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Amid RFK Jr.’s push to improve healthcare as part of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, there is a growing focus on vaccine transparency.
One of the most common childhood inoculations — the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine — has been a requirement for school attendance since its development in the 1970s.
Fox News medical contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier answered some frequently asked questions regarding the vaccine in a video sent to Fox News Digital. (See the video at the top of the article.)
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People often ask why the three vaccines are combined, which Saphier said is simply for convenience.
One of the most common childhood inoculations — the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine — has been a requirement for school attendance since its development in the 1970s. (iStock)
“From a public health standpoint, if the goal is to vaccinate as many children as possible to reach that herd immunity and keep these infections at bay, again, parents are more likely to only bring their child to the pediatrician that one time,” the doctor said.
“And on a child, isn’t it easier to give one injection as opposed to three separate injections?”
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Saphier also addressed some concerns about MMR vaccine side effects, including inflammatory reactions at the site of the injection, where the skin can become red and warm.
Children can also have low-grade fevers and feel irritable or lethargic, which is “likely to happen” even with each individual vaccine – not just when they are combined.
Kids can also have low-grade fevers and feel irritable or lethargic, which is “likely to happen” with any of the three individual vaccines, Saphier said. (iStock)
“The reality is there are always side effects when it comes to any sort of healthcare intervention,” she said in the video. “But with vaccines in particular, you can have the more mild side effects, and there are some severe, more rare side effects that are well-documented.”
The potential for autism being linked to vaccinations has been a deterrent for many parents when choosing to vaccinate their children, but Saphier said the “overwhelming majority” of “good research” shows no causal link.
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One of the largest studies, which was conducted in Denmark, found a lower risk of autism in more than 650,000 vaccinated children, the doctor noted.
The threat of autism being linked to vaccinations has been a deterrent for many parents, but Saphier said the “overwhelming majority” of “good research” shows no causal link. (iStock)
While the U.S. has a higher incidence of autism compared to other countries, specifically Europe, the doctor revealed that European nations have higher rates of MMR vaccine uptake.
“Isn’t it easier to give one injection as opposed to three separate injections?”
“The signs and symptoms [of autism] start to show around the time we’re giving all these vaccines, so it makes sense to kind of think they may be related,” she said.
“And it made sense to do as much research as we can to make sure there isn’t a link.”
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“But I think we need to be looking really hard at our environment, what we’re ingesting, the pollutants, the toxins, everything in big agriculture, big pharma, in our food industry and everything else.”
Saphier suggested that a link to autism may be found after diving into the “harmful chemicals” consumed by Americans that other nations do not consume.
Saphier suggested looking into environmental factors that could increase autism risk.
The doctor also said that medical agencies — such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics — should be “less stringent” on vaccination schedules, leaving the decision to the parents.
“It should be a conversation between the doctor and the patient.”
“If parents don’t want to give these vaccines when their babies are so little, I think it’s OK to have that conversation and let them wait until their child’s a little bit older before they head off to kindergarten,” said Saphier, who is a mother of three boys.
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“Because maybe at that time, you start to see signs of autism between about 1 to 3 years of age for the most part. So maybe let the parent get their child through that time, and if there aren’t signs of autism, then maybe they’ll feel better about … being able to vaccinate their children.”
Saphier said she supports returning autonomy to the parents when it comes to vaccines for children. (iStock)
“It should be a conversation between the doctor and the patient,” she said. “Unfortunately, during the COVID pandemic, the CDC and a lot of healthcare professionals really took away this conversation.”
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“By putting the COVID vaccine and booster for children in the same basket as MMR and some of the other vaccines, when it comes to children, that was the biggest mistake they could have ever [made],” Saphier continued.
“That has caused more vaccine hesitancy and concern.”
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Saphier expressed her hope that the MAHA movement will help identify safety signals in vaccines, which will “give parents the confidence they need to continue with the vaccine programs, because they really can save lives.”
Fox News Digital’s Khloe Quill contributed reporting.
