness. The
destroying angel had silenced every dwelling, and there was a
weird quiet about the place that struck very peculiarly upon
one's feelings. Daily the canoes were to be seen carrying
the dead to their breezy resting places on the opposite shore,
and day and night was the death drum beating, and
(00:46):
the wails of the mourners rose on the air. Strong
winds and heavy rains added to the horrors of the situation,
and the bowens almost starved for food, the people being
unable to get to the mainland, where their gardens were
hard worked in the day and with broken rest at night.
I passed through some weeks the like of which I
(01:07):
hope never to see again at home in our own land.
There is always a large proportion of healthy persons who
act as a relief to the many stricken by prevailing disease.
But here you have a whole country down, all sick men,
women and children dying all around you every day, your
(01:27):
best friends among the people dying.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
It's so horrific erin, it's awful.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
It is.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Almost unfathomable. And yet that is a first hand account.
That is what really happened. That is a diary entry
from the Reverend AJ Webb, who was a missionary in
Fiji at the time of the eighteen seventy five outbreak
that killed a quarter of the population of measles from sorry, yes,
(02:43):
of measles, measles, measles, measles.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, it is really terrifying.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
And yeah, so it makes me so thankful that we
have a vaccine, Like I truly cannot imagine living in
a time when this was reality.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Should not be forgotten, like it can't be. Hi, I'm Aaron.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Welsh, and I'm Aaron Allman.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Updike, and this is this podcast will kill you.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
And we're coming at you with season eight. Season eight.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yeah, Season seven was like literally yesterday, And so if
you did notice a long break between seasons that is
by design, that is intentional.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
There wasn't a break. There wasn't you know.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Given all of the disturbing and widespread changes that are
happening to public health and the sciences here in the US,
we decided, you know, maybe we should just like keep
things rolling, trying to stay on top of some of
these horrific changes and provide you all with clear info
and reliable sources for some of the things that you're
seeing splashed across headlines, things like devastating funding cuts to
(03:53):
scientific research, outbreaks of vaccine preventable illnesses, including measles, the
intentional concealment of vital public health information, massive cuts to
healthcare access, a profiteer of vaccine disinformation at the helm
of the most significant public health institution in the US.
(04:14):
The list goes on. Yeah, yep, misinformation is everywhere, and
it's growing by the second.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It really is.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
And the truth is, we are all all of us
susceptible to it, every one of us, even me and you,
even if we think we aren't or we like to
think we aren't. So what do we do about it?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
What do we do about it? Well, we'll tell you
what we're going to do about it.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
What we are going to do is, through this podcast
throughout the season, continue to be sources of reliable information
about issues in health and medicine, to continue to provide
historical context about scientific developments, and to explore the current
research shaping the future of health on planet. That is
what we have done, that is what we will continue
(05:02):
to do. Our list for this season is long and
so far includes fun things like raw milk, SSRIs avian influenza,
we hear you, We're doing it, and fluoride and literally
so many more.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
It's a long list.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Do you notice a trend? Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
So, to help us fill out the schedule for this
season and prioritize our focus, we wanted to ask you,
guys all for your help. What do you want to
learn about? What topics are you seeing misinformation about? Which
episodes that we've done in the past. Would you like
an update on? Yes, let us know reach out. The
best way to do that is through the contact us
form on our website this podcast will kill You dot com,
(05:44):
or you can send us an email to this podcast
will Kill You at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yep, Yes, we can't wait to hear from you. Yeah,
it's going to be a it's going to be a
season full of info.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
It's going to be a season period moving on on.
What are we doing now? What are we doing now?
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yes, this week and next week we are going to
be talking about the childhood vaccine schedule, especially the one
that we have here in the US. And this actually
it's funny because like we ended the pregnancy series and
we were like, oh, well, and we'll talk about childhood
stuff some other times. We'll talk about infancy some other time,
and actually this is like kind of a follow up.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
It's a nice it's almost like we planned it. It is.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
And part of the reason that we decided to do
this is because, you know, you may have come across
the news that RFK Junior, who is longtime anti vaccine
activist and now the Secretary of the US Department of
Health and Human Services, has indicated that he intends to
investigate the childhood vaccine schedule, after saying previously that he
(06:49):
would not. What are the possible consequences of this investigation.
That's what we're going to explore.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
That's what we want to know.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yes, And so to do this, we're splitting this topic
into two episodes because we want to first just do
a general review of how vaccines work, what these childhood
vaccines protect us against, and what these vaccinations do for
us as individuals and as members of a community. And
then in our second episode, we're going to go deeper into.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
The schedule itself.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
You know, what vaccines do kids get and when, how
we decided upon this vaccination schedule, how and why it
differs from schedules and other parts of the world. Some
of the latest trends and outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases.
And finally, just some strategies on how to talk with
people who might be on the fence about vaccines.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Just a few small topics for us to cover in
two episodes. We no problem fast.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Before we get into all of that, it is quarantine
any time is aaron.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
This week we're drinking Boosted Boosted. What's in boosted because
I have already forgotten?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
So it's a delicious little bev gin lemonade and raspberries raspberry.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Lemonade at gin.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
If you prefer easypasy, delicious, crazy squeezy.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
We'll post the full recipes on our website This podcast
will Kill You dot com, as well as our social
media channels.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
If you're not following us, you should be.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
There, should be, you should be. On our website. You
can find all kinds of things. You can find a
first hand account form. You can find a contact us form.
You can find links to music by Blowdemobile, links to
our bookshop, dot org affiliate account, our Goodreads list, links
to merch sources for all of our episodes, transcripts, Patreon's
There's so much there.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Wealth of information, goodness, say business, welcome back, good to see.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
You, welcome back.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
It's been so long, All right, let's start right after
a short break.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Childhood vaccine schedules have been, for quite some time a
major target of anti vaccine propaganda. Vaccine disinformation spreaders want
people to question, why do we need so many? Don't
these vaccines overwhelm our immune systems?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Do they aerin? No?
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Long story short, you're right. Rather than declaring vaccines unsafe
just across the board, these anti vaccine activists seek to
reach a broader audience by normalizing vaccine hesitancy and making
it more palatable. You know. They reframe their position from
anti vax, which is more alienating it's extreme, to pro
(09:56):
safe vaccination, because who doesn't want safe vaccines, right, we
all want safe vaccines.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
We have vaccines. Safe vaccines is the thing. I want that,
and we have that, and we have them.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
And the truth is that the vaccines we have, the
schedule we use, these things are safe and they have
been proven to be so over the decades, with so
much data to back this up. And we'll get more
into that in these episodes. Parents want the best for
their children. They want to set them up for a
(10:28):
happy and healthy life. Every decision that you make seems
fraught with the potential for harm. Things like which crib
to choose, what sleeping schedule is going to be the best.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Belong to you even I don't know, I have no.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Idea, But you want to do the right thing for
your child. Wanting to make the right decision and worrying
about the outcome is completely understandable. To help you decide
what to do, you may ask your doctor, You may
talk with your trusted friends, or you may you know,
ask the internet.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Consult the tickto consult TikTok. Oh, gosh, no, don't consult TikTok.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
But each of these things might advise you differently, or
they might see the balance of risks and benefits differently.
When it comes to vaccines, finding reliable information on the
internet is increasingly challenging, and given our medical system here
in the US, finding the time to make an appointment
with your doctor to fact check some of the things
that you've read about vaccines on the internet that can
(11:34):
be next to impossible.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yeah right. Or let's say that you.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Do find the time and you find the money to
make an appointment to talk with your doctor, and somehow,
in that ten minute appointment, you managed to squeeze in
a couple of questions about vaccines, and your doctor just
scoffs and condescends to you, making you feel bad for
asking these questions in the first place. And maybe you
can't shake that little seed of doubt planted by a
(11:59):
TikTok video that you saw that was spouting vaccine misinformation,
This video that makes you ask what if? The what
if that anti vaccine activists the question that they try
to plant is what if these vaccines are not safe?
When really the what if should be what if my
(12:20):
child gets measles? Yeah, disinformation spreaders minimize that future threat
of being unvaccinated, and they falsely amplify the minuscule risks
posed by vaccinations, or they just invent risks altogether. Choosing
not to vaccinate gives you the illusion of control, when
in fact, it takes it away entirely because you cannot
(12:44):
predict whether your child will be the one to die
in a measles outbreak, or one of the ones to
die in a measles outbreak, or it is it's so
tremendously sad. You can't predict whether they'll have permanent lung
damage after about of whooping cough, which they also transmitted
to a baby that was too young to be vaccinated.
(13:05):
We want to start these episodes with the message that
we get it right. It is easy to fall prey
to this vaccine disinformation because of the way that it
plays on those specific fears, because it gives you this
illusion of control, because it tells you that you're doing
right by your child. Vaccine disinformation is specifically engineered to
(13:26):
do this.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Right, and not just on TikTok. I feel like we no, no,
I know we lasted poor TikTok a few times.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Yes we have, yeah, but it's everywhere in everything.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
And addressing each one of the invalid claims that are
made by anti vaccine activists, it can actually breathe more
air into their movement. And so rather than doing targeted mythbusting,
what we're going to do in this and next episode
is we're going to present the factual information about vaccines,
the diseases that they prevent, and why we have childhood
(14:00):
vaccine schedule that we do.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
So first, Aaron, let's start back at the beginning.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
What are vaccines and.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
How do they work?
Speaker 3 (14:08):
I can't wait to get into this, Aaron. It's really
just like an appreciation of our immune system for a
moment here.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Ready, love our immune system.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Every single time that we breathe in, everything that we
put in our mouths, that we wipe across our snotty
noses that we rub into our eyes, all of this
exposes us to antigens. And antigen is just the fancy
medical word for stuff that our immune system can recognize
(14:39):
as not me right, not self. We are exposed to
these antigens all the time, from literally the minute that
we're born and we take our first breath and we
open our eyes, and once these antigens enter our body,
they get recognized by white blood cells, whose job is
antigen recognition.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
That's their title.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Then they present that antigen to other white blood cells
in our lymph nodes. Some of these white blood cells
in our lymph nodes make antibodies, and antibodies are like
little Lego flags that are hyper specific markers that can
recognize and lego click onto one single antigen or like
(15:23):
one part of one single antigen.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I love, I love the visual of a lego flag.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
It's just, you know, and they they really do. He
and key in lock can't lock.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Lego and they they basically flag it for destruction. That's
what an antibody is doing. But the part that actually
protects us in the long term is that these antibody
producing cells stick around in our bodies so that if
that particular antigen ever dares to show its face in
(15:54):
our body again, we're ready for it, right. These memory
cells can suit quickly make a whole bunch more of
these Lego flags and just stick them all over any
anigens that dare to enter before that virus or bacteria
or whatever it is can make us sick. And this
process is how our antibody mediated immune response, which is
(16:17):
just one of our incredible immune system things.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
That's how it works across the board.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
When we are sick with a viral infection or a
bacterial infection like the flu or something else, our immune
system is running through this whole immune response, but it's
doing so while the virus is replicating, and then we
get super super sick.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah, and we can die exactly.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
We're protected from a repeat infection. But there is a cost, right,
some of us will get very sick, we might be hospitalized,
we might even die from this infection. So what vaccines
do is just allow us to produce these antibodies that
will protect us from a future your infection without ever
having to get sick in the first place.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
That's what they do.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Like, it's just truly incredible. It is.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
It is.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Vaccines are so I love them.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
I'm like, it's simply put.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
It's simply put.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Because vaccines are just introducing these antigens in a very
small amount in a in a specific time and place.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
It's a shortcut that saves lives and saves saves permanent
injury and illness and even just short term right, right,
like being miserable with the flu.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
You don't have to feel that, right.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
It's They're incredible, And there are a number of different
types of vaccines that we use. There are things like
live attenuated vaccines. There are killed virus or killed bacteria vaccines,
There are toxoid vaccines, there are mRNA vaccines, and there
are lots of other types of like specific.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Vaccines, subtypes and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Yeah, we can link to so many detail more detail,
but the bottom line is that each of these different
types of vaccines has both pros and cons and some
types of vaccines are going to work better for some
diseases than others. And when people, meaning regulatory bodies, are
deciding which vaccine is approved or included in our vaccine schedule,
(18:27):
they're looking at things like efficacy, safety, and how well
it produces an immune response. All of these things have
to be considered. And every single vaccine, just like every
single thing that we put into our bodies, medicine, food, quarantinies,
all of it, as well as every single disease or
(18:47):
pathogen that we're exposed to, has a potential for side effects.
