The Implications Of Vaccinating Children

There is much debate and controversy about child vaccinations being safe or not. Parents wonder should they get

Whether or not to vaccinate yourself/ your child has become a very important question to ask yourself. With recent news of vaccinations having a possible link to autism and many other negative side effects, it has become increasingly more important to weigh the risks and the rewards of vaccinations. While this may be a risk, the risk of zero vaccinations worldwide would have an exponentially larger and more negative effect on the majority of the world. Vacinations are the key to achieving longevity in life not only for one person but for the whole of the human species. This leads one to ask “if everyone is vaccinated, what is the difference if I decide not to vaccinate due to inherit risks?”

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? Parents with infants and young children have been tussling with this proverbial question for several decades now. With the advent of the internet and the World Wide Web, parents have been bombarded with a plethora of information about pros and cons of vaccines from all kinds of sources, some creditable, and some are not. To the non-scientific community, these conflicting information can create problems in the decision making process; thus, forcing parents to make the wrong choices and putting their offspring and others at risk. However, this article will attempt to address the importance of vaccinations, how vaccines work, why we should vaccinate, and why parents should not be afraid to vaccinate their offspring.

There appears to be an alarmingly large group of people that don’t mind exposing their children to serious harm; in recent years, many adults have decided against vaccinating their children. This is unusual, as vaccines are non-lethal, very safe protection for children; they are even cost-effective for their parents and are considerably safer for the entire family when these children are vaccinated routinely (Prosser, 1548). Jennifer Hamborsky of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention essentially describes vaccination as the administration of antigenic material to stimulate an individual 's immune system to develop adaptive immunity to a pathogen- and vaccination

Another reason why many parents are hestatinate to vaccinate their children is because of controversy that related vaccinations to autism. The number of recommended vaccinations in babies is increasing, and so is the number of children with disabilities and chronic disease. To parents this is very alarming because they want their children to be as healthy as possible, and one of the main reasons why they do not support mandatory vaccines. The majority of vaccines contain mercury-based preservatives, and when a high amount of mercury is injected into the brain it can possibly cause problems, such as autism, for children. When parents of young children hear this, and then see the statistics for the rate of autism increasing, it makes them

“In 2011 alone, 1.5 million children died [worldwide] from diseases preventable by currently recommended vaccines” (“Immunization” 2). The magnitude of this tragedy is in part caused by the fact that some of those children simply weren’t reached by organizations like UNICEF, which aim to vaccinate children (“Immunization” 2). However, there are other reasons for the recent deaths and epidemics—such as the whooping cough epidemic of 2012, with 48,000 cases nationally in the United States—involving vaccine preventable diseases (McClay 1).

As humans we have a tendency to make decisions before completely rationalizing them thoroughly. Through science we now know that our frontal lobe, which is responsible for motor function, problem solving, memory, judgment, impulse control and much more does not fully mature until our late twenties. The average age to start having children is in our early twenties, (25 years of age or younger) not to mention the teen parents. Throughout childbirth, one question that needs proper judgment and consideration to make is, whether to have their children vaccinated. One barrier that can affect parent when making solid decisions about childhood vaccinations is the scientific terminology doctor and other people use. For example, when comparing the word vaccination to immunization sometimes people will use the terms interchangeably not realizing that they have two distant meanings. Vaccination is just that, a vaccine that that is administered to develop immunity, or immunization, to a specific disease. Childhood vaccinations are a crucial part to the development of children and their health, despite the barriers that are present. By introducing research to the community regarding possible risk factor, myths that are commonly associated with childhood vaccinations, and possible laws, the goal is to help people understand why all children should be vaccinated.

Second, the science is strong and indisputable: research shows there is absolutely no link between the increase in autism or brain damage to vaccinations, this is a myth thought up by religious cultures trying to ban vaccinations of our children.

This report shows how vaccinating can greatly impact the health of children and members of the community. Recently vaccination rates have been decreasing for a variety of reasons. 48 States are allowing for religious exemptions and 19 states have personal exemptions that can be easier to fill out instead of going to clinics and getting your child inoculated.

Often debated, with strong convictions on each side, timely immunizations for children do more good then harm. Over the last few years, a phenomenon has come to our door steps. It used to be that all parents would immunize their children, without fail, because doctors told them to. In the past, the only non-immunized children were the children with health deficiencies. These children depended on the “herd” mentality. However, times are changing and parents are choosing to not immunize their children mainly based on these reasons: the possibility of them getting autism, parental lack of education about immunizations and lastly they believe that the illnesses that children are being immunized against are gone and immunizations are no longer needed.

For a child to start public school, he/she needed a dental check-up, a physical and, most importantly, vaccinations. Although the decision of having a child inoculated is easy for some, it may be more difficult for others. Having children receive vaccinations can erase disease, save lives, and protect.

I have been reading disturbing reports that a growing segment of our society is deciding to refuse vaccinations and immunizations for their children. These children, when allowed to co-mingle with other children potentially come into contact with children who are immune-compromised due to immuno-suppressant therapy, cancer, chemotherapy, or immunodeficiency disease, not to mention newborns, who have not yet been immunized against dangerous communicable diseases. As a society, we must stand up to those who would threaten the public health with decisions which may well take us back to an age of high child mortality--a public health disaster. Failing to immunize your child enables them to spread preventable communicable diseases to

Vaccination is a preparation of antigenic material that can be used to stimulate the development of antibodies and thus confer active immunity against a specific or number of diseases. It is a medical treatment administered to an otherwise healthy individual. Virtually all other invasive medical interventions occur only once someone has called ill. Vaccination, like most medical treatments, can involve some risk. And therefore it should be undertaken only after careful consideration of its risks versus its benefits. The first vaccine was developed in 1796 by Edward Jenner, to prevent the effect of a deadly diseases called smallpox. The demonstration proved to the science community that it worked and the support for vaccination grew and became mandatory. In this generation we are seeing more vaccines given to more children at a younger age than ever before in history. As the number of vaccines given to children increased, there has been a rise and moderate to severe Asthma, seizures, diabetes, and food allergies diagnosed with autism. There are a lot of viral material in vaccination such as DNA, Foreign DNA, Animal DNA most commonly green monkeys and chicken and all the kind of DNA we are not eating but injecting into our bodies. Do we really know what we are creating? And do we really believe help can only come through vaccine and that it is safe and effective? There is zero scientific prove of that and yet the FDA and CDC approved it and continues to support it to benefit

published a controversial study in British journal Lancet where he linked MMR vaccination to autism. (Should I include what his study was based on and results?) Years later, many other studies proved it wrong but mistrust of science and mistrust of government is still there (2011). For example, Phea Paul study stated that there is no evidence that autism is cause by any vaccine and therefore no reason for parents to deny a child protection in today’s vaccines offered (2009). His study shows that if comparing risks mathematically of death or disability as a result of not vaccination a child which are small, to the risks of causing an autism spectrum disorder by immunizing it increases significantly.

Parents all across the United States have an issue with vaccinations for their children. Parents as of today do not have the option whether or not to immunize their children. These vaccinations are potentially harmful for children, but they also help and prevent life threatening illnesses. Parents should be allowed to choose to vaccinate their children because at times, the vaccine might harm the child, and because the parents simply just have right.