Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists, and plenty of other healthcare providers work hard every day to help people who are sick as well as prevent others from getting sick. There are numerous ways in keeping yourself and loved ones healthy and in good shape, some methods consist of washing your hands, eating healthy, and occasional screenings. Although health care providers not only insist in keeping everyone healthy, they also highly recommend parents to consider the possibility of getting their children vaccinated. Vaccinations are intramuscular injections given to children before they are born to prevent viral and bacterial infections that may cause illnesses including death. It is a 1-minute process that can help the human body get stronger with antibodies and protect your child from diseases such as tetanus, diphtheria, mumps, measles, and even polio that were once deadly.
Before they are born, a vaccination can be passed to the child through the mother and even then, until they are 18. In a health care article, they explained how, “Pregnant women share everything with their babies. That means when a pregnant woman gets vaccines, she isn’t just protecting herself— she is giving the baby some early protection too” (The Impact Of Vaccines On Children’s Health Defense 1). It is recommended for a mother to take vaccines after childbirth as well, even so vaccines are actually safe for the child even if the mother chooses to breastfeed. Vaccinations are important for children because their immune system cannot fight of germs and bacteria due to the limitation of how much they can handle on their own.
Immunization also prevents other children and even adults from getting sick due to a non-immunized child. However, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Vaccination given throughout childhood has an overall percentage of 90% to 99% effectiveness in preventing diseases” (A.A.O.P 1). Vaccines are necessary, Pediatricians and health care providers believe children should receive all of the recommended vaccines to stay healthy. Even though children can still get sick with their immunization they will not get as sick as a child without any type of vaccination. It is a prevention from getting sick to a disease that their bodies cannot fight off alone in which death is a risk factor to non-immunizations. Vaccines were created to help children as well as adults so that their bodies can be capable of fighting off diseases and preventing them from getting an illness such as polio or mumps again once they have already fought it off.
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Children are exposed to thousands of germs every day in which their immune system cannot fight off on its own. There are limitations to how much they can handle on their own. If more parents were less scared to vaccinate their children, there would be less death rates due to vaccine-preventable deaths. In keeping track of immunization an articles stated that, “From the year 1996 to 2016 a number of 281 million children who were vaccinated were prevented from getting sick and due to them getting immunized it also prevented 40,000 deaths” (Ventola 1). In the lifespan of 20 years healthcare providers have managed to decrease the death rates by injecting children with vaccines.
Due to the effectiveness in vaccines less children are dying from diseases that were once fatal. Not only do vaccinations prevent illnesses, but they are also needed for children to start school as well as prevent the spread of diseases such as measles to other children. In an article they point out that, “… Vaccinations will prevent more than 21 million hospitalizations and 732,000 deaths among children born in the last 20 years” (CDC Press Releases). The number of deaths can increasingly go down if parents were to vaccinate their children. Vaccines are just as safe as putting a child in a car seat. A car seat is used to prevent any harm to the child when getting into a car accident. Therefore, vaccination is also used to prevent any harm on children even though it might not be something we can see or touch like a car seat.
When the majority of people get vaccinated, they are considered as a “herd community” therefore everyone including those who are either” to young or to sick to be immunized will receive some type of protection from the spread of deadly diseases”(CDC Press Releases). Therefore, parents who choose not to immunize their children are the ones who are in higher risk of severe complication if they get into contact with the disease. Although it sounds scary to have your child injected with a small percentage of a live virus, killed viruses, and even purified viral proteins these vaccines have been monitored to reinsure the safety of children by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).
Vaccines before being injected are researched and then tested once it is proven to be safe on thousands of volunteers, to make sure it works before giving it to the public. In an article they stated that, “Vaccines work they have kept children healthy and have saved millions of lives for more than 50 years” (Vaccine Safety: The Facts). Once it has been given to these volunteers, they are followed up for 12 months to make sure there has not been a sign of a potentially dangerous side effect. The FDA has been in charge of “vaccine science” and making sure that all the vaccines are safe to be used and given to the public. In an immunization article they stated, “The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) governs this whole process. The FDA is the watchdog for any medication that is sold over-the-counter or by prescription. There are extremely high standards that must be met before any product is allowed for human use” (IAC 3). Vaccines are not just given out; it takes years for “vaccine science” to come up with a safe and efficient vaccine that is safe for the public but mostly children.