But the side effects of vaccines are generally quite mild.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
There are things like.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
A sore arm, swelling maybe around the injection site. Fever
now fevers in children can sometimes cause seizures and while
vaccines can cause a fever, febrile seizures after vaccination are
actually quite rare, and you're far more likely to get
a febrile seizure from an infection rather than a vaccination, right,
(19:20):
And in general, any serious side effects from a vaccine, like,
for example, the rash that can happen after an MMR
or a veraricella vaccine, they tend to be milder versions
of the same symptoms that you can have from the
disease itself, But most of the time you can't then
spread that to others the way that you can in
(19:41):
the context of an infectious disease, right.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Right.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
The only risk that exists with vaccination that doesn't really
exist with what people call natural infections whatever that means,
is the potential for an allergic reaction, and that mostly
has to do with vaccine component rather than the antigens
from that virus or bacteria itself. And it's estimated that
(20:05):
there are one to two severe allergic reactions per million
doses of vaccines. So when we're comparing risks and benefits,
we have to compare apples to apples. One to two
severe allergic reactions per million doses of vaccine. If we're
looking at measles, for example, one in five kids with
(20:26):
measles is hospitalized with severe infection, and one to three
of every one thousand kids with measles will.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Die, one to three for every one thousand kids.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah, and no kid should be dying from a disease
that we can prevent.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
No, no, no.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
So that's like how vaccines work across the board, and
a little bit of the risks and comparing the actual
risks to risks of the diseases that we're preventing against. So,
if we're talking about the childhood vaccinations schedule, what are
the vaccines on that schedule and what are the diseases
(21:08):
that we're actually able to prevent.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yes, let's go through it.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Let's we're going to back and forth. This this is
a fun this is not episode.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
It's been fun to put together.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Yeah, but before we get into it, let's take a
quick break and then we'll come back with all of
these vaccines and diseases.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Wait, So when we're talking about protecting kids, which is
(21:50):
what we're talking about in this episode, we actually can
start before they're even born because there are some vaccines
that we can give during pregnancy to provide passive immunity
to the baby, which includes t DApp and we'll get
into the diseases covered by that vaccine in a little bit,
but it also includes RSV, And if you didn't get
the RSV vaccine during pregnancy, there's another type of immunization
(22:12):
works a little bit differently that your baby can get
in the first week of life. So Aaron walk us
through what is RSV? What is the RSV vaccine protecting
us from?
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Okay, I am going to tell you all of that,
but first I've realized we should probably mention that we
have disease specific episodes for many of the diseases that
we will cover, in addition to a two parter on
vaccines right the history of their development and how they work,
more detail about all of this, And so just as
a little preamble to this section, we will link to
(22:46):
all of these other episodes in the show notes for
this one and on our website. And so if you
want more info.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
We've got so much.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
I feel like we said that to each other so
many times while we were working on this episode.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
That we forgot to say it. We're like, oh, it
will obviously We'll say that a million times.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Yeah, okay, but anyway, want more detail, We've got it.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
This is overview. Go.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
RSV is one of those we do have an RSV episode.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Okay, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
RSV stands for respiratory sensitial virus, and, as its name suggests,
it is a respiratory infection.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
It sure is.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
It's transmitted via air and direct contact, and for most adults,
infection with RSB is relatively mild, but in infants and
in elderly adults or those who have lung issues, it
can be deadly or it can lead to complications like
repeat hospitalizations, long term lung impairment, and asthma, or recurrent
weez There is no widely available treatment for RSV widely available,
(23:47):
and each year this virus causes three point six million
hospitalizations globally and an estimated one hundred thousand deaths in
children under the age of five, one hundred thousand.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Which is so s I know, I know it's going
to be on repeat.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Yeah, We're going to be repeating so many numbers. I
feel like both the vaccine given to the pregnant person
and the monoclonal antibody given to a newborn offer short
term protection for the newborn until their lungs are a
bit more developed, and then they're less likely at that
point to have a severe infection that requires hospitalization.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Yeah, and in general, people are recommended to get one
or the other YEP. So if they didn't get the
RSV vaccine during pregnancy, then that baby will get the
monoclonal antibody imanization. But most babies, the first vaccine that
they will get is actually hepatitis B, which is given
right after birth, usually within the first twenty four to
(24:42):
forty eight hours of life.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Aarin. What's hepatitis B.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Well, the hepatitis BE virus. It's a viral infection. It's
transmitted via blood and bodily fluids, and it can be
transmitted from mother to baby at birth. And the real
risk with hepatitis B, especially for those who are infected
at a young age, is chronic infection, which can lead
to liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. So, just to like
(25:07):
emphasize this, here's some numbers. So it's estimated that five
percent of adults newly infected with the hep B virus
will develop chronic hepatitis, but ninety five percent of children
under five who have the virus will develop it, which
is why vaccination is so critical. The three dose series
(25:28):
of this vaccine is nearly one hundred percent effective in
entirely preventing infection with this virus.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Nearly one hundred percent. It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
And even though we've had a hepatitis B vaccine since
the early nineteen eighties and estimated two hundred and fifty
four million people around the world are chronically infected with
this virus, with around one point two million new infections
every year and an estimated one point one million deaths
in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Yeah, that's why we vaccinate.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
That is why we vaccinate.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
After the birth dose of hepatitis B, the first round
of shots, as it's often called for babies in the US,
is at two months old. So at the two month
well child visit, we get five different vaccines plus a
second dose of the hepatitis B. So we get DETAP,
(26:26):
which is diphtheria tetanus and acellular protessis. We get IPv
which is the inactivated poliovirus, and we get hib or
hemophalous influenza type B and PCV or the new macaccle vaccine.
As well as rotavirus.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
So Aaron and the second dose oft beat in a second.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
I said that I did so Aerin. That's a lot
all at once. Can you please walk me through what
each one of these diseases are?
Speaker 1 (26:56):
These five, these five vaccines. It's amazing. Okay, you are
protected from.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
So many things.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I know. Let's start with rotavirus, right.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
So.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Rotavirus is transmitted fecal, oral, or direct contact with an
infected individual or through contaminated objects. Symptoms of rotavirus can
include watery diarrhea, vomiting, and severe dehydration that can lead
to death if rehydration therapy is not provided. Rotavirus is
a major killer globally, with a two point five percent
(27:28):
case fatality rate in children who are living in low
income countries. And even though we've had a vaccine since
two thousand and eight, rotavirus still causes a substantial burden
of global death and disease. So, for instance, in twenty sixteen,
rotavirus was estimated to cause two hundred and fifty eight
million infections globally and one hundred and twenty nine thousand
(27:51):
deaths in children under the age of five.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
It's just so sad. Eric and so hard vaccine preventable
diarrheal disease. Okay, okay, next more diphtheria.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
So, diphtheria is our first bacterial disease on this list,
and it's our first in a combo shot along with
the vaccines for tetanus and protessis detap is what the
vaccine is called, detap.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah, T tap for adults. Hey, yes, if anyone's confused
about that.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
In my head, I've been saying T tap detap, Which
one is? Detap?
Speaker 2 (28:24):
It's fine detap.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Diphtheria is caused by a bacterium named Karinibacterium diphtheria. Karanibacterium
is just a really fun word to say, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
It is.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
It's another respiratory pathogen. It's transmitted through sneezes and coughs,
and the symptoms of diphtheria can be things like sore throat, fever,
swollen necklands, weakness. And I still vividly remember from our
diphtheria episode years ago, like back in twenty eighteen, twenty seventeen.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
It's very old, twenty I don't remember anyway, I mean
it was months apart. It's yeah, it's stuck in your mind,
suck in my mind.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
And this is one of the hallmark symptoms of diphtheria.
It is a gray, odoriferous membrane made up of dead
tissue that coats your respiratory tract and this makes it
super difficult to swallow and breathe, like makes it difficult
to breathe. The bacterium also produces a toxin that can
injure your heart and your nerves, leading to long term complications.
(29:25):
Diphtheria is an incredibly deadly infection, with death occurring in
thirty percent of unvaccinated individuals without access to treatment like
antibiotics or serum. But even having those things is not
a guarantee of safety, right. A study that looked at
diptheria cases in unvaccinated individuals between nineteen fifty nine and
(29:47):
nineteen seventy found that even when treated with antibiotics, antiitoxin,
and supportive care, ten percent of people died.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Yeah, yeah, dip theoria is a scary one. It really is.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Okay, we've got a few more for this round, a
lot more.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
The well child check is a big deal. It's like
when it's no longer truly terrifying. If your child gets
a fever because before this point, like they're in the
emergency room, you're concerned for a very serious infection if
they have a fever. And after this they're protected from
so many of the things that used to kill babies
(30:26):
all the time.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
All the time.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
So like tetanus my tetanus next on our list.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
This is another bacterial disease caused by Claustridium tetani and
most people probably know that it's transmitted through exposure to
spores of this bacterium, which can live in soil, ash,
rusty tools, and in the intestinal tracts and feces of
humans and mammals who are infected with this infection can
occur when you have like a deep puncture wound, but
(30:52):
most tetanus infections actually happen during birth, like if the
umbilical cord was cut with a contaminated tool or if
the pregnant person not been adequately vaccinated. The symptoms of
tetanus include painful muscle spasms, trouble swallowing. Lock job is
another name for tetanus, seizures, headache, fever, blood pressure changes,
(31:12):
elevated heart rate, and death is quite a common outcome.
Even with all that modern medicine can offer. Like you,
you know, get tetanus symptoms, show you go to the
hospital right away. You have all of the best treatment
in the world. And twenty twenty five, ten percent of
people with tetanus will die from the infection, and those
(31:33):
that do recover are not protected from future infections. Only
the vaccine gives you immunity, not the infection itself, which.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Is so interesting and like you could do a deep
dive on why that is. And it's because we are
exposed to a much larger amount of the toxin, but
it can't actually make us sick, whereas that it's so interesting, yes.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Yeah, yeah, so in and this is still a major
problem around the world. The WJO reported that in twenty eighteen,
twenty five thousand newborns died from neonatal tetanus. That is
a huge number. Yeah, but that number, twenty five thousand
was a ninety seven percent drop from nineteen eighty eight,
(32:12):
when seven hundred and eighty seven thousand babies died within
their first month of life from tetanus.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Oh my god, erin in nineteen eighty eight, that's the
year I was born.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Yeah, there's more, there's more. These vaccines protect you FROMPHS protesis.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
So this is protestis is.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
The last in our tee dap trio detap. Sorry see
I have written detap in my head wants to say
tea dap okay protestas.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
So this protestis is.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
A bacterial disease caused by Bordetella protessis. This is another
airborne infection. It's spread when someone talks, sneezes, or coughs,
and symptoms can include fever, running nose, and the characteristic
hacking cough of this infection that gives it its their
name whooping cough. Protesses can turn into a very serious illness,
(33:05):
especially in infants, and this disease remained a major killer
in childhood for many parts of the world into the
mid twentieth century, with the case fatality rate of around
ten percent. Antibiotics aren't very effective against protessis, even though
this is a bacterial infection, and antibiotics are mostly used
just to reduce the spread of the disease, not reduce
(33:27):
the severity of an individual infection Like that's what they're
most effective against.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Yeah, preventing other people in the community who are unvaccinated
or under vaccinated from getting sick.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
A study from the CDC showed that kids not vaccinated
against protessis or sixteen times more likely to get the
infection compared to vaccinated kids. Within a few decades of
the protest's vaccine being introduced, mortality rates dropped around ninety percent.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Wow. Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
And since babies can't get the protesters vavaccine right at birth,
they are super vulnerable to this infection, which is why
pregnant people get the vaccine during the last weeks of
their pregnancy and why it's so important to be vaccinated,
to be up to date on your vaccines if you're
going to be spending time near a newborn.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Yeah, yep, got to get those chots next next day.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
And there's so many more, so many two months well
child check. I love I love doing this. By the way,
this is filling, this is yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
I just I just love that like this we have
we're naming all these really scary things and there were
also there are ways to prevent them from right.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
We're not just saying these are scary things. We're saying
these are scary things that we protect against. When your
child is two months old, yes, protected two months yep.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Like Hemophilus influenzae type B, so this is also known
as hibs bacteria that can cause severe respiratory infections, especially
in children under five years of age. These bacteria are
common residence of our respiratory tract and in most people
they don't cause any disease. They're just part of our microbiome.
But if a baby or a child gets exposed, HIB
(35:09):
can cause severe invasive disease. So what does that mean.
