Vaccines can prevent an afternoon of riding rollercoasters from becoming months of hospital visits. They have been instrumental in banishing ailments like polio. But recently, these life-saving aids have become magnets for misinformation. Confusion and fear have worked their way into the lives of people just trying to do right for themselves and their families.
Dr. Patricia Saint Cyr-Hager, DIPH, MA, Chief Operations Officer, welcomed participants to a webinar on behalf of the Black Health Matters Foundation and its new initiative, Our Health Our Wellness (OHOW), offering real information about what vaccines are and how they impact our lives. Amber Stevens West, Actress and Producer, star of The Neighborhood, served as moderator, and Dr. Toni Eyssallenne, Deputy Chief Medical Officer of the NYC Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene provided essential information on why vaccines should be considered for maintaining optimal health at every age.
Vaccines are not just pit stops needed to register for school or hold certain jobs. They are a vital part of lifelong wellness plans. They should be considered at every stage of life.
A shingles vaccine being taken today could mean a better retirement experience tomorrow. A teenager being given the vaccine for HPV could mean a young or middle-aged person being thankful they don’t have to deal with cervical cancer.
Maintaining vaccine status is important for multiple reasons. They can help with quality of life in advanced age. Family members and those in our extended community are impacted by the choices we make. Stevens described making choices while being mindful that she is in the “sandwich generation.”
“My husband’s grandmother also lives in our home, who is 82,” Stevens says. “So, it’s really important that I keep myself vaccinated, keep my kids vaccinated, and make sure that I stay on top of her vaccinations because we want to keep everyone healthy for as long as possible.”
Older adults and children are particularly vulnerable to the impact of being unvaccinated. In 2015, there was a measles outbreak in Anaheim, California, linked to spending time as a guest at theme parks.
A 2025 article in Scientific Reports noted that “The World Economic Forum and the European Commission have identified massive online misinformation as one of the most pressing challenges for modern society.” The complexity of vaccines has overshadowed their use for many people. Their misunderstanding has manifested as fear.
The group discussed how the proper spreading of vaccines has led to people being clueless as to why they’re important. People don’t see what they’re being protected from.
“What is true about vaccines is that they are a victim of their own success,” said Deputy Chief Medical Officer of The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Doctor Toni Eyssallenne. Today the flu shots that your forget to ask about at the pharmacy are taken for granted. But there was a time when your child contracting the influenza virus was seen as a guaranteed death sentence.
The Journal of Infection and Public Health reports that “Parental attitudes toward childhood vaccines have increasingly shifted, influenced by ethical, religious, and safety concerns.” This has left gaps in herd immunity coverage. “Herd immunity or community immunity refers to the reduced risk of infection among susceptible individuals in a population through the presence and proximity of immune individuals,” according to the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
Eyssallenne cited polio as an example of the diseases put at bay by vaccines. Measles cases have been on the rise due to these attitudes, as well.
There have been huge breaks in the trust between the public and the scientific community historically. But there are parts of the clinical landscape that leave the everyday person empowered and able to confidently control their choices. Ethical standards have been raised.
“Because of what we have learned about these injustices, we have put safeguards in place to protect people from these things continuing to happen,” said Eyssallenne. She mentioned “independent safety monitoring boards” as tools put in place to protect the public. These allow people to share if they have had a negative experience after being vaccinated. These events do not happen often, and they are tracked extensively.
“We have the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting system, which allows anybody to report if they have felt that they have had an adverse event as a result of a vaccine,” said Eyssallenne.
“We don’t just plow things into humans,” she clarified. She pointed out how unlikely negative responses to vaccines are. “Adverse reactions are extremely rare, approximately 1 in 1,000,000 cases,” she added.
“I’ve never seen anyone harmed by a poorly administered vaccine. But I have seen harm by natural and wild infections that could be prevented by a vaccine,” continued Eyssallenne.
Every parent wants to protect their child, but sometimes the urge can work against the goal when you don’t have the right information. “I think healthy skepticism is actually quite wise, but we can’t go to the other side where we’re actually refusing something that could actually be helpful for us,” added Eyssallenne. “Rejecting life-saving vaccines can also put you at real risk.”
Vaccines are not always missed because of refusals. Sometimes life gets in the way.
Stevens West pointed out the importance of reminders during the conversation. She pointed out that “It’s really easy for time to fly by and you just haven’t gotten that vaccine,” she pointed out.
Maria Trice Jenkins took participants through a relaxation and breathing exercise that could assist them with anxiety related to receiving vaccines.