Does Everyone Need a Vaccine Booster Shot?
Do we all need vaccine booster shots? Recent outbreaks on college campuses raising questions.
FOX’s Lisa Brady has “FOX on Family”:
Many of the recent mumps patients on several college campuses were vaccinated as kids, but vaccines can wear off:
(Siegel) “We’ve always known the MMR vaccine, measles, mumps, rubella is supposed to be a lifetime immunity, but it’s only the case in about 90 percent.”
And Doctor Marc Siegel, Professor of Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center says some vaccines don’t last nearly as long:
(Siegel) “If you haven’t had a tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis shot in the past ten years, you need one.”
But he says doctors usually target travelers for booster shots if they might be exposed to polio or hepatitis for instance. His message: Get a blood test to check your immunity status.
Doctor Siegel also understands why some parents don’t want to vaccinate their kids:
(Siegel) “But the virus that the vaccine is trying to protect your child against is far more a concern from a medical point of view.”
He says fear of disease, especially a killer like measles, should be greater than fear of vaccines. He also says we do need to keep testing vaccines for safety.
With FOX on Family, I’m Lisa Brady.