It means meningitis, it means pneumonia, it means severe ear infections, epiglottitis,
even sepsis. Complications of infection such as deafness, blindness, cerebral palsy,
and hydrocephalus happened at high rates. So there was a
study that looked at the global burden of HIB infections
(35:32):
prior to the vaccine and found that more than five
hundred and twenty thousand children died of HIB infections every year.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Wow, every year, that's a half a million babies. Yes
globally ugh.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Yes. Between twenty twenty fifteen, the vaccine has been estimated
to save over one point two million children from dying
of HIB, which is a decline of ninety percent and again,
like with protessis, diphtheria and tetanus, this is not an
infection where you can rely on antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance has
become a real issue with hib and the search for
(36:10):
and effective medication can cost you precious hours.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
Yeah, and especially with meningitis or with epiglottitis, which is
very that's an infection of like your throat that basically
makes it so that you can't breathe. It like blocks
off your track yet so that you cannot breathe. So
it's it's very severe if it's not treated right away. Yeah,
So antibiotic resistance is super scary.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Yep. But there's a vaccine.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
But there's a vaccine, just as there is a vaccine
for pnumococcal conjugates. So this vaccine protects against a bacterium
Streptoccus deemonia that's commonly found in people's respiratory tracts, kind
of like hib who don't appear sick, and it's also
transmitted it just lives there. And this one is also
transmitted via the respiratory route, and infants and young children
(36:57):
are especially susceptible to severe disease from this bacterium. And
like hibs. Strep pneumonia can cause pneumonia, meningitis, sinus infections,
ear infections, bacteremia, and sepsis.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
The deployment of these vaccines between twenty and twenty fifteen
reduced deaths globally due to strep pneumonia by fifty one percent.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Yeah. Again, antibiotic resistance.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Is a growing concern that makes these vaccines ever more important.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
This one also really hits home for me because the
Newmaccco conjugate vaccine wasn't approved for kids until the year
two thousand and In nineteen eighty eight, my older brother
got meningitis from newmacaccle from Streptoccus pneumonia and almost died,
did not die, lost his hearing completely. So it's like
(37:46):
very much a reality that's not that long ago.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
It's like that was the year.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
That I was born. So these and I mean, we
get pneumonia and things. These bacteria circulate everywhere all the time.
So the fact that we have this vaccine is phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
It is. Yeah, it is amazing, And we have more
and we have more polio polio.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Polio is caused by poliovirus, sure is it is. This
virus is transmitted through the air like coughing or sneezing,
and through the fecal oral root. Those who aren't symptomatic
can still shed virus into the environment and infect others.
Polio can cause fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiff neck, and
(38:32):
classically can sometimes progress to paralysis that is usually permanent.
Paralysis can be so extreme that five to ten percent
of people who have this symptom can die as a result.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
There is no.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Treatment, none, none for polio. None.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
There is only prevention via vaccination. In the US, In
nineteen fifty two, which is the year before the vaccine
was introduced, there were more than fifty seven thousand polio cases,
twenty one thousand paralytic, and three thousand fatal in the
US and the US alone. In twenty twenty three, zero
(39:14):
cases in the US. Yeah, yep, and similar amazing improvements
have been seen around the world. In nineteen eighty eight,
when the global campaign to eliminate polio started, three hundred
and fifty thousand people globally were paralyzed due to polio.
Since then, cases have dropped ninety nine percent.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
It's amazing, it is amazing, so close and yet so
far from eradication of polio.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
I know it's hard to because it's environmental contamination and
all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
So most of all of those vaccines that we've had
so far require multiple doses to provide enough protection. So
as we're going through our childhood vaccine schedule, the next
well child check is usually yet four months, and at
that visit you actually get all those same ones that
we just talked about, minus hepatitis B.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
You don't need a third dose of hepatitis B quite yet, okay.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
And then again at the sixth month visit, you'll get
a third dose of that de TAP, another dose of
that pneumonia, the newmococcal vaccine, another dose of the polio vaccine,
and a third dose of the hepatitis B vaccine. And then,
depending on like vaccine manufactures, because there's a few different types,
there might be another dose of HIB, there might be
(40:33):
another dose of the rotavirus, or sometimes you don't need those,
depending on which ones you got, which one your doctor's
off has had. But at six months old is also
when babies are finally old enough to get their flu
and covid shots. So Aaron, we all know about this
one right, most people.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Are familiar with both of these, I think, but we'll
just go over them again.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Yeah. COVID, right, I think we.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
All know, we all do?
Speaker 2 (41:00):
We know? Yeah, y'all know.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
We all know. COVID is caused by stars COVID two coronavirus,
and at this point in time, it has caused over
seven hundred and seventy seven million reported cases worldwide since
twenty twenty probably.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
Five years, okay, nine even five years, and it.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Has killed over seven million people since twenty twenty. And
this of course continues to circulate and cause significant morbidity
and mortality. Yep, yep, that's covid influenza. Of course, we know,
you know, we know Influenza. It's also caused by a
respiratory virus causes seasonal outbreaks, and in the US in
(41:36):
the twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five season so far,
as of the week of February twenty second, influenza has
already resulted in ninety eight pediatric deaths and has caused
at least thirty seven million illnesses, four hundred and eighty
thousand hospitalizations, and twenty one thousand deaths overall from flu
(41:57):
season so far. In the US alone, I actually can't.
Speaker 3 (42:04):
Like, those numbers are so astounding to me. It's been
a very bad flu season, a very bad flu season,
but like still, yeah, oh goodness, yep, So.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
That's fluent COVID.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
You're eligible for those at six months during flu season.
Obviously it might you might be older if it's not
flu season. Anyways, after six months in the US, on
our schedule, there usually aren't any other vaccines at the
nine month well baby visit, which is typically the next
time that you'll see your doctor, unless you missed any
of your vaccines. So then the next round of vaccines
(42:37):
is at twelve months of age, and at this visit
there'll be a few of our old faves. Now you'll
get either your third or fourth dose, your final dose
of HIB whether it was three or four, depends on
the manufacturer, the fourth dose of the newmacccle vaccine, and
then three very important vaccines that a baby hasn't gotten yet.
(42:58):
That's mmrzels, mumps, your bella verisala, chicken pox, and hepatitis A.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
So erin take it away.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
Let's start with MMR right, please, Okay, let's start with
the first m which I am designating measles.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
It is always measles.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Yeah, I mean it was the first of these vaccines
to be developed.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
Oh okay, that makes sense. Yeah, it is the big one.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
It is the big one. Yeah, and so yes, measles
is the first M in the MMR combo vaccine, and
it's caused by a virus, the most contagious virus ever discovered.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
Period period one.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Infected person can transmit the virus to fourteen to eighteen
susceptible people.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
You'll probably know what do.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
You get that?
Speaker 3 (43:45):
That means for every one person who has measles, fourteen
to eighteen people will get infected from that one person
if they're all not vaccinated.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Yep, yeah, this the are not I think that most
of us are now familiar with that term thanks to COVID. Yeah,
fourteen eighteen.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
It is staggering. It is staggering. Measles is airborne, and
infectious particles can hang out in the air for hours,
even after the infectious person has left. Infected individuals can
spread measles to others before symptoms appear, which also contributes
to its contagiousness. These symptoms include a runny nose, cough,
(44:26):
red watery eyes, and the classic rash starting on the
face and neck and then spreading throughout the whole body.
Measles is not a mild illness. It can lead to
complications such as blindness, encephalitis, ear infections, pneumonia, and death.
Even if a child's course of illness seems minor, Measles
can induce immune amnesia, which makes their immune system forget
(44:50):
how to fight off infections that they've previously been exposed to,
and this leaves them vulnerable to other pathogens.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
It wrecks you, It really really does.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Before the measles vaccine was developed in the nineteen sixties,
this infection was one of the most dreaded childhood infections
and has throughout history led to enormous death tolls, especially
in more isolated communities or ones under oppressive colonial rule
like Fiji, which in eighteen seventy five, as you heard
in our firstan account, lost a quarter of its population
(45:25):
to measles.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
A quarter of its population.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
Before the vaccine was introduced in nineteen sixty three, the
measles virus caused an estimated two point six million deaths
each year globally, two point six million every year.
Speaker 3 (45:43):
I yeah, it's you can't you can't wrap your head
around that, ye, kind of just destruction.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
Between two thousand and twenty twenty three, the measles vaccine
as estimated to have prevented sixty.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
Million deaths due to measles.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
Sixty million deaths that didn't happen because we had this vaccine.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
Right, And that's not even just like that's not infections,
because there's plenty of other complications that can arise just
after an infection. That's sixty million people who are alive
today because they had a measles vaccine.
Speaker 1 (46:15):
And because measles is so infectious, is so contagious, vaccine
coverage has to be really high to prevent outbreaks and
thus deaths, and unfortunately that isn't always achieved due to
access and or choice, and each year the death toll
remains high. The WHO estimates that over one hundred and
seven thousand people, mostly unvaccinated or under vaccinated children under five,
(46:41):
died of the disease in twenty twenty three alone. That's
so sad, so many children. Yeah, and this is why
measles infections often serve as a canary in the coal mine,
because that indicates that vaccination coverage has waned, and we'll
talk more about the current outbreak that's ongoing seems to
be growing in the US. We'll talk about that next week.
(47:04):
And I think just to really hammer home how infectious
measles is and how much the vaccine protects you, there
was a study from Johns Hopkins that found that unvaccinated
children between the ages of five and nine were one
hundred and seventy times more likely to contract measles compared
to their vaccinated peers.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
Yeah, I mean, the measles vaccine is incredibly effective. Like
one single dose is like ninety three percent effective, and
two doses is like ninety seven percent effective.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
Yes, like it is. It is incredible.
Speaker 1 (47:36):
It is incredible. Yeah, yeah, Okay, moving on to the
next m which is mumps. So the other this is
the other m in MMR. Mumps is also a viral infection.
It's transmitted via direct contact or airborne particles. Symptoms include
body aches, headache, general cruddy feeling, low grade fever, and
often these like big painful swellings of the prodded salvary glands.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Down here, yeah, down here.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
Mumps can also lead to swelling of the testes and
ultimately infertility.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:08):
Before the vaccine, mumps used to be incredibly widespread, and
during World War II, the US Surgeon General called it
one of the most disabling infectious diseases among new recruits.
It really spreads well in a crowd, as do most diseases,
many disease. Yes, Since the introduction of the vaccine in
the late nineteen sixties, mumps cases have declined over ninety
(48:29):
nine percent. Wow, over ninety nine percent since its introduction
in nineteen sixty seven.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
That's incredible, Aaron, It is all right.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
Moving on to R This is rubella the R and
MMR Lubella is also caused by a virus transmitted also
through airborne droplets. Symptoms can consist of rash, fever, nausea, conjunctivitis,
and swollen lymph glands behind the ears and in the neck.
For most people who get infected, the illness is mild
and self contained. But this virus poses a huge risk
(49:00):
to pregnant people. This virus can cross the placenta and
infect the fetus, which in eighty percent of cases will
result in the death of the fetus or congenital Rubella syndrome, Yeah,
which is very severe, very severe before the rubella vaccine
was developed, cases of rubella numbered into the millions. For instance,
(49:21):
in the US, in the nineteen sixty three to nineteen
sixty five rubella epidemic, there were twelve and a half
million cases of rubella in the US alone, in the
US alone, leading to twenty thousand cases of congenital rubella syndrome,
eleven thousand miscarriages and therapeutic abortions, and two thousand newborn deaths.
Speaker 2 (49:42):
Jeez, Louise Aaron yep.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
Just in a couple short years, Just a couple of years, yeah, right,
and right before the vaccine came out. And since the
introduction of the vaccine in nineteen sixty six, cases of rubella,
congenital rubella syndrome, and miscarriage and neonatal death attributable to
rebella have declined sharply in countries that have incorporated the
vaccine into their schedule. Yeah, all right, MMR is done.
Speaker 3 (50:08):
Far.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
I'm sorry, Press the way you just breezed through all
that air, I mean, the numbers way heavily. I know
they do, don't they?
Speaker 1 (50:19):
All right, there's more. Next is Vericella. So Veriicella is
also known as chicken pox. It's an infection caused by
the Veriicella zoster virus. It's spread through the air from
respiratory secretions or from the fluid of skin lesions, and
also direct contact. Symptoms include fever, a general creddy feeling,
and of course the classic itchy chicken pox rash which sucks.
Speaker 3 (50:41):
It sucks, can confirm speaking from experienced the vaccine. Oh,
I do remember, yeah, And then I remember I think
that I think my mom said we had appointments to
get our chicken pox vaccine or something. It was like
the year I think that the vaccine came out, but
then we just got sick instead.
Speaker 1 (51:00):
I'm older than you, so my one hole. But you know,
I think chicken pox. We have this idea of it
potentially as this like mild infection, but it is not right.
Here are severe complications that can arise after chicken pox
infection or during chicken pox infection. And these things can
(51:21):
be like secondary bacterial infections, pneumonia, encephalitis, and permanent nerve
damage or visual impairment. Newborn's, elder adults, and immunocompromised individuals
are especially at risk of severe infection with this virus
and even if you have a mild infection in childhood,
the virus will hide out in your nerve cells where
(51:42):
it can become reactivated later in life and cause shingles.
Before the vaccine was introduced, vericella caused and estimated four
million cases in the US alone every year, leading to
ten thousand, five hundred to thirteen thousand, five hundred hospitalizations
and one hundred to one hundred and fifty deaths, primarily
(52:02):
in children. Yeah, access and uptake of this vaccine is
not very high globally, and so we do still see
a substantial number of cases and complications. One hundred and
forty million infections with four point two million hospitalizations and
four th two hundred deaths around the world each year.
Again hard to take.
Speaker 2 (52:23):
In, Hard to take in, erin a last at disappointment,
Last disappointment.
