Posted: Tuesday, September 4, 2001

PRESS RELEASE
Publication Date: September 4, 2001

A national panel of public health scientists has declared that childhood vaccinations are safe and has urged Americans to continue to protect their children's health by immunizing them against common childhood diseases.

Their report, The Promise of Vaccines: The Science and the Controversy, is an in-depth review of issues and controversies related to childhood vaccinations. Published by the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), it documents the widespread public health benefits of childhood immunization. Its author, David R. Smith, M.D., is a pediatrician and president of the University of Texas Tech Health Science Center.

The Promise of Vaccines presents a comprehensive overview of vaccines and the science of immunity. Vaccines have been responsible for remarkable advances in disease prevention. Although their value has been questioned in the popular press, the vast majority of reports linking vaccines to various diseases do not meet the scientific criteria required to define a causal relationship between such vaccines and diseases.

According to Dr. Gilbert L. Ross, Medical Director of ACSH, "the benefits of childhood vaccination are more evident today than at any time in the past fifty years, and according to this report are likely to increase in the future."

The Promise of Vaccines
 describes the complex interacting network of vaccine safety oversight that involves collaborative efforts among several government agencies—a system that ensures the continued safe development of new vaccines.

Vaccines have had a greater impact on protecting children from death and complications from infectious diseases than has any other public health intervention. The public health importance of continuing coverage was demonstrated by the measles epidemic of 1989—1991, a period when coverage levels fell.

"This important new report should be read by every pediatrician, family practitioner, and parent who is concerned about the best means of protecting children's lives and health," stated Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, ACSH president.