Vaccine Misconceptions

Vaccines are considered one of public health's greatest achievements and have saved millions of lives, yet misconceptions regarding vaccines continue to circulate in public discourse. Most health professionals are aware of the arguments made to discredit well known misconceptions, such as the link between vaccines and autism.  However, other misconceptions require a more nuanced approach to both understanding how the misconception developed and educating health professions on dispelling such misunderstandings. This presentation will introduce the audience to vaccine misconceptions with less commonly understood arguments and associated scientific reasoning, such as: the role of aluminum and formaldehyde in vaccines, the use of fetal cells in vaccine manufacturing, and vaccine-derived poliovirus.    

Speaker: Shauna Zorich is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health at the University at Buffalo’s School of Public Health and Health Professions. Dr. Zorich develops and instructs public health and epidemiology courses for students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and is engaged in scholarly activity which primarily focuses on pedagogy in public health. 

1. Recognize less commonly discussed vaccine misconceptions which circulate in public discourse.
2. Understand the role played by commonly misunderstood ingredients in vaccines, such as aluminum and formaldehyde.
3. Appreciate the need for various animal and human cell lines in the vaccine manufacturing process.
4. Distinguish wildtype poliovirus from vaccine-derived poliovirus and understand how and why vaccine-derived cases of polio develop.