Speaker 1 (52:28):
Hepatitis a HEPA like HEPB is a viral infection that
affects the liver. It's spread fecal orally, often through food
or water contaminated with the feces of someone who is
infected with the virus. Symptoms include things like fever, feeling cretdy, appetite, loss, diarrhea, nausea,
jaundice dark urine. Usually this infection is self limited, but
(52:49):
it can progress to fulminent hepatitis, which can lead to death.
There is no treatment for hepatitis A.
Speaker 2 (52:56):
None. None.
Speaker 1 (52:58):
But even though a vaccine has been available since nineteen
ninety five, global cases of hepatitis A have been on
the rise, with nearly one hundred and sixty million infections
estimated in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (53:10):
Yeah, huge number, huge number.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
And this rise is in part due to the vaccine
not being included in routine immunizations in many countries which
often have high rates of the disease.
Speaker 3 (53:21):
Yeah, so that was a lot, But that is also
the vast majority of all of the childhood vaccines because
by your twelve month visit, they're almost all done. Yay,
because by twelve months, your baby is strong enough to
kick when you try and give them their shots.
Speaker 2 (53:42):
Just saying.
Speaker 3 (53:44):
Usually at the fifteen month visit there's a fourth dose
of the d TAP. That's usually when that one is given,
and then at eighteen months is when you'll get the
second dose of hepatitis A. That's a two dose vaccine series.
But after that, after that eighteen months, it's annual flu
in covid shots until a kid reaches school age, which
(54:05):
is four to six depending on when you start school,
and to enter kindergarten, kids will get a couple of
other shots. They're all just booster doses essentially of the
shots that they've already gotten. So it's a fifth dose
of the d TAP, a fourth dose of the poliovirus,
and a second dose of mmr and vericella, which sometimes
(54:25):
can be given as one MMRV shot, So cool combined
in one.
Speaker 1 (54:30):
Combo shots are great.
Speaker 3 (54:31):
I love combo shots. I wish we had more of them.
Then during the rest of most of the rest of
elementary school, it's just annual flu in COVID like just
like what adults get, until age eleven to twelve years old,
which is when kids will get their first dose of
t DAP. We've said we'll mention it. It's basically just
(54:56):
a different version of DTaP. It has like slightly different
concentrations of things, okay, but t DApp has a booster
for tetanus as well as protessis and the diphtheria in there.
And then they'll also get two vaccines they haven't gotten yet,
and that is HPV and the meninjacccle vaccine. So Aarin
(55:17):
tell us about these to close us out on the
childhood vaccination schedule.
Speaker 1 (55:21):
You know, I am so passionate about the HPV vaccine.
It's it's yeah, so life saving, it is so life
I mean they all are r I know, yes, but.
Speaker 3 (55:32):
I think it's because this one is the most recent
for us, and so it feels like must.
Speaker 1 (55:36):
And it's also like uphill battle because of the way
it was marketed, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (55:40):
Yes, well it prevents cancer, which is so cool. All right, Sorry,
we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Speaker 1 (55:46):
HPV, also known as human papillomavirus, is of course a
virus a group of viruses that cause cervical cancer and
also warts. This group of viruses caused nearly seven hundred
thousand cases of cancer globally in.
Speaker 2 (56:01):
Twenty nineteen twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
One year, including all cases of cervical cancer that were tested,
and also upwards of eighty percent of anal cancers, up
to fifty percent of penile cancers, thirty percent of orofer
angeal cancers, also vulgar and vaginal cancers, lourngeal cancer, and more.
Cervical cancer alone caused an estimated three hundred and fifty
(56:24):
thousand deaths in twenty twenty two. This is a preventable can.
Speaker 3 (56:30):
Cancer, Yes, preventable cancer and so many I think that
also gets under attension, yes, not enough attention is the
array of cancers that can cause so many other times,
I mean eighty percent of all anal cancers HPD associated.
Speaker 2 (56:46):
Yes, Hello, vaccination lastination all right, Meninja cockle.
Speaker 1 (56:52):
So the menina coccle vaccine protects against a bacterium known
as Niceria meningititis, and this bacteria can cause severe infections,
mostly meningitis and bloodstream infections. These are most common in
children and adolescents. It is spread by respiratory droplets, and
an estimated five to ten percent of people carry this
(57:12):
bacterium in their nose without it causing illness.
Speaker 2 (57:15):
Just hangs out, just hangs out there.
Speaker 1 (57:17):
But when it does cause illness, it is often very severe,
and even with antibiotic treatment, about ten to fifteen percent
of cases result in death. Yeah, yep. It has also
been on the rise in the US since at least
twenty twenty one, with an estimated four hundred and thirty
eight cases of invasive meningococcal disease in the US alone
in twenty twenty three, and antibiotic resistance is on the rise.
Speaker 2 (57:42):
Yeah, me, Ninjococcus is no joke. It is no joke.
Speaker 3 (57:46):
Yes, but that is the childhood vaccine schedule.
Speaker 2 (57:52):
I also feel like.
Speaker 1 (57:53):
We should mention, or maybe I want to mention, is
that if you didn't get one of these vaccines as
a child, or if you didn't get them as the
number of doses that we just mentioned, talk to your doctor. Yeah,
and because these are not like things that you can
only get in a narrow window. Even with HPV, they're
expanding the age.
Speaker 2 (58:14):
It's up to forty two.
Speaker 3 (58:15):
Now you can get it covered by insurance up to
age forty two for HPV vaccine used to only be
twenty six. The new macacco vaccine didn't really exist when
a lot of us that were adults were kids. And
so we're that's also recommended for adults either over a
certain age or if you have asthma or other commorbidities. So, yeah,
like all of these vaccines, talk to your healthcare providers
because yeah.
Speaker 1 (58:36):
If you're not sure if you were vaccinated, like, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (58:41):
Love it. Okay, So it was a lot. It was
a lot.
Speaker 1 (58:44):
Yeah, we just ran through what feels like a million,
a million different vaccines and diseases, and you know, we've
got all these facts and numbers that are swirling around
in our heads. Yeah, it's a lot to take in.
Speaker 2 (58:56):
It can't be And we wanted to.
Speaker 1 (58:58):
Go through each of the disease is in the childhood
vaccine schedule so that there's a sense of what each
vaccine protects you from and what life was like or
what life is like without these vaccinations. Because we have
a short memory as a society, most of us have
never met someone who was paralyzed from polio, or whose
(59:18):
child died of measles, or who lost their pregnancy due
to a rubella infection. And thank goodness for that, right
Like that.
Speaker 2 (59:26):
Is amazing that we can say that, yes.
Speaker 1 (59:30):
Vaccines are in part a victim of their own success.
They have been so effective in preventing disease and death
that we take them for granted. Tragedies are obvious, we
can easily observe them, we can see them, but a
tragedy averted is nearly invisible. If you look around. A
high school graduation in the US in the nineteen thirties,
(59:51):
you would immediately see the impact of polio, crutches, wheelchairs,
empty chairs. But if you do the same thing today,
you'd don't see how many kids are alive and healthy
and excited to start their future lives because of vaccines,
because they didn't die or suffer permanent injury from polio
or measles, or rubella or vericella or hybrid eptheria or
(01:00:12):
tetanus or so many other vaccine preventable diseases.
Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
It's actually like genuinely making me cry.
Speaker 3 (01:00:18):
I know, it's like because that's an image we don't
ever think about looking around us and thinking how incredible
it is that we are all here and alive.
Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
Yes, and I mean it's not we do. We just
take it for granted.
Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
We take it for granted so so much.
Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
And also in this country, we take it country.
Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
Especially because that's not true everywhere. It's not.
Speaker 1 (01:00:42):
Yeah, in the US, in and other high income countries.
Vaccines have given us profound freedom from infectious disease, and
one of the greatest tragedies is that people use that
freedom to choose not to vaccinate and hopefully.
Speaker 2 (01:00:59):
With our disease by disease.
Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
Shpiel of the facts. You know. We've shown you how
deadly these diseases can be without vaccines, and why vaccines
are the best way to ensure your child's health. But
not every person can be vaccinated, or not every child
who is vaccinated actually mounts an immune response. Vaccines don't
just protect you, they also protect your community. When enough
(01:01:25):
people in a community are vaccinated, these diseases can't spread.
That's called herd immunity. But this herd immunity only works
when a certain proportion of the population is vaccinated. As
that proportion declines, as it has done in recent years,
that leaves more people vulnerable to infection and allows outbreaks
to happen. Speaking specifically about the US, although I'm sure
(01:01:48):
that this applies elsewhere as well. We are infected with
this idea of total freedom. It is what we deserve,
it is what we have. This is a free country,
mean me, yes, protect you. It's like the people in
your immediate circle, like that's yeah, right, we should be
(01:02:09):
able to do whatever we want, whenever we want, just
like no consequences.
Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
Right. But that is simply not true.
Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
That is not true.
Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
It is false. It is not the reality of the world.
Speaker 1 (01:02:20):
No by living in a society by driving on the roads,
the public roads that we drive on, but everything we
have to abide by certain rules, by a social contract.
We should want what's best not just for ourselves, but
also for our neighbor. We're not on our own. We
all depend on each other, and we are affected by
(01:02:42):
the choices that we make, both individually and collectively. And
what we need to do is reconnect with the truth
that vaccines are a big part of what gives us
this freedom. They don't take it away.
Speaker 3 (01:02:53):
Right because vaccines are preventing against diseases that spread through populations.
They're not something that just affects an individual. Yes, they
are not the same as a lot of other medical
choices that people make.
Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
Mm hmmm yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
And to bring it all the way back to what
we said at the top of this episode, we understand,
We understand the fear, the hesitancy, the confusion, the shame.
This is not an easy thing to navigate when the
overwhelming amount of conflicting information that is out there about
this topic makes it really hard to know what to do,
(01:03:33):
makes it really hard to sift through to find quality
information and then recognize it when we find it. How
do we even know that that is quality equality.
Speaker 2 (01:03:44):
Source, especially because most of the quality information is hard
to read, hard to get through, yep, and TikTok videos
are snappy. Not to again, I'm not just blaming TikTok.
Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
I don't know, are you though, Eric, No, But one
of the biggest battles in this is just knowing who
you can trust and where to find this information. And
so I think on that note, I would like to
bring it to the sources that we used for this episode, and.
Speaker 2 (01:04:13):
Let's prove you can trust us.
Speaker 1 (01:04:15):
Yeah, Aaron, I have like one million and one sources
for them.
Speaker 2 (01:04:22):
That's wonderful.
Speaker 3 (01:04:23):
I don't have as many as I expected, but I
also have a million old episodes that we did that
I went back to my notes on so.
Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
Yes, largely, I would say, just like to not go
through these million and one I used a lot of
the for the individual diseases. I used a lot of
the who website has a great for most of the diseases,
great websites for pre vaccine mortality rates, and also like
the symptoms, what this vaccine does when it was developed,
(01:04:52):
all these types of things. And then also I found
really just broadly speaking, there's a paper from twenty twenty
four from the Lancet and I'm going to find it
right now, and it is by Shaddock at All, twenty
twenty four and it is titled Contribution of Vaccination to
(01:05:12):
Improved Survival and Health Modeling fifty years of the Expanded
Program on Immunization And just as like a bottom line
of this, this paper found that since nineteen seventy four,
vaccination has averted one hundred and fifty four million deaths
around the world. Wow, And that includes one hundred and
(01:05:32):
forty six million deaths among children younger than five. So
vaccination saves lives millions and million, millions and millions of lives.
Speaker 3 (01:05:45):
I also use the World Health Organization and the CDC
for a bunch of things, including like the side Effects
from Vaccines. We'll link to that site that they have.
Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
The paper though, that I.
Speaker 3 (01:05:57):
Wanted to give a shout out to, was from two
twenty twenty one in the journal Vaccines, called Vaccine Technologies
and Platforms for Infectious Diseases, Current Progress, Challenges and Opportunities
has a lot more deep dive on the different types
of vaccines and what we use and why we use it,
and those kinds of things, which I think is really helpful.
But we have a lot, a lot more sources, so
(01:06:20):
we'll post all of them from this episode and all
of our other episodes on our website, this podcast will
kill You dot Com under the episodes tab check it out.
Speaker 1 (01:06:29):
We certainly will check it out. Thank you to Bloodmobile
for providing the music for this episode and all of
our episodes.
Speaker 3 (01:06:37):
Thank you so much. Thank you to Tom Brifogel and
Leona Scilacci for the incredible audio mixing. Thank you to
Brent and Pete and the entire video editing team.
Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
Love you, thank you too, exactly right. And thank you
to you listeners.
Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
Yes, thank you for listening. Thank you for tuning in.
Thank you for watching I thank you for watching.
Speaker 2 (01:06:58):
If this is a video, it's so really weird.
Speaker 1 (01:07:01):
Yeah, and a special thank you to our patrons. We
appreciate your support so so very much. It really does mean.
Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
So much to us, it really does. Thank you. Well.
Until next time, wash your hands, you filthy animals.
A calamity of the most serious kind has swept down
upon this beautiful group of islands, and its ravages will
have to be computed not by the hundred, but by thousands.
