Childhood Vaccination Pros And Cons

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The Vaccination Debate Childhood vaccinations are necessary because they have been proven to be a very effective method for preventing childhood illness and disease. Vaccines are defined as “a product that produces immunity therefore protecting the body from the disease.” (National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, 2012a) Although childhood vaccines are an effective method for preventing disease, illness, and even fatalities – the number of children who are not vaccinated for preventable diseases has grown steadily over the past decade. Many parents believe that the risk of potential negative side effects outweighs the proven benefits of vaccination. Unsubstantiated and even fraudulent claims about vaccines causing autism,…show more content…
Some of the diseases that once killed or greatly injured thousands of children are close to being extinct – and others have been eliminated completely. This is in great part due to safe and effective vaccination against preventable diseases. One great example of a vaccine that has saved countless lives would be the polio vaccine. In the past, this disease was feared because of an epidemic that caused the paralysis and even death of hundreds of thousands of people all across the country. Now that the polio vaccine is administered regularly, there are no more reports of polio in the United States of America. Another common vaccine given to children between 12-47 months is the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine.(National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, 2012b) This vaccine is required before children can attend most schools, and helps to prevent all three diseases – which are all potentially serious diseases of childhood. If an adult has not yet received the vaccination (or contracted any of the three diseases), it is important that they also receive the MMR immunization. Providing these vaccinations, especially to children, can greatly strengthen the community’s overall protection, and is absolutely essential to promote a healthy society. The fewer individuals who go without proper immunization, the lesser the…show more content…
Dr. Paul Offit, MD, FAAP, who is a noted expert on vaccines said: “Parents are bombarded with false stories about the dangers of vaccines, and the result is that some are backing away from vaccinating their children. This is tragic, because it leaves children vulnerable to deadly diseases, and it lowers the immunity of the entire community”. (Offit, M.D.) What this means is that if we, as a society, continue to break down population immunity by not vaccinating our children, it will open the door to all of those diseases that we thought were made extinct by vaccines. Population immunity is also referred to as “herd immunity”. Herd immunity is important because it helps protect everyone around us – even those who are not eligible for certain vaccines, such as infants, pregnant women, or those with compromised immune systems. The reason this works is because when the majority of a community, or herd, is immunized, the spread of disease is contained – and those who are not immunized are less likely to contract it. As the number of non-immunized individuals increases, the risk of infection amongst the herd is greater. For this reason, it is important for everyone to have proper vaccination – not just to protect themselves, but to protect everyone around them. (The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious

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