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Vaccination: should the obligation be maintained?
The question of the interest of compulsory vaccination is revived again with the case of these two young parents who appear in court because they refused to have their children vaccinated. Faced with the controversy, the pediatricians of the French Association of Ambulatory Pediatrics (AFPA) recall the major role of vaccination for our society. In France, according to Inserm, vaccinations over the past sixty years have helped to reduce mortality from certain infectious diseases by 30 or more. Since 1989, France has not known an indigenous case of polio and tetanus, it has made “only” 36 victims between 2008 and 2011.
No vaccines are not unnecessary and dangerous
If the majority of French people seem in favor of vaccination (9 out of 10), we are nevertheless witnessing a rise in the importance of a militant anti-vaccine minority which is fueling the controversy over vaccine safety. “These people publicly make false claims that endanger public health,” fulses François Vié le Sage, pediatrician in charge of the Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology group of AFPA. You can imagine that we are not going to recommend a potentially dangerous vaccine. Before being put on the market, a vaccine is in fact the subject of 5 to 6 years of studies. “All accidents are spotted, including the smallest. »Especially since doubts about certain vaccines have been dispelled by many recent studies. Aluminum, which is found as an adjuvant in many vaccines, does not cause diffuse inflammatory muscle damage. Eleven different international studies failed to demonstrate a causal link between the hepatitis B vaccine and multiple sclerosis. The same is true for the vaccine against the papillomavirus, suspected of being the cause of autoimmune diseases. Vaccination remains “the most effective public health action”, judged for its part the (HCSP) in its opinion issued last September.
Should vaccines remain compulsory?
However, the HCPS also recognized that the vaccination system had to evolve in France and above all called into question compulsory vaccination against diphtheria, tetanus and polio. France and Italy are the only two countries to maintain the obligation to vaccinate children against these diseases. Currently, a child who has not received these injections could not be enrolled in school, daycare or nursery. The other vaccines in the immunization schedule are simply recommended. Dr François Vié le Sage is in favor of lifting the ban: “this dichotomy between compulsory vaccines and recommended vaccines must be removed. This hierarchy is penalized because it suggests that some vaccines are less important than others.. For us pediatricians, all vaccines are necessary for the child. ”No new obligation has indeed been established for 50 years, yet some diseases for which vaccination is“ recommended ”are very dangerous and responsible for hundreds of deaths each year. “We could consider a general recommendation for all vaccines, but give it a real legal weight, more important than the current one, suggests the pediatrician. In any case, if the device evolves, it will be necessary to make a lot of communication. Yes, because removing the vaccine obligation could have a drawback for some, that of calling into question the interest of vaccination. Two surveys by the National Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS) and the Institute for Prevention and Education for Health (INPES) showed that in the event of the obligation being lifted, 21% of the general population ‘would question the validity of vaccination. In France, professionals are divided and fear a drop in vaccination coverage if the compulsory regime is removed.