Please Vaccinate!

When Liam was born I knew I would get him vaccinated.  A couple years beforehand, I wasn't quite so sure about immunizing my future children. This was due to the 2008 scare that vaccinations can lead to autism.  However, with time and research, I've discovered the link between vaccinations and autism has been exhaustively and widely disproven.  Yes, there have been observations where children develop autism symptoms shortly after immunization, but this is observational and has no scientific evidence to back it up (Time: Vaccination Rates Drop in Wealthier Kids: The Autism Rumors Take a Toll).  Even if the rumors where true, the number of children who develop autism from vaccinations are tiny compared to the overall benefits from immunization.  The likely hood of your child dying in a car accident is greater then the chances of them developing a life changing or ending side effect from vaccinations.  Yet, for some reason more and more parents are choosing to not immunize their children.


Another argument for avoiding vaccinations is mercury.  Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative that used to be in childhood vaccinations, but has now been eliminated.  The only child vaccination that still uses thimerosal is the flu shot (Time: No Benefit to Delaying Childhood Vaccinations).  However, I found when I was pregnant that there is a mercury free option.  Last fall I stood in line for hours to receive my H1N1 shot.  When I finally reached my turn, the medical professional noted that I was pregnant and offered a mercury free option.  This eased my mind, because my main concern was the thimerosal.


I recently spoke to a friend who had chosen to not vaccinate her child.  I politely said, "every parent needs to make the best decision for their child," but inside my mind was crying out.  It's one thing to put your own child at risk for sickness and diseases, but it's another to put everyone else's children at the same risk.  


There are medical reasons why some children cannot be vaccinated, such as children with suppressed immune systems.  This used to be a minimal problem for those children because nearly everyone else in the population were vaccinated.  However, as more and more parents opt out of immunizing their children, once near dormant illness are making a come back.   Recent examples are measles and whooping cough.  Not only can parent chosen, non-vaccinated children, get these diseases, but also newborns, those with cancer, and the elderly (Time: How Safe Are Vaccines?).  Newborns receive their vaccinations over time, and they are must vulnerable during the first 6 months.  Thankfully my son is 9 months old and has had a majority of his vaccinations, but it angers me that other parents chose to put my son at risk during his early months of life.


Most mothers of young children don't know the days when diseases such as measles and polio were prevalent.  I'm certainly young enough to have never seen a person with those sicknesses.  However, my mom remembers a time.  I was recently speaking with her about vaccinations, and she recalled knowing children in iron lungs due to polio.  It nearly caused tears to come to her eyes just recalling the suffering that those children went through.  Perhaps if young parents of today had witnessed paralyzing diseases such as polio first hand, they wouldn't choose to put their children and others at a very real risk.


Some parents are choosing to modify vaccinations, either by avoiding some immunizations or a delayed vaccination schedule.  Common immunizations that are cherry picked include hepatitis B and chicken pox, because they are not seen as life threatening.  However, when parents start picking and choosing vaccinations, they are putting their children at risk for illnesses that can arise from partial immunization.   One such example is a mother who stopped vaccinating her 2-month-old son when concerns were raised about mercury in vaccines.  Unfortunately, her son was infected with Hib, a bacteria that causes meningitis.  This leads to swelling of the airways, and in severe cases, swelling of the brain (Time: How Safe Are Vaccines?).  Thankfully the young boy recovered without any neurological effects, but if this mom would have been better informed, her son wouldn't have been put at risk in the first place.


Choosing a modified vaccination schedule isn't really a problem.  I have a friend who chose this route for her son, which is a choice many parents make in a effort to not overly bombard young babies immune systems.  Researches did a recent study on children who received immunizations on the standard vaccination schedule verses those who were on a modified schedule.  The results showed there is really no need for a modified immunization schedule.  Both groups tested the same in the performance tests, and the standard vaccination scheduled children, scored higher in cognitive tests (Time: No Benefit to Delaying Childhood Vaccinations).  However, I have a theory that the difference in cognitive tests had nothing to due with the immunization schedule, and more to due with general differences in children.


Here's the bottom line.  PLEASE VACCINATE YOUR CHILDREN!  Whether it's the traditional schedule or a modified one.  Vaccinations not only prevent deadly illnesses from infecting your child, but also protect other children who have no choice but to be at risk.  Stop letting diseases make a comeback!


-Anna 


(All of the Time articles I used are recent.  They range from May of 2008 to November of 2010.)