41% of French people have an unfavorable opinion on vaccines , compared to only 12% on average in other countries of the world, according to the Vaccine confidence Project survey of September 2016.

Yet these health products are proud to serve. They save two to three million lives each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It is therefore time to break the myths.

"It is useless to vaccinate against diseases almost disappeared"

False!

Vaccination is a victim of its success. Many refractory patients believe that unnecessary vaccines because they underestimate the severity of the diseases they protect. Although smallpox was eradicated in 1980, this is not the case with diphtheria , poliomyelitis , pertussis or tetanus.

These contagious diseases are even making a comeback. In 2015, a boy died of diphtheria in Spain. Another was swept away by measles in Germany. And if tetanus remains uncommon (about 12 cases a year in France), it is fatal in one case out of three.

"Vaccines cause a lot of side effects"

False!

The very principle of vaccination - simulating an infection for the immune system to keep track of - involves possible side effects. But in the vast majority of cases, they are benign: redness, slight inflammation at the point of sting, sometimes fever. A few rare inflammatory diseases (of the intestine or peripheral nerves) can also occur within three months.

The controversy over increasing the risk of multiple sclerosis is questionable. This suspicion, which has hovered around the 1990s around the hepatitis B vaccine , has recently reappeared with the cervical cancer vaccine.

"No solid study has been able to establish a causal link between vaccination and the occurrence of this disease," says Daniel Floret, President of the Technical Committee on Immunizations. In fact, it has been proven that the risk is not more frequent among vaccinated persons than among unvaccinated persons.

"The aluminum contained in vaccines is suspect"

True !

Aluminum salts have been used for several decades as adjuvants to boost their effectiveness of many vaccines. They are supposed to be quickly eliminated by the urine. But it seems that they persist in some people and are deposited in the deltoid muscles of the shoulder, where the injection is performed. They could then migrate to the lymph nodes, then to the brain where they exert a toxic action.

According to Prof. Romain Gherardi, a neurologist at Henri-Mondor Hospital, these aluminum salts would thus promote the occurrence of macrophage myofasciitis, an extremely rare pathology characterized by chronic fatigue, muscular pains and cognitive disorders. As long as his research is not completed, doubt remains.

"The 3 non-compulsory vaccines are superfluous"

False!

Only three vaccines are currently mandatory in France *: against diphtheria (since 1938), tetanus (since 1940) and polio (since 1964), the famous DTP . Others are only recommended.

This does not mean they are useless. On the contrary, pertussis is a more serious threat to an infant than polio. This distinction creates confusion.

To halt the decline in immunization coverage, a report of "Citizen Consultation" submitted to the Ministry of Health at the end of 2016 recommends extending the immunization obligation by making 11 compulsory vaccines for a few years (whooping cough, measles, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae, pneumococcal, meningococcal C, rubella and mumps). To be continued.

"Only doctors can vaccinate"

False!

Since June 2016, midwives can prescribe and vaccinate pregnant women, newborns and their families. Nurses can also inject vaccines but they can not prescribe them.

Pharmacists are now also allowed to vaccinate, but only against the flu in winter for the moment.

* The yellow fever vaccine is also mandatory in French Guiana.