Do all vaccines have some common ingredients?

[IdentityCrisisMama]

I've had a nagging question about vaccination that I thought would be a lively conversation. Why do we tend to lump vaccines together in one category? Do they all share some common ingredients? Is it their purpose or function? How they're administered? I know this may seem like an odd question but it's been on my mind and I've been hanging around here so I thought I'd ask. 

[fruitfulmomma]

[Rrrrrachel]

That's a great question! I'm not sure. There may be some common ingredients,but the usually controversial ones are not common to all vaccines. Maybe because they all trigger an immune response? I will avoid speculating further than that so I don't accidentally put my foot in my mouth.

Here's a list of ingredients by vaccine

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf

[prosciencemum]

I wonder if it's because they're the only medicines we give to healthy people. Vitamins are the only other medicine like substance I would put in this category.  

 Also I wonder if it's because the method of administering - injecting them into tissue - feels a bit strange. We never deliberately put sharp objects near our skin......

[pek64]

Here is a link to the definition. I'd put the definition here, but I'm not sure how to do that on the android.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDMQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thefreedictionary.com%2F_%2Fdict.aspx%3Fword%3Dvaccine&ei=W0-zUOzxFMutqwHzkYGIDA&usg=AFQjCNGg7Igj0OLHCDGRdPb_VY_bu7Ilag

[IdentityCrisisMama]

So, Pek, do you think we group them together by their intended purpose? 

Quote:

a. A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen, such as a bacterium or virus, or of a portion of the pathogen's structure that upon administration stimulates antibody production or cellular immunity against the pathogen but is incapable of causing severe infection.

So, is there any medicine that fits the above description of a vaccine that is not generally considered a vaccine? Are there any vaccines that don't fit that above description? 

[Rrrrrachel]

The only thing I can think is that vitamin k at birth is often lumped in.

Pro, I think you're on to something with it being given o healthy people.

[pek64]

I recall doctors separating the vit k shot from vaccines and vaccinations. Yes, I think it is a grouping by function. There are, or have been, oral vaccines, so injections can't be it.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

So, for instance, when folks say they are anti-vaccination or pro-vaccination do you think they have the function in mind when they are grouping them together? 

[Rrrrrachel]

Personally I very much dislike those terms.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Originally Posted by Rrrrrachel 

Personally I very much dislike those terms.

I know there are lots of us who don't use those terms at all but for those who do - are there better terms I could have used? I know how loaded language can be so I don't want to use the wrong words to describe someone who chooses to vaccinate and someone who doesn't. I know there will always be people who don't like labels but for those who don't mind a label in this case, what do you like? 

[pek64]

I do (have function in mind).

Other things that concern me, personally, are the ingredients used. I think within the vaccine group there are subgroups of types of vaccines. Those subgroups would have similarities of ingredients, live or not, oral or injection, etc. But all of those differences are within the group of vaccinations, which all have the same function.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

I suppose I could have just said, for those who think of vaccines together as a group when forming your opinions about the issue of vaccination, do you use the function as the criteria for grouping them. 

So, if you say, "I have made the choice to vaccinate on schedule" -- what is the criteria for grouping them?  And  vise versa...

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Pek, cross post...

[Rrrrrachel]

Originally Posted by IdentityCrisisMama 

I know there are lots of us who don't use those terms at all but for those who do - are there better terms I could have used? I know how loaded language can be so I don't want to use the wrong words to describe someone who chooses to vaccinate and someone who doesn't. I know there will always be people who don't like labels but for those who don't mind a label in this case, what do you like? 

I use them too, for lack of a better set of terms.  I just don't like them :)

I guess when I was making my decision about vaccinating I went through the various ingredients that people find problematic (live virus, aluminum, thimerosal . . . ) so maybe I would break them up that way.  Now I guess it's just the ones that are on the schedule and the ones that aren't.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Ah, yea. Speaking of the schedule, I suppose another way to group them would be to think of them in terms of medical norms for children. Maybe that's where things like even led testing, PKU, vit-K, the eye goop and etc. can sometimes get lumped in? Just talking out loud here...