A most extraordinary scene was presented of whole towns, with
the houses closed, the lanes and squares silent as death,
and the inhabitants all down, old men and infants, young
(00:23):
men and mothers of families, one heap of illness. The
destroying angel had silenced every dwelling, and there was a
weird quiet about the place that struck very peculiarly upon
one's feelings. Daily the canoes were to be seen carrying
the dead to their breezy resting places on the opposite shore,
and day and night was the death drum beating, and
(00:46):
the wails of the mourners rose on the air. Strong
winds and heavy rains added to the horrors of the situation,
and the bowens almost starved for food, the people being
unable to get to the mainland, where their gardens were
hard worked in the day and with broken rest at night.
I passed through some weeks the like of which I
(01:07):
hope never to see again at home in our own land.
There is always a large proportion of healthy persons who
act as a relief to the many stricken by prevailing disease.
But here you have a whole country down, all sick men,
women and children dying all around you every day, your
(01:27):
best friends among the people dying.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
It's so horrific erin, it's awful.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
It is.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Almost unfathomable. And yet that is a first hand account.
That is what really happened. That is a diary entry
from the Reverend AJ Webb, who was a missionary in
Fiji at the time of the eighteen seventy five outbreak
that killed a quarter of the population of measles from sorry, yes,
(02:43):
of measles, measles, measles, measles.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, it is really terrifying.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
And yeah, so it makes me so thankful that we
have a vaccine, Like I truly cannot imagine living in
a time when this was reality.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Should not be forgotten, like it can't be. Hi, I'm Aaron.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Welsh, and I'm Aaron Allman.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Updike, and this is this podcast will kill you.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
And we're coming at you with season eight. Season eight.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yeah, Season seven was like literally yesterday, And so if
you did notice a long break between seasons that is
by design, that is intentional.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
There wasn't a break. There wasn't you know.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Given all of the disturbing and widespread changes that are
happening to public health and the sciences here in the US,
we decided, you know, maybe we should just like keep
things rolling, trying to stay on top of some of
these horrific changes and provide you all with clear info
and reliable sources for some of the things that you're
seeing splashed across headlines, things like devastating funding cuts to
(03:53):
scientific research, outbreaks of vaccine preventable illnesses, including measles, the
intentional concealment of vital public health information, massive cuts to
healthcare access, a profiteer of vaccine disinformation at the helm
of the most significant public health institution in the US.
(04:14):
The list goes on. Yeah, yep, misinformation is everywhere, and
it's growing by the second.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It really is.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
And the truth is, we are all all of us
susceptible to it, every one of us, even me and you,
even if we think we aren't or we like to
think we aren't. So what do we do about it?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
What do we do about it? Well, we'll tell you
what we're going to do about it.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
What we are going to do is, through this podcast
throughout the season, continue to be sources of reliable information
about issues in health and medicine, to continue to provide
historical context about scientific developments, and to explore the current
research shaping the future of health on planet. That is
what we have done, that is what we will continue
(05:02):
to do. Our list for this season is long and
so far includes fun things like raw milk, SSRIs avian influenza,
we hear you, We're doing it, and fluoride and literally
so many more.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
It's a long list.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Do you notice a trend? Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
So, to help us fill out the schedule for this
season and prioritize our focus, we wanted to ask you,
guys all for your help. What do you want to
learn about? What topics are you seeing misinformation about? Which
episodes that we've done in the past. Would you like
an update on? Yes, let us know reach out. The
best way to do that is through the contact us
form on our website this podcast will kill You dot com,
(05:44):
or you can send us an email to this podcast
will Kill You at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yep, Yes, we can't wait to hear from you. Yeah,
it's going to be a it's going to be a
season full of info.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
It's going to be a season period moving on on.
What are we doing now? What are we doing now?
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yes, this week and next week we are going to
be talking about the childhood vaccine schedule, especially the one
that we have here in the US. And this actually
it's funny because like we ended the pregnancy series and
we were like, oh, well, and we'll talk about childhood
stuff some other times. We'll talk about infancy some other time,
and actually this is like kind of a follow up.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
It's a nice it's almost like we planned it. It is.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
And part of the reason that we decided to do
this is because, you know, you may have come across
the news that RFK Junior, who is longtime anti vaccine
activist and now the Secretary of the US Department of
Health and Human Services, has indicated that he intends to
investigate the childhood vaccine schedule, after saying previously that he
(06:49):
would not. What are the possible consequences of this investigation.
That's what we're going to explore.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
That's what we want to know.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yes, And so to do this, we're splitting this topic
into two episodes because we want to first just do
a general review of how vaccines work, what these childhood
vaccines protect us against, and what these vaccinations do for
us as individuals and as members of a community. And
then in our second episode, we're going to go deeper into.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
The schedule itself.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
You know, what vaccines do kids get and when, how
we decided upon this vaccination schedule, how and why it
differs from schedules and other parts of the world. Some
of the latest trends and outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases.
And finally, just some strategies on how to talk with
people who might be on the fence about vaccines.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Just a few small topics for us to cover in
two episodes. We no problem fast.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Before we get into all of that, it is quarantine
any time is aaron.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
This week we're drinking Boosted Boosted. What's in boosted because
I have already forgotten?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
So it's a delicious little bev gin lemonade and raspberries raspberry.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Lemonade at gin.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
If you prefer easypasy, delicious, crazy squeezy.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
We'll post the full recipes on our website This podcast
will Kill You dot com, as well as our social
media channels.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
If you're not following us, you should be.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
There, should be, you should be. On our website. You
can find all kinds of things. You can find a
first hand account form. You can find a contact us form.
You can find links to music by Blowdemobile, links to
our bookshop, dot org affiliate account, our Goodreads list, links
to merch sources for all of our episodes, transcripts, Patreon's
There's so much there.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Wealth of information, goodness, say business, welcome back, good to see.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
You, welcome back.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
It's been so long, All right, let's start right after
a short break.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Childhood vaccine schedules have been, for quite some time a
major target of anti vaccine propaganda. Vaccine disinformation spreaders want
people to question, why do we need so many? Don't
these vaccines overwhelm our immune systems?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Do they aerin? No?
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Long story short, you're right. Rather than declaring vaccines unsafe
just across the board, these anti vaccine activists seek to
reach a broader audience by normalizing vaccine hesitancy and making
it more palatable. You know. They reframe their position from
anti vax, which is more alienating it's extreme, to pro
(09:56):
safe vaccination, because who doesn't want safe vaccines, right, we
all want safe vaccines.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
We have vaccines. Safe vaccines is the thing. I want that,
and we have that, and we have them.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
And the truth is that the vaccines we have, the
schedule we use, these things are safe and they have
been proven to be so over the decades, with so
much data to back this up. And we'll get more
into that in these episodes. Parents want the best for
their children. They want to set them up for a
(10:28):
happy and healthy life. Every decision that you make seems
fraught with the potential for harm. Things like which crib
to choose, what sleeping schedule is going to be the best.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Belong to you even I don't know, I have no.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Idea, But you want to do the right thing for
your child. Wanting to make the right decision and worrying
about the outcome is completely understandable. To help you decide
what to do, you may ask your doctor, You may
talk with your trusted friends, or you may you know,
ask the internet.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Consult the tickto consult TikTok. Oh, gosh, no, don't consult TikTok.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
But each of these things might advise you differently, or
they might see the balance of risks and benefits differently.
When it comes to vaccines, finding reliable information on the
internet is increasingly challenging, and given our medical system here
in the US, finding the time to make an appointment
with your doctor to fact check some of the things
that you've read about vaccines on the internet that can
(11:34):
be next to impossible.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yeah right. Or let's say that you.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Do find the time and you find the money to
make an appointment to talk with your doctor, and somehow,
in that ten minute appointment, you managed to squeeze in
a couple of questions about vaccines, and your doctor just
scoffs and condescends to you, making you feel bad for
asking these questions in the first place. And maybe you
can't shake that little seed of doubt planted by a
(11:59):
TikTok video that you saw that was spouting vaccine misinformation,
This video that makes you ask what if? The what
if that anti vaccine activists the question that they try
to plant is what if these vaccines are not safe?
When really the what if should be what if my
(12:20):
child gets measles? Yeah, disinformation spreaders minimize that future threat
of being unvaccinated, and they falsely amplify the minuscule risks
posed by vaccinations, or they just invent risks altogether. Choosing
not to vaccinate gives you the illusion of control, when
in fact, it takes it away entirely because you cannot
(12:44):
predict whether your child will be the one to die
in a measles outbreak, or one of the ones to
die in a measles outbreak, or it is it's so
tremendously sad. You can't predict whether they'll have permanent lung
damage after about of whooping cough, which they also transmitted
to a baby that was too young to be vaccinated.
(13:05):
We want to start these episodes with the message that
we get it right. It is easy to fall prey
to this vaccine disinformation because of the way that it
plays on those specific fears, because it gives you this
illusion of control, because it tells you that you're doing
right by your child. Vaccine disinformation is specifically engineered to
(13:26):
do this.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Right, and not just on TikTok. I feel like we no, no,
I know we lasted poor TikTok a few times.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Yes we have, yeah, but it's everywhere in everything.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
And addressing each one of the invalid claims that are
made by anti vaccine activists, it can actually breathe more
air into their movement. And so rather than doing targeted mythbusting,
what we're going to do in this and next episode
is we're going to present the factual information about vaccines,
the diseases that they prevent, and why we have childhood
(14:00):
vaccine schedule that we do.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
So first, Aaron, let's start back at the beginning.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
What are vaccines and.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
How do they work?
Speaker 3 (14:08):
I can't wait to get into this, Aaron. It's really
just like an appreciation of our immune system for a
moment here.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Ready, love our immune system.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Every single time that we breathe in, everything that we
put in our mouths, that we wipe across our snotty
noses that we rub into our eyes, all of this
exposes us to antigens. And antigen is just the fancy
medical word for stuff that our immune system can recognize
(14:39):
as not me right, not self. We are exposed to
these antigens all the time, from literally the minute that
we're born and we take our first breath and we
open our eyes, and once these antigens enter our body,
they get recognized by white blood cells, whose job is
antigen recognition.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
That's their title.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Then they present that antigen to other white blood cells
in our lymph nodes. Some of these white blood cells
in our lymph nodes make antibodies, and antibodies are like
little Lego flags that are hyper specific markers that can
recognize and lego click onto one single antigen or like
(15:23):
one part of one single antigen.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I love, I love the visual of a lego flag.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
It's just, you know, and they they really do. He
and key in lock can't lock.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Lego and they they basically flag it for destruction. That's
what an antibody is doing. But the part that actually
protects us in the long term is that these antibody
producing cells stick around in our bodies so that if
that particular antigen ever dares to show its face in
(15:54):
our body again, we're ready for it, right. These memory
cells can suit quickly make a whole bunch more of
these Lego flags and just stick them all over any
anigens that dare to enter before that virus or bacteria
or whatever it is can make us sick. And this
process is how our antibody mediated immune response, which is
(16:17):
just one of our incredible immune system things.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
That's how it works across the board.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
When we are sick with a viral infection or a
bacterial infection like the flu or something else, our immune
system is running through this whole immune response, but it's
doing so while the virus is replicating, and then we
get super super sick.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah, and we can die exactly.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
We're protected from a repeat infection. But there is a cost, right,
some of us will get very sick, we might be hospitalized,
we might even die from this infection. So what vaccines
do is just allow us to produce these antibodies that
will protect us from a future your infection without ever
having to get sick in the first place.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
That's what they do.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Like, it's just truly incredible. It is.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
It is.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Vaccines are so I love them.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
I'm like, it's simply put.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
It's simply put.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Because vaccines are just introducing these antigens in a very
small amount in a in a specific time and place.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
It's a shortcut that saves lives and saves saves permanent
injury and illness and even just short term right, right,
like being miserable with the flu.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
You don't have to feel that, right.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
It's They're incredible, And there are a number of different
types of vaccines that we use. There are things like
live attenuated vaccines. There are killed virus or killed bacteria vaccines,
There are toxoid vaccines, there are mRNA vaccines, and there
are lots of other types of like specific.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Vaccines, subtypes and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Yeah, we can link to so many detail more detail,
but the bottom line is that each of these different
types of vaccines has both pros and cons and some
types of vaccines are going to work better for some
diseases than others. And when people, meaning regulatory bodies, are
deciding which vaccine is approved or included in our vaccine schedule,
(18:27):
they're looking at things like efficacy, safety, and how well
it produces an immune response. All of these things have
to be considered. And every single vaccine, just like every
single thing that we put into our bodies, medicine, food, quarantinies,
all of it, as well as every single disease or
(18:47):
pathogen that we're exposed to, has a potential for side effects.