Today there are worried parents who have to determine whether or not to vaccinate their child. Some parents refuse to have their child immunized because they believe vaccinations will harm or cause their child to develop Autism without getting properly informed. Shannon Honeybloom interviewed parents who claim their children have autism due to immunizations. One of the mother’s she interviewed claims, “My children haven’t received a shot in years. I generally try to avoid my pediatrician’s office. I do not feel that I can truly trust the medical establishment or the government that mandates and recommends the injections of known harmful substances into my children” (Honeybloom 5).
Vaccinations are known to have minor side effects such as a fever and redness around the area that was injected. Child immunization is one of the best choices a parent can make. It develops a stronger immune system by creating antibodies to fight off diseases that can be severely deadly, but it also prevents the child from getting sick again from the same disease they once got in contact with. Immunization is given to the child even before they are born so that they can fight off airborne diseases or any type of bacterial infections.
Regardless of how many medical researchers have proven the effectiveness of vaccines and statistically proven the decrease of death rates there are parents who decide not to immunize their children due to the harm it has on them or the possibility of their children developing Autism. Autism is not a common symptom or side effect of vaccination. Vaccines were created to protect and make children as strong and healthy as possible. Parents have been misinformed on vaccination when they should be told and shown the proofs on how vaccination decreases the chances of children dying. Children are more likely to die from non-immunization diseases than being put into a car seat without knowing whether a car accident is going to happen.
Parents need to focus more on the health of their children by looking further into detail, asking questions to their pediatricians and even other health care providers such as a nurses to get the accurate information to secure the wellbeing of their child. Vaccines are simple and effective to not only protect your child, but also protect yourself and other loved ones. Getting your child immunized is not only protecting them but it is also the reason for protecting the community and minimizing the spread of diseases.
If children were to get immunized not only will they create antibodies, but in the future, they can be more resistant to a disease they were once in contact with. Children are more resilient and can recover faster than an adult, therefore, its highly recommended to immunize them so that they can recover quickly from a disease they could be in contact with. I know vaccination is something most parents have to consider and there are so many “what ifs”, but as a future nurse I can reassure you that there is nothing to worry about other than making sure your child is immunized when needed to.
Works Cited
- Campbell, Andrew W. “Vaccines: Both Sides of the Same Coin.” Alternative Therapies in Health & Medicine, vol. 21, no. 4, July 2015, pp. 8–10. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=awh&AN=108754662&site=ehostlive.
- “CDC Press Releases”. CDC, 2014, https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/p0424- immunization-program.html.
- Honeybloom, Shannon. “Vaccines and Autism Exploring the Relationship between Vaccines and Autism, and the Controversy and Confusion Surrounding This Link.” Lilipoh, vol. 18, no. 72, Summer 2013, pp. 28–33. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=awh&AN=88936862&site=ehost-live.
- Immunize.Org, 2018, https://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p2068.pdf.
- ‘The Impact Of Vaccines On Mortality Decline Since 1900—According To Published Science • Children’s Health Defense’. Children’s Health Defense, 2020, https://childrenshealthdefense.org/news/the-impact-of-vaccines-on-mortality-decline-since-1900-according-to-published-science/.
- ‘Vaccinations.’ Encyclopedia of Religion and the Law in America, edited by Grey House Publishing, 2nd edition, 2009. Credo Reference, https://elcamino.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/greyrala/vaccinations/0?institutionId=7377. Accessed 23 Apr. 2020.
- ‘Vaccine Safety: The Facts’. Healthychildren.Org, 2018, https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/immunizations/Pages/Vaccine-Safety-The-Facts.aspx.
- Ventola, C. ‘Immunization In The United States: Recommendations, Barriers, And Measures To Improve Compliance: Part 1: Childhood Vaccinations’. Pubmed Central (PMC), 2016, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4927017/.
