Vaccination benefits outweigh any potential risks
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A mother recently posted a message in a mailing list here, urging parents to be aware of mercury contained in some vaccines, which allegedly causes a condition with symptoms similar to autism.
She said her two-and-a-half-year-old son was one of the victims, suffering heavy metal poisoning from the vaccination.
The mother also recommended the Indonesian translation of a book about what parents should know about children's vaccinations, written by Stephanie Cave, MD and Deborah Mitchell.
At the end of last month, the Indonesian Autism Foundation held a seminar called "Is vaccination safe?".
Well, is it?
The debate over vaccination safety has been going on for a while, with some scientific studies claiming a link between childhood vaccinations and autism.
One study pointed at the mercury content in thimerosal, the preservative found in some vaccines, especially the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.
The MMR, the study suggested, had caused a particular form of autism, new variant autism, in which children deteriorate over time and suffer bowel disorders.
Last February, however, scientists from the Royal Free Hospital in England found there is no evidence of such a link.
"There is a huge amount of good evidence that there's no relation between MMR and autism," Prof. Brent Taylor, who led the research, told BBC News Online.
Autism, the latest study shows, was just as likely among children who did not receive MMR, or to have surfaced in children before they were vaccinated.
Taylor said that by not having the MMR jab, children were being put at risk of measles, mumps and rubella.
Leading British medical publication The Lancet also issued a rare retraction earlier this year for an article it published citing a link between vaccinations and the onset of autism.
However, many parents and campaign groups still believe that dozens of children have been affected through vaccination.
Parents here, apparently, are no exception.
According to pediatrician Hardiono Pusponegoro, who chairs the national board of the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI), many mothers were afraid of getting their children vaccinated.
"Whereas we doctors, along with the Ministry of Health, have issued a joint statement that vaccinations are safe," Hardiono told The Jakarta Post.
He regretted the influence from a book, which he did not name but said was written by a parent who is not a doctor but whose child is autistic, that has been translated and sold here.
"The writer is very anti vaccine. Parents here read that book and things are messed up," said Hardiono.
He acknowledged there was an increasing number of autism cases here. Unfortunately, no one knows what causes the disorder, with symptoms ranging from a lack of social skills to a profound and crippling inability to relate to others.
What is known is that there is genetic factor involved, which is allegedly triggered by environmental factors, such as viral infection and allergy.
As autism is usually diagnosed during the toddler years when children receive many shots, some believe that the vaccine, or the thimerosal it contains, is another trigger factor for autism.
Thimerosal, a type of mercury called ethyl mercury, is used to prevent contamination in vaccine so the latter remains sterile. It is no longer used in childhood vaccines in the United States, but it remains in the influenza vaccine and other vaccines in other countries.
Hardiono said that in Indonesia, thimerosal can still be found, including in diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT) and hepatitis vaccines, both of which are mandated for children by the government.
"There is a limit of the ethyl mercury level that is allowed in children's bodies, as mercury can damage the brain. But even if the two vaccines are combined, the mercury limit does not exceed the limit. It is tolerable and not dangerous," he said.
The new vaccines available are free from thimerosal or contain a minute amount.
As for the report of heavy metal contamination, Hardiono said that the mercury content in fish from the Jakarta Bay, as recently reported by the media, is much higher.
"The mercury in the fish is much higher than all the mercury in the vaccines combined. The type of the mercury is also different, it is methyl mercury, the one that caused the Minamata tragedy," Hardiono said, referring to the mercury poisoning that occurred in residents living near a factory in Japan.
If parents are still worried, Hardiono suggested that they only have their children immunized with the DPT and hepatitis vaccines.
"Especially DPT, we can't bargain with that as the risk is death," he said.
"But the bottom line is, we shouldn't be worried about vaccination. If we forsake vaccinations, this country will be ruined."