But the side effects of vaccines are generally quite mild.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
There are things like.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
A sore arm, swelling maybe around the injection site. Fever
now fevers in children can sometimes cause seizures and while
vaccines can cause a fever, febrile seizures after vaccination are
actually quite rare, and you're far more likely to get
a febrile seizure from an infection rather than a vaccination, right,
(19:20):
And in general, any serious side effects from a vaccine, like,
for example, the rash that can happen after an MMR
or a veraricella vaccine, they tend to be milder versions
of the same symptoms that you can have from the
disease itself, But most of the time you can't then
spread that to others the way that you can in
(19:41):
the context of an infectious disease, right.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Right.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
The only risk that exists with vaccination that doesn't really
exist with what people call natural infections whatever that means,
is the potential for an allergic reaction, and that mostly
has to do with vaccine component rather than the antigens
from that virus or bacteria itself. And it's estimated that
(20:05):
there are one to two severe allergic reactions per million
doses of vaccines. So when we're comparing risks and benefits,
we have to compare apples to apples. One to two
severe allergic reactions per million doses of vaccine. If we're
looking at measles, for example, one in five kids with
(20:26):
measles is hospitalized with severe infection, and one to three
of every one thousand kids with measles will.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Die, one to three for every one thousand kids.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah, and no kid should be dying from a disease
that we can prevent.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
No, no, no.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
So that's like how vaccines work across the board, and
a little bit of the risks and comparing the actual
risks to risks of the diseases that we're preventing against. So,
if we're talking about the childhood vaccinations schedule, what are
the vaccines on that schedule and what are the diseases
(21:08):
that we're actually able to prevent.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yes, let's go through it.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Let's we're going to back and forth. This this is
a fun this is not episode.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
It's been fun to put together.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Yeah, but before we get into it, let's take a
quick break and then we'll come back with all of
these vaccines and diseases.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Wait, So when we're talking about protecting kids, which is
(21:50):
what we're talking about in this episode, we actually can
start before they're even born because there are some vaccines
that we can give during pregnancy to provide passive immunity
to the baby, which includes t DApp and we'll get
into the diseases covered by that vaccine in a little bit,
but it also includes RSV, And if you didn't get
the RSV vaccine during pregnancy, there's another type of immunization
(22:12):
works a little bit differently that your baby can get
in the first week of life. So Aaron walk us
through what is RSV? What is the RSV vaccine protecting
us from?
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Okay, I am going to tell you all of that,
but first I've realized we should probably mention that we
have disease specific episodes for many of the diseases that
we will cover, in addition to a two parter on
vaccines right the history of their development and how they work,
more detail about all of this, And so just as
a little preamble to this section, we will link to
(22:46):
all of these other episodes in the show notes for
this one and on our website. And so if you
want more info.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
We've got so much.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
I feel like we said that to each other so
many times while we were working on this episode.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
That we forgot to say it. We're like, oh, it
will obviously We'll say that a million times.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Yeah, okay, but anyway, want more detail, We've got it.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
This is overview. Go.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
RSV is one of those we do have an RSV episode.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Okay, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
RSV stands for respiratory sensitial virus, and, as its name suggests,
it is a respiratory infection.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
It sure is.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
It's transmitted via air and direct contact, and for most adults,
infection with RSB is relatively mild, but in infants and
in elderly adults or those who have lung issues, it
can be deadly or it can lead to complications like
repeat hospitalizations, long term lung impairment, and asthma, or recurrent
weez There is no widely available treatment for RSV widely available,
(23:47):
and each year this virus causes three point six million
hospitalizations globally and an estimated one hundred thousand deaths in
children under the age of five, one hundred thousand.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Which is so s I know, I know it's going
to be on repeat.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Yeah, We're going to be repeating so many numbers. I
feel like both the vaccine given to the pregnant person
and the monoclonal antibody given to a newborn offer short
term protection for the newborn until their lungs are a
bit more developed, and then they're less likely at that
point to have a severe infection that requires hospitalization.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Yeah, and in general, people are recommended to get one
or the other YEP. So if they didn't get the
RSV vaccine during pregnancy, then that baby will get the
monoclonal antibody imanization. But most babies, the first vaccine that
they will get is actually hepatitis B, which is given
right after birth, usually within the first twenty four to
(24:42):
forty eight hours of life.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Aarin. What's hepatitis B.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Well, the hepatitis BE virus. It's a viral infection. It's
transmitted via blood and bodily fluids, and it can be
transmitted from mother to baby at birth. And the real
risk with hepatitis B, especially for those who are infected
at a young age, is chronic infection, which can lead
to liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. So, just to like
(25:07):
emphasize this, here's some numbers. So it's estimated that five
percent of adults newly infected with the hep B virus
will develop chronic hepatitis, but ninety five percent of children
under five who have the virus will develop it, which
is why vaccination is so critical. The three dose series
(25:28):
of this vaccine is nearly one hundred percent effective in
entirely preventing infection with this virus.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Nearly one hundred percent. It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
And even though we've had a hepatitis B vaccine since
the early nineteen eighties and estimated two hundred and fifty
four million people around the world are chronically infected with
this virus, with around one point two million new infections
every year and an estimated one point one million deaths
in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Yeah, that's why we vaccinate.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
That is why we vaccinate.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
After the birth dose of hepatitis B, the first round
of shots, as it's often called for babies in the US,
is at two months old. So at the two month
well child visit, we get five different vaccines plus a
second dose of the hepatitis B. So we get DETAP,
(26:26):
which is diphtheria tetanus and acellular protessis. We get IPv
which is the inactivated poliovirus, and we get hib or
hemophalous influenza type B and PCV or the new macaccle vaccine.
As well as rotavirus.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
So Aaron and the second dose oft beat in a second.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
I said that I did so Aerin. That's a lot
all at once. Can you please walk me through what
each one of these diseases are?
Speaker 1 (26:56):
These five, these five vaccines. It's amazing. Okay, you are
protected from.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
So many things.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I know. Let's start with rotavirus, right.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
So.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Rotavirus is transmitted fecal, oral, or direct contact with an
infected individual or through contaminated objects. Symptoms of rotavirus can
include watery diarrhea, vomiting, and severe dehydration that can lead
to death if rehydration therapy is not provided. Rotavirus is
a major killer globally, with a two point five percent
(27:28):
case fatality rate in children who are living in low
income countries. And even though we've had a vaccine since
two thousand and eight, rotavirus still causes a substantial burden
of global death and disease. So, for instance, in twenty sixteen,
rotavirus was estimated to cause two hundred and fifty eight
million infections globally and one hundred and twenty nine thousand
(27:51):
deaths in children under the age of five.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
It's just so sad. Eric and so hard vaccine preventable
diarrheal disease. Okay, okay, next more diphtheria.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
So, diphtheria is our first bacterial disease on this list,
and it's our first in a combo shot along with
the vaccines for tetanus and protessis detap is what the
vaccine is called, detap.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah, T tap for adults. Hey, yes, if anyone's confused
about that.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
In my head, I've been saying T tap detap, Which
one is? Detap?
Speaker 2 (28:24):
It's fine detap.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Diphtheria is caused by a bacterium named Karinibacterium diphtheria. Karanibacterium
is just a really fun word to say, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
It is.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
It's another respiratory pathogen. It's transmitted through sneezes and coughs,
and the symptoms of diphtheria can be things like sore throat, fever,
swollen necklands, weakness. And I still vividly remember from our
diphtheria episode years ago, like back in twenty eighteen, twenty seventeen.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
It's very old, twenty I don't remember anyway, I mean
it was months apart. It's yeah, it's stuck in your mind,
suck in my mind.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
And this is one of the hallmark symptoms of diphtheria.
It is a gray, odoriferous membrane made up of dead
tissue that coats your respiratory tract and this makes it
super difficult to swallow and breathe, like makes it difficult
to breathe. The bacterium also produces a toxin that can
injure your heart and your nerves, leading to long term complications.
(29:25):
Diphtheria is an incredibly deadly infection, with death occurring in
thirty percent of unvaccinated individuals without access to treatment like
antibiotics or serum. But even having those things is not
a guarantee of safety, right. A study that looked at
diptheria cases in unvaccinated individuals between nineteen fifty nine and
(29:47):
nineteen seventy found that even when treated with antibiotics, antiitoxin,
and supportive care, ten percent of people died.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Yeah, yeah, dip theoria is a scary one. It really is.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Okay, we've got a few more for this round, a
lot more.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
The well child check is a big deal. It's like
when it's no longer truly terrifying. If your child gets
a fever because before this point, like they're in the
emergency room, you're concerned for a very serious infection if
they have a fever. And after this they're protected from
so many of the things that used to kill babies
(30:26):
all the time.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
All the time.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
So like tetanus my tetanus next on our list.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
This is another bacterial disease caused by Claustridium tetani and
most people probably know that it's transmitted through exposure to
spores of this bacterium, which can live in soil, ash,
rusty tools, and in the intestinal tracts and feces of
humans and mammals who are infected with this infection can
occur when you have like a deep puncture wound, but
(30:52):
most tetanus infections actually happen during birth, like if the
umbilical cord was cut with a contaminated tool or if
the pregnant person not been adequately vaccinated. The symptoms of
tetanus include painful muscle spasms, trouble swallowing. Lock job is
another name for tetanus, seizures, headache, fever, blood pressure changes,
(31:12):
elevated heart rate, and death is quite a common outcome.
Even with all that modern medicine can offer. Like you,
you know, get tetanus symptoms, show you go to the
hospital right away. You have all of the best treatment
in the world. And twenty twenty five, ten percent of
people with tetanus will die from the infection, and those
(31:33):
that do recover are not protected from future infections. Only
the vaccine gives you immunity, not the infection itself, which.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Is so interesting and like you could do a deep
dive on why that is. And it's because we are
exposed to a much larger amount of the toxin, but
it can't actually make us sick, whereas that it's so interesting, yes.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Yeah, yeah, so in and this is still a major
problem around the world. The WJO reported that in twenty eighteen,
twenty five thousand newborns died from neonatal tetanus. That is
a huge number. Yeah, but that number, twenty five thousand
was a ninety seven percent drop from nineteen eighty eight,
(32:12):
when seven hundred and eighty seven thousand babies died within
their first month of life from tetanus.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Oh my god, erin in nineteen eighty eight, that's the
year I was born.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Yeah, there's more, there's more. These vaccines protect you FROMPHS protesis.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
So this is protestis is.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
The last in our tee dap trio detap. Sorry see
I have written detap in my head wants to say
tea dap okay protestas.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
So this protestis is.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
A bacterial disease caused by Bordetella protessis. This is another
airborne infection. It's spread when someone talks, sneezes, or coughs,
and symptoms can include fever, running nose, and the characteristic
hacking cough of this infection that gives it its their
name whooping cough. Protesses can turn into a very serious illness,
(33:05):
especially in infants, and this disease remained a major killer
in childhood for many parts of the world into the
mid twentieth century, with the case fatality rate of around
ten percent. Antibiotics aren't very effective against protessis, even though
this is a bacterial infection, and antibiotics are mostly used
just to reduce the spread of the disease, not reduce
(33:27):
the severity of an individual infection Like that's what they're
most effective against.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Yeah, preventing other people in the community who are unvaccinated
or under vaccinated from getting sick.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
A study from the CDC showed that kids not vaccinated
against protessis or sixteen times more likely to get the
infection compared to vaccinated kids. Within a few decades of
the protest's vaccine being introduced, mortality rates dropped around ninety percent.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Wow. Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
And since babies can't get the protesters vavaccine right at birth,
they are super vulnerable to this infection, which is why
pregnant people get the vaccine during the last weeks of
their pregnancy and why it's so important to be vaccinated,
to be up to date on your vaccines if you're
going to be spending time near a newborn.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Yeah, yep, got to get those chots next next day.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
And there's so many more, so many two months well
child check. I love I love doing this. By the way,
this is filling, this is yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
I just I just love that like this we have
we're naming all these really scary things and there were
also there are ways to prevent them from right.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
We're not just saying these are scary things. We're saying
these are scary things that we protect against. When your
child is two months old, yes, protected two months yep.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Like Hemophilus influenzae type B, so this is also known
as hibs bacteria that can cause severe respiratory infections, especially
in children under five years of age. These bacteria are
common residence of our respiratory tract and in most people
they don't cause any disease. They're just part of our microbiome.
But if a baby or a child gets exposed, HIB
(35:09):
can cause severe invasive disease. So what does that mean.
