Vaccines: Should parents avoid vaccinating their children? Essay Example

in helping parents realize the essential role of vaccination among children and the reason why they should take their children for vaccination if the need to do so arises.
It is worth noting that the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that children between the age of 0 to 6 be given approximately 28 doses of 10 vaccines to increase their chances of survival and increasing their bodies’ immune system so as to fight contagious diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, and measles which often affects young children below the age of six years.

Children under the age of six are prone to infections and therefore there is the need for these children to be vaccinated against these diseases so as to increase their survival and enhance their body immune system so that they may be strong and overcome these illnesses. Proponents of children vaccination claim that the process is an important process in improving the lives of millions of children in the 21st century. These groups of people argue that prevention process is safe and is associated with numerous health benefits. These proponents further claim that due to vaccinations, illnesses such as smallpox, diphtheria, whooping cough, and rubella which were in the past viewed to be very dangerous and extremely difficult to cure are today preventable due to vaccines which are given to children when they are still young.

Another reason why to support the process of vaccinating children is because the ingredients used in making these vaccines are safe in the different amounts used to vaccinate different diseases among children. Due to an extensive research study conducted during the development stage of these vaccines, adverse

reaction to vaccines by children is always rare. One of the most important that parents consider before taking their children for vaccination is to understand whether the child would react negatively to these vaccine doses which can cause numerous health challenges to a child in the long run. Parents are however advised not to panic since most of these vaccines have been researched and proved to be safe for the intended process, and the issue of negative reaction on the child’s body is very rare. The next important reason which makes the vaccine to be important for children is the fact that it saves children and their parents both time and money (Vaccines.Gov 1)footnoteRef:3. It is important to note that treating these diseases in advance stage when the child is old is more cost and takes a lot of time since a number of tests would be needed to assess the severity of these diseases on the child. They say that prevention is better than cure and indeed vaccination is one of the best preventive ways that children can be prevented from a variety of infectious diseases. The process of allowing their children to be vaccinated while they are still young is one of the sure ways that parents can use to save time and financial resources that are required in advanced ages if children are not vaccinated.

The other important factor that parents must understand is that some of the vaccine-preventable diseases which are commonly associated with the children have not all disappeared as they keep on reappearing in different children at different stages of life. It is, therefore, crucial to protect children from being

affected by these diseases and the only way that medical professionals can achieve such an objective is when they offer vaccines to children at early stages (Patel, Vaisali, and Keeler 78)footnoteRef:4. The Center for Disease and Prevention states that there is the need for parents to take their children to be vaccinated even if they show signs that they are better health wise. The organization suggests that some of the preventable diseases such as smallpox which has significantly reduced in the country can reappear and again affect the unvaccinated children and the only approach to keep such a situation from occurring is that all children should be vaccinated. Vaccination also provides some essential economic benefits for the society in general with the CDC claiming that the process of treating children between 1994 and 2014 has enabled the American Society to save approximately $ 1.38 billion. The financial benefit from the process of vaccination excuses the government from spending a lot of financial resources in the dealing with the same problem.

Research has established that vaccination of children helps protect and safeguard the lives of other individuals hence creation of a healthy nation. This is an imperative reason in the matter of why parents should take responsibility for ensuring their children’s receive the relevant vaccinations. As a matter of reality, parents ought to be advised about the importance of vaccinating their children providing a vivid explanation of how vaccination saves the lives of others. For instance, over the recent past, medical research in the developed and the developing countries has established the reappearance of whooping cough and other preventable diseases due to ignorance from some of the

parents (Patel 34).

It is true that some individuals and especially the young children and the allergic ones are unable to receive some of the vaccinations. Therefore, vaccination of the remaining population helps protect this group from infections hence safeguarding their health, protecting their friends and the members of their families from the danger of getting infected. In a medical point of view, the advantages that accrue are abundant and beneficial since this prevents the emergence of outbreaks that can weaken a community or the nation in general. Inherently a healthy society leads to a productive nation hence the general growth of a country. Through different medical reports, vaccination has created a fundamental platform for the fight against killer diseases hence considered among the top factors that contribute to the support of life in the world. It is, therefore, worth advising parents to vaccinate their children as a way of safeguarding the health of others.

The next importance of vaccination is that it enables children to grow and interact socially with their colleagues without any restriction. (Valmori, Danila, et al. ). The state governments have been at the forefront to implement the immunization of children by requiring that all children admitted in public schools must have undergone the vaccination process so as to reduce the chances of spreading these preventable diseases such as measles among children while in school. With such type of laws, these states governments have taken all the necessary measures to ensure that children are safe while in school and are not exposed to various diseases such as measles and which significantly affects their performance in school.

Vaccination helps in the protection of future generation.

When pregnant mothers are vaccinated, they play a vital role in protecting the unborn children from a number of viruses and bacteria which could alter their genetic composition and resulting in congenital disabilities. Children are considered as the future generation of every society and therefore it is the mandate of their parents, government and the society as whole to address the health issues which affects their growth and development into adulthood. According to UNICEF, there was over 500 instances of polio cases across the world in 2014. Polio is known to be one of the worst preventable diseases that cause birth defections among children who are underneath the age of 6 years. Despite the fact that these cases decreasing yearly due to effective measures were taken by governments all over the world to eradicate these preventable diseases, it is still evident that such diseases are not yet totally eradicated meaning that unborn babies are still exposed to immunizable diseases which can cause their birth defections(Bays H, 2011).

It is evident that the process of vaccination provides numerous health and financial benefits to both children and the society as a whole. IT is, however, essential to analyze some of the negative issues associated with vaccination among children so as to come up with an impartial conclusion on whether parents should take their children for vaccination or not. One of the negative effects of the vaccination process is the health effects it brings in a child’s genetic structure. An individual body system is composed of natural immunity which helps the body to fight pathogens and bacteria which causes diseases. However, opponents of vaccination claim that the process is

health hazardous due to the fact that most of these vaccines used in immunization process are artificial and negatively reduces the natural body immunity. Other negative aspects that of immunization process that the opponents of this process claim to be inappropriate is the fact that some of these vaccines are made up of ingredients which are considered immoral and objectionable by many people such as religious people.

Based on the analysis above, it is essential to understand that some of the negative claims put forward by anti-vaccination groups are not only baseless but also scientifically incorrect. It is correct to conclude that the positive benefits of children vaccinations outweigh the negative effects hence it is my conclusion to support all the measures that can be taken by the government and other policymakers in the health sector to enhance children vaccination. Parents should also play a leading role in ensuring that they take their children to hospitals to acquire this valuable health service.

Work Cited

1. Bays, H. Your Child & Your Health. S.l.: Lulu Com, 2011. Print.
2. Important Reasons To Vaccinate Your Child | Vaccines.Gov". Vaccines.gov. N.p., 2016. Web. 7 Oct. 2016.
3. Patel, Vaisali M, and Courtney Keeler. Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases Through Information and Education at the California Department of Public Health. , 2014. Print.
4. Valmori, Danila, et al. "Vaccination with NY-ESO-1 protein and CpG in Montanide induces integrated antibody/Th1 responses and CD8 T cells through cross-priming." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104.21 (2007): 8947-8952.