It means meningitis, it means pneumonia, it means severe ear infections, epiglottitis,
even sepsis. Complications of infection such as deafness, blindness, cerebral palsy,
and hydrocephalus happened at high rates. So there was a
study that looked at the global burden of HIB infections
(35:32):
prior to the vaccine and found that more than five
hundred and twenty thousand children died of HIB infections every year.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Wow, every year, that's a half a million babies. Yes
globally ugh.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Yes. Between twenty twenty fifteen, the vaccine has been estimated
to save over one point two million children from dying
of HIB, which is a decline of ninety percent and again,
like with protessis, diphtheria and tetanus, this is not an
infection where you can rely on antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance has
become a real issue with hib and the search for
(36:10):
and effective medication can cost you precious hours.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
Yeah, and especially with meningitis or with epiglottitis, which is
very that's an infection of like your throat that basically
makes it so that you can't breathe. It like blocks
off your track yet so that you cannot breathe. So
it's it's very severe if it's not treated right away. Yeah,
So antibiotic resistance is super scary.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Yep. But there's a vaccine.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
But there's a vaccine, just as there is a vaccine
for pnumococcal conjugates. So this vaccine protects against a bacterium
Streptoccus deemonia that's commonly found in people's respiratory tracts, kind
of like hib who don't appear sick, and it's also
transmitted it just lives there. And this one is also
transmitted via the respiratory route, and infants and young children
(36:57):
are especially susceptible to severe disease from this bacterium. And
like hibs. Strep pneumonia can cause pneumonia, meningitis, sinus infections,
ear infections, bacteremia, and sepsis.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
The deployment of these vaccines between twenty and twenty fifteen
reduced deaths globally due to strep pneumonia by fifty one percent.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Yeah. Again, antibiotic resistance.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Is a growing concern that makes these vaccines ever more important.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
This one also really hits home for me because the
Newmaccco conjugate vaccine wasn't approved for kids until the year
two thousand and In nineteen eighty eight, my older brother
got meningitis from newmacaccle from Streptoccus pneumonia and almost died,
did not die, lost his hearing completely. So it's like
(37:46):
very much a reality that's not that long ago.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
It's like that was the year.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
That I was born. So these and I mean, we
get pneumonia and things. These bacteria circulate everywhere all the time.
So the fact that we have this vaccine is phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
It is. Yeah, it is amazing, And we have more
and we have more polio polio.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Polio is caused by poliovirus, sure is it is. This
virus is transmitted through the air like coughing or sneezing,
and through the fecal oral root. Those who aren't symptomatic
can still shed virus into the environment and infect others.
Polio can cause fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiff neck, and
(38:32):
classically can sometimes progress to paralysis that is usually permanent.
Paralysis can be so extreme that five to ten percent
of people who have this symptom can die as a result.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
There is no.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Treatment, none, none for polio. None.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
There is only prevention via vaccination. In the US, In
nineteen fifty two, which is the year before the vaccine
was introduced, there were more than fifty seven thousand polio cases,
twenty one thousand paralytic, and three thousand fatal in the
US and the US alone. In twenty twenty three, zero
(39:14):
cases in the US. Yeah, yep, and similar amazing improvements
have been seen around the world. In nineteen eighty eight,
when the global campaign to eliminate polio started, three hundred
and fifty thousand people globally were paralyzed due to polio.
Since then, cases have dropped ninety nine percent.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
It's amazing, it is amazing, so close and yet so
far from eradication of polio.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
I know it's hard to because it's environmental contamination and
all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
So most of all of those vaccines that we've had
so far require multiple doses to provide enough protection. So
as we're going through our childhood vaccine schedule, the next
well child check is usually yet four months, and at
that visit you actually get all those same ones that
we just talked about, minus hepatitis B.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
You don't need a third dose of hepatitis B quite yet, okay.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
And then again at the sixth month visit, you'll get
a third dose of that de TAP, another dose of
that pneumonia, the newmococcal vaccine, another dose of the polio vaccine,
and a third dose of the hepatitis B vaccine. And then,
depending on like vaccine manufactures, because there's a few different types,
there might be another dose of HIB, there might be
(40:33):
another dose of the rotavirus, or sometimes you don't need those,
depending on which ones you got, which one your doctor's
off has had. But at six months old is also
when babies are finally old enough to get their flu
and covid shots. So Aaron, we all know about this
one right, most people.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Are familiar with both of these, I think, but we'll
just go over them again.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Yeah. COVID, right, I think we.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
All know, we all do?
Speaker 2 (41:00):
We know? Yeah, y'all know.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
We all know. COVID is caused by stars COVID two coronavirus,
and at this point in time, it has caused over
seven hundred and seventy seven million reported cases worldwide since
twenty twenty probably.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
Five years, okay, nine even five years, and it.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Has killed over seven million people since twenty twenty. And
this of course continues to circulate and cause significant morbidity
and mortality. Yep, yep, that's covid influenza. Of course, we know,
you know, we know Influenza. It's also caused by a
respiratory virus causes seasonal outbreaks, and in the US in
(41:36):
the twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five season so far,
as of the week of February twenty second, influenza has
already resulted in ninety eight pediatric deaths and has caused
at least thirty seven million illnesses, four hundred and eighty
thousand hospitalizations, and twenty one thousand deaths overall from flu
(41:57):
season so far. In the US alone, I actually can't.
Speaker 3 (42:04):
Like, those numbers are so astounding to me. It's been
a very bad flu season, a very bad flu season,
but like still, yeah, oh goodness, yep, So.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
That's fluent COVID.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
You're eligible for those at six months during flu season.
Obviously it might you might be older if it's not
flu season. Anyways, after six months in the US, on
our schedule, there usually aren't any other vaccines at the
nine month well baby visit, which is typically the next
time that you'll see your doctor, unless you missed any
of your vaccines. So then the next round of vaccines
(42:37):
is at twelve months of age, and at this visit
there'll be a few of our old faves. Now you'll
get either your third or fourth dose, your final dose
of HIB whether it was three or four, depends on
the manufacturer, the fourth dose of the newmacccle vaccine, and
then three very important vaccines that a baby hasn't gotten yet.
(42:58):
That's mmrzels, mumps, your bella verisala, chicken pox, and hepatitis A.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
So erin take it away.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
Let's start with MMR right, please, Okay, let's start with
the first m which I am designating measles.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
It is always measles.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Yeah, I mean it was the first of these vaccines
to be developed.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
Oh okay, that makes sense. Yeah, it is the big one.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
It is the big one. Yeah, and so yes, measles
is the first M in the MMR combo vaccine, and
it's caused by a virus, the most contagious virus ever discovered.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
Period period one.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Infected person can transmit the virus to fourteen to eighteen
susceptible people.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
You'll probably know what do.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
You get that?
Speaker 3 (43:45):
That means for every one person who has measles, fourteen
to eighteen people will get infected from that one person
if they're all not vaccinated.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Yep, yeah, this the are not I think that most
of us are now familiar with that term thanks to COVID. Yeah,
fourteen eighteen.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
It is staggering. It is staggering. Measles is airborne, and
infectious particles can hang out in the air for hours,
even after the infectious person has left. Infected individuals can
spread measles to others before symptoms appear, which also contributes
to its contagiousness. These symptoms include a runny nose, cough,
(44:26):
red watery eyes, and the classic rash starting on the
face and neck and then spreading throughout the whole body.
Measles is not a mild illness. It can lead to
complications such as blindness, encephalitis, ear infections, pneumonia, and death.
Even if a child's course of illness seems minor, Measles
can induce immune amnesia, which makes their immune system forget
(44:50):
how to fight off infections that they've previously been exposed to,
and this leaves them vulnerable to other pathogens.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
It wrecks you, It really really does.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Before the measles vaccine was developed in the nineteen sixties,
this infection was one of the most dreaded childhood infections
and has throughout history led to enormous death tolls, especially
in more isolated communities or ones under oppressive colonial rule
like Fiji, which in eighteen seventy five, as you heard
in our firstan account, lost a quarter of its population
(45:25):
to measles.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
A quarter of its population.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
Before the vaccine was introduced in nineteen sixty three, the
measles virus caused an estimated two point six million deaths
each year globally, two point six million every year.
Speaker 3 (45:43):
I yeah, it's you can't you can't wrap your head
around that, ye, kind of just destruction.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
Between two thousand and twenty twenty three, the measles vaccine
as estimated to have prevented sixty.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
Million deaths due to measles.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
Sixty million deaths that didn't happen because we had this vaccine.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
Right, And that's not even just like that's not infections,
because there's plenty of other complications that can arise just
after an infection. That's sixty million people who are alive
today because they had a measles vaccine.
Speaker 1 (46:15):
And because measles is so infectious, is so contagious, vaccine
coverage has to be really high to prevent outbreaks and
thus deaths, and unfortunately that isn't always achieved due to
access and or choice, and each year the death toll
remains high. The WHO estimates that over one hundred and
seven thousand people, mostly unvaccinated or under vaccinated children under five,
(46:41):
died of the disease in twenty twenty three alone. That's
so sad, so many children. Yeah, and this is why
measles infections often serve as a canary in the coal mine,
because that indicates that vaccination coverage has waned, and we'll
talk more about the current outbreak that's ongoing seems to
be growing in the US. We'll talk about that next week.
(47:04):
And I think just to really hammer home how infectious
measles is and how much the vaccine protects you, there
was a study from Johns Hopkins that found that unvaccinated
children between the ages of five and nine were one
hundred and seventy times more likely to contract measles compared
to their vaccinated peers.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
Yeah, I mean, the measles vaccine is incredibly effective. Like
one single dose is like ninety three percent effective, and
two doses is like ninety seven percent effective.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
Yes, like it is. It is incredible.
Speaker 1 (47:36):
It is incredible. Yeah, yeah, Okay, moving on to the
next m which is mumps. So the other this is
the other m in MMR. Mumps is also a viral infection.
It's transmitted via direct contact or airborne particles. Symptoms include
body aches, headache, general cruddy feeling, low grade fever, and
often these like big painful swellings of the prodded salvary glands.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Down here, yeah, down here.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
Mumps can also lead to swelling of the testes and
ultimately infertility.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:08):
Before the vaccine, mumps used to be incredibly widespread, and
during World War II, the US Surgeon General called it
one of the most disabling infectious diseases among new recruits.
It really spreads well in a crowd, as do most diseases,
many disease. Yes, Since the introduction of the vaccine in
the late nineteen sixties, mumps cases have declined over ninety
(48:29):
nine percent. Wow, over ninety nine percent since its introduction
in nineteen sixty seven.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
That's incredible, Aaron, It is all right.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
Moving on to R This is rubella the R and
MMR Lubella is also caused by a virus transmitted also
through airborne droplets. Symptoms can consist of rash, fever, nausea, conjunctivitis,
and swollen lymph glands behind the ears and in the neck.
For most people who get infected, the illness is mild
and self contained. But this virus poses a huge risk
(49:00):
to pregnant people. This virus can cross the placenta and
infect the fetus, which in eighty percent of cases will
result in the death of the fetus or congenital Rubella syndrome, Yeah,
which is very severe, very severe before the rubella vaccine
was developed, cases of rubella numbered into the millions. For instance,
(49:21):
in the US, in the nineteen sixty three to nineteen
sixty five rubella epidemic, there were twelve and a half
million cases of rubella in the US alone, in the
US alone, leading to twenty thousand cases of congenital rubella syndrome,
eleven thousand miscarriages and therapeutic abortions, and two thousand newborn deaths.
Speaker 2 (49:42):
Jeez, Louise Aaron yep.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
Just in a couple short years, Just a couple of years, yeah, right,
and right before the vaccine came out. And since the
introduction of the vaccine in nineteen sixty six, cases of rubella,
congenital rubella syndrome, and miscarriage and neonatal death attributable to
rebella have declined sharply in countries that have incorporated the
vaccine into their schedule. Yeah, all right, MMR is done.
Speaker 3 (50:08):
Far.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
I'm sorry, Press the way you just breezed through all
that air, I mean, the numbers way heavily. I know
they do, don't they?
Speaker 1 (50:19):
All right, there's more. Next is Vericella. So Veriicella is
also known as chicken pox. It's an infection caused by
the Veriicella zoster virus. It's spread through the air from
respiratory secretions or from the fluid of skin lesions, and
also direct contact. Symptoms include fever, a general creddy feeling,
and of course the classic itchy chicken pox rash which sucks.
Speaker 3 (50:41):
It sucks, can confirm speaking from experienced the vaccine. Oh,
I do remember, yeah, And then I remember I think
that I think my mom said we had appointments to
get our chicken pox vaccine or something. It was like
the year I think that the vaccine came out, but
then we just got sick instead.
Speaker 1 (51:00):
I'm older than you, so my one hole. But you know,
I think chicken pox. We have this idea of it
potentially as this like mild infection, but it is not right.
Here are severe complications that can arise after chicken pox
infection or during chicken pox infection. And these things can
(51:21):
be like secondary bacterial infections, pneumonia, encephalitis, and permanent nerve
damage or visual impairment. Newborn's, elder adults, and immunocompromised individuals
are especially at risk of severe infection with this virus
and even if you have a mild infection in childhood,
the virus will hide out in your nerve cells where
(51:42):
it can become reactivated later in life and cause shingles.
Before the vaccine was introduced, vericella caused and estimated four
million cases in the US alone every year, leading to
ten thousand, five hundred to thirteen thousand, five hundred hospitalizations
and one hundred to one hundred and fifty deaths, primarily
(52:02):
in children. Yeah, access and uptake of this vaccine is
not very high globally, and so we do still see
a substantial number of cases and complications. One hundred and
forty million infections with four point two million hospitalizations and
four th two hundred deaths around the world each year.
Again hard to take.
Speaker 2 (52:23):
In, Hard to take in, erin a last at disappointment,
Last disappointment.
Speaker 1 (52:28):
Hepatitis a HEPA like HEPB is a viral infection that
affects the liver. It's spread fecal orally, often through food
or water contaminated with the feces of someone who is
infected with the virus. Symptoms include things like fever, feeling cretdy, appetite, loss, diarrhea, nausea,
jaundice dark urine. Usually this infection is self limited, but
(52:49):
it can progress to fulminent hepatitis, which can lead to death.
There is no treatment for hepatitis A.
Speaker 2 (52:56):
None. None.
Speaker 1 (52:58):
But even though a vaccine has been available since nineteen
ninety five, global cases of hepatitis A have been on
the rise, with nearly one hundred and sixty million infections
estimated in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (53:10):
Yeah, huge number, huge number.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
And this rise is in part due to the vaccine
not being included in routine immunizations in many countries which
often have high rates of the disease.
Speaker 3 (53:21):
Yeah, so that was a lot, But that is also
the vast majority of all of the childhood vaccines because
by your twelve month visit, they're almost all done. Yay,
because by twelve months, your baby is strong enough to
kick when you try and give them their shots.
Speaker 2 (53:42):
Just saying.
Speaker 3 (53:44):
Usually at the fifteen month visit there's a fourth dose
of the d TAP. That's usually when that one is given,
and then at eighteen months is when you'll get the
second dose of hepatitis A. That's a two dose vaccine series.
But after that, after that eighteen months, it's annual flu
in covid shots until a kid reaches school age, which
(54:05):
is four to six depending on when you start school,
and to enter kindergarten, kids will get a couple of
other shots. They're all just booster doses essentially of the
shots that they've already gotten. So it's a fifth dose
of the d TAP, a fourth dose of the poliovirus,
and a second dose of mmr and vericella, which sometimes
(54:25):
can be given as one MMRV shot, So cool combined
in one.
Speaker 1 (54:30):
Combo shots are great.
Speaker 3 (54:31):
I love combo shots. I wish we had more of them.
Then during the rest of most of the rest of
elementary school, it's just annual flu in COVID like just
like what adults get, until age eleven to twelve years old,
which is when kids will get their first dose of
t DAP. We've said we'll mention it. It's basically just
(54:56):
a different version of DTaP. It has like slightly different
concentrations of things, okay, but t DApp has a booster
for tetanus as well as protessis and the diphtheria in there.
And then they'll also get two vaccines they haven't gotten yet,
and that is HPV and the meninjacccle vaccine. So Aarin
(55:17):
tell us about these to close us out on the
childhood vaccination schedule.
Speaker 1 (55:21):
You know, I am so passionate about the HPV vaccine.
It's it's yeah, so life saving, it is so life
I mean they all are r I know, yes, but.
Speaker 3 (55:32):
I think it's because this one is the most recent
for us, and so it feels like must.
Speaker 1 (55:36):
And it's also like uphill battle because of the way
it was marketed, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (55:40):
Yes, well it prevents cancer, which is so cool. All right, Sorry,
we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Speaker 1 (55:46):
HPV, also known as human papillomavirus, is of course a
virus a group of viruses that cause cervical cancer and
also warts. This group of viruses caused nearly seven hundred
thousand cases of cancer globally in.
Speaker 2 (56:01):
Twenty nineteen twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
One year, including all cases of cervical cancer that were tested,
and also upwards of eighty percent of anal cancers, up
to fifty percent of penile cancers, thirty percent of orofer
angeal cancers, also vulgar and vaginal cancers, lourngeal cancer, and more.
Cervical cancer alone caused an estimated three hundred and fifty
(56:24):
thousand deaths in twenty twenty two. This is a preventable can.
Speaker 3 (56:30):
Cancer, Yes, preventable cancer and so many I think that
also gets under attension, yes, not enough attention is the
array of cancers that can cause so many other times,
I mean eighty percent of all anal cancers HPD associated.
Speaker 2 (56:46):
Yes, Hello, vaccination lastination all right, Meninja cockle.
Speaker 1 (56:52):
So the menina coccle vaccine protects against a bacterium known
as Niceria meningititis, and this bacteria can cause severe infections,
mostly meningitis and bloodstream infections. These are most common in
children and adolescents. It is spread by respiratory droplets, and
an estimated five to ten percent of people carry this
(57:12):
bacterium in their nose without it causing illness.
Speaker 2 (57:15):
Just hangs out, just hangs out there.
Speaker 1 (57:17):
But when it does cause illness, it is often very severe,
and even with antibiotic treatment, about ten to fifteen percent
of cases result in death. Yeah, yep. It has also
been on the rise in the US since at least
twenty twenty one, with an estimated four hundred and thirty
eight cases of invasive meningococcal disease in the US alone
in twenty twenty three, and antibiotic resistance is on the rise.
Speaker 2 (57:42):
Yeah, me, Ninjococcus is no joke. It is no joke.
Speaker 3 (57:46):
Yes, but that is the childhood vaccine schedule.
Speaker 2 (57:52):
I also feel like.
Speaker 1 (57:53):
We should mention, or maybe I want to mention, is
that if you didn't get one of these vaccines as
a child, or if you didn't get them as the
number of doses that we just mentioned, talk to your doctor. Yeah,
and because these are not like things that you can
only get in a narrow window. Even with HPV, they're
expanding the age.
Speaker 2 (58:14):
It's up to forty two.
Speaker 3 (58:15):
Now you can get it covered by insurance up to
age forty two for HPV vaccine used to only be
twenty six. The new macacco vaccine didn't really exist when
a lot of us that were adults were kids. And
so we're that's also recommended for adults either over a
certain age or if you have asthma or other commorbidities. So, yeah,
like all of these vaccines, talk to your healthcare providers
because yeah.
Speaker 1 (58:36):
If you're not sure if you were vaccinated, like, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (58:41):
Love it. Okay, So it was a lot. It was
a lot.
Speaker 1 (58:44):
Yeah, we just ran through what feels like a million,
a million different vaccines and diseases, and you know, we've
got all these facts and numbers that are swirling around
in our heads. Yeah, it's a lot to take in.
Speaker 2 (58:56):
It can't be And we wanted to.
Speaker 1 (58:58):
Go through each of the disease is in the childhood
vaccine schedule so that there's a sense of what each
vaccine protects you from and what life was like or
what life is like without these vaccinations. Because we have
a short memory as a society, most of us have
never met someone who was paralyzed from polio, or whose
(59:18):
child died of measles, or who lost their pregnancy due
to a rubella infection. And thank goodness for that, right
Like that.
Speaker 2 (59:26):
Is amazing that we can say that, yes.
Speaker 1 (59:30):
Vaccines are in part a victim of their own success.
They have been so effective in preventing disease and death
that we take them for granted. Tragedies are obvious, we
can easily observe them, we can see them, but a
tragedy averted is nearly invisible. If you look around. A
high school graduation in the US in the nineteen thirties,
(59:51):
you would immediately see the impact of polio, crutches, wheelchairs,
empty chairs. But if you do the same thing today,
you'd don't see how many kids are alive and healthy
and excited to start their future lives because of vaccines,
because they didn't die or suffer permanent injury from polio
or measles, or rubella or vericella or hybrid eptheria or
(01:00:12):
tetanus or so many other vaccine preventable diseases.
Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
It's actually like genuinely making me cry.
Speaker 3 (01:00:18):
I know, it's like because that's an image we don't
ever think about looking around us and thinking how incredible
it is that we are all here and alive.
Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
Yes, and I mean it's not we do. We just
take it for granted.
Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
We take it for granted so so much.
Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
And also in this country, we take it country.
Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
Especially because that's not true everywhere. It's not.
Speaker 1 (01:00:42):
Yeah, in the US, in and other high income countries.
Vaccines have given us profound freedom from infectious disease, and
one of the greatest tragedies is that people use that
freedom to choose not to vaccinate and hopefully.
Speaker 2 (01:00:59):
With our disease by disease.
Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
Shpiel of the facts. You know. We've shown you how
deadly these diseases can be without vaccines, and why vaccines
are the best way to ensure your child's health. But
not every person can be vaccinated, or not every child
who is vaccinated actually mounts an immune response. Vaccines don't
just protect you, they also protect your community. When enough
(01:01:25):
people in a community are vaccinated, these diseases can't spread.
That's called herd immunity. But this herd immunity only works
when a certain proportion of the population is vaccinated. As
that proportion declines, as it has done in recent years,
that leaves more people vulnerable to infection and allows outbreaks
to happen. Speaking specifically about the US, although I'm sure
(01:01:48):
that this applies elsewhere as well. We are infected with
this idea of total freedom. It is what we deserve,
it is what we have. This is a free country,
mean me, yes, protect you. It's like the people in
your immediate circle, like that's yeah, right, we should be
(01:02:09):
able to do whatever we want, whenever we want, just
like no consequences.
Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
Right. But that is simply not true.
Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
That is not true.
Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
It is false. It is not the reality of the world.
Speaker 1 (01:02:20):
No by living in a society by driving on the roads,
the public roads that we drive on, but everything we
have to abide by certain rules, by a social contract.
We should want what's best not just for ourselves, but
also for our neighbor. We're not on our own. We
all depend on each other, and we are affected by
(01:02:42):
the choices that we make, both individually and collectively. And
what we need to do is reconnect with the truth
that vaccines are a big part of what gives us
this freedom. They don't take it away.
Speaker 3 (01:02:53):
Right because vaccines are preventing against diseases that spread through populations.
They're not something that just affects an individual. Yes, they
are not the same as a lot of other medical
choices that people make.
Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
Mm hmmm yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
And to bring it all the way back to what
we said at the top of this episode, we understand,
We understand the fear, the hesitancy, the confusion, the shame.
This is not an easy thing to navigate when the
overwhelming amount of conflicting information that is out there about
this topic makes it really hard to know what to do,
(01:03:33):
makes it really hard to sift through to find quality
information and then recognize it when we find it. How
do we even know that that is quality equality.
Speaker 2 (01:03:44):
Source, especially because most of the quality information is hard
to read, hard to get through, yep, and TikTok videos
are snappy. Not to again, I'm not just blaming TikTok.
Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
I don't know, are you though, Eric, No, But one
of the biggest battles in this is just knowing who
you can trust and where to find this information. And
so I think on that note, I would like to
bring it to the sources that we used for this episode, and.
Speaker 2 (01:04:13):
Let's prove you can trust us.
Speaker 1 (01:04:15):
Yeah, Aaron, I have like one million and one sources
for them.
Speaker 2 (01:04:22):
That's wonderful.
Speaker 3 (01:04:23):
I don't have as many as I expected, but I
also have a million old episodes that we did that
I went back to my notes on so.
Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
Yes, largely, I would say, just like to not go
through these million and one I used a lot of
the for the individual diseases. I used a lot of
the who website has a great for most of the diseases,
great websites for pre vaccine mortality rates, and also like
the symptoms, what this vaccine does when it was developed,
(01:04:52):
all these types of things. And then also I found
really just broadly speaking, there's a paper from twenty twenty
four from the Lancet and I'm going to find it
right now, and it is by Shaddock at All, twenty
twenty four and it is titled Contribution of Vaccination to
(01:05:12):
Improved Survival and Health Modeling fifty years of the Expanded
Program on Immunization And just as like a bottom line
of this, this paper found that since nineteen seventy four,
vaccination has averted one hundred and fifty four million deaths
around the world. Wow, And that includes one hundred and
(01:05:32):
forty six million deaths among children younger than five. So
vaccination saves lives millions and million, millions and millions of lives.
Speaker 3 (01:05:45):
I also use the World Health Organization and the CDC
for a bunch of things, including like the side Effects
from Vaccines. We'll link to that site that they have.
Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
The paper though, that I.
Speaker 3 (01:05:57):
Wanted to give a shout out to, was from two
twenty twenty one in the journal Vaccines, called Vaccine Technologies
and Platforms for Infectious Diseases, Current Progress, Challenges and Opportunities
has a lot more deep dive on the different types
of vaccines and what we use and why we use it,
and those kinds of things, which I think is really helpful.
But we have a lot, a lot more sources, so
(01:06:20):
we'll post all of them from this episode and all
of our other episodes on our website, this podcast will
kill You dot Com under the episodes tab check it out.
Speaker 1 (01:06:29):
We certainly will check it out. Thank you to Bloodmobile
for providing the music for this episode and all of
our episodes.
Speaker 3 (01:06:37):
Thank you so much. Thank you to Tom Brifogel and
Leona Scilacci for the incredible audio mixing. Thank you to
Brent and Pete and the entire video editing team.
Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
Love you, thank you too, exactly right. And thank you
to you listeners.
Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
Yes, thank you for listening. Thank you for tuning in.
Thank you for watching I thank you for watching.
Speaker 2 (01:06:58):
If this is a video, it's so really weird.
Speaker 1 (01:07:01):
Yeah, and a special thank you to our patrons. We
appreciate your support so so very much. It really does mean.
Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
So much to us, it really does. Thank you. Well.
Until next time, wash your hands, you filthy animals.
Hosts And Creators
Erin Welsh
Erin Allmann Updyke
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