This week I will be discussing a topic important to me and to child development: immunizations. In recent years, this topic has become a heated debate as opponents of immunizations have become concerned that some immunizations can lead to developmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The scientific community has stated equivocally that there is no link between ASD and vaccines.
The reason I chose this topic is because I have two children of my own who were born internationally and I was drawn into this debate by all they hype in the media about vaccines around the times they came home. I did my research though and found that the U.S. has the safest and most effective vaccine supply in the world. Vaccines protect us and the community against truly terrible diseases. Vaccines have increased the average life span by 30 years and they save lives. To me the "research" of the link of ASD to vaccines is tenuous at best. I am not willing to risk my children's overall health on an assumption. It really angers me that others are willing to risk not only their child's health, but that of others by refusing to get their child immunized.
In my opinion, assuming the very small risk associated with any vaccine is better than the risk of not being immunized. Vaccines create "herd immunity" through immunization to disease. If a critical portion of a community is immunized it creates a level of protection for most of the community, as a chance of outbreak is greatly reduced. When less and less become immunized, then the risk of outbreak increases. This can be seen in the recent pertussis (whooping cough) outbreak in Texas. The rise in cases is attributed to a new vaccine and less children being immunized. Since infants cannot receive the vaccine until 4 months, pregnant mothers are encouraged to take the vaccine during pregnancy. The website www.vaccines.gov is a great source of information about vaccines. It is very easy to read and user friendly.
I will continue my comparison with Taiwan. According to the American Journal of Public Health (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1449171/), in Taiwan all children are required to receive 16 doses of vaccines by 18 months of age, including 1 dose of bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG/TB) vaccine, 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine, 4 doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis, 4 doses of oral poliomyelitis vaccine, 1 dose of measles vaccine, 1 dose of measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, and 2 doses of Japanese encephalitis vaccine. This is not as much as the U.S. requires, but the BCG is not administered or required here. When we brought our children home, they had to have several catchup vaccines that were not routinely give in Taiwan. Also, one of my children kept popping positive for TB, but since I knew that infants were give the TB vaccine in Taiwan I was able to get them a blood test and verify it was the vaccine that was causing the false positive.
Being informed and advocating for your children's health is one of the greatest things you can do for your children. It does make one feel a bit helpless when you see parents who don't do that. But we can be sources of information and encouragement to those parents who maybe just need a little help getting access to the facts.
BethAnn,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading you post and agree with a lot of the information you posted about immunizations. I know a couple of mothers who refuse to allow their children to get immunizations. I know they may have their reasons, however I would not jeopardize my child's health because of something they heard or something someone else believes in. However, they would be really upset if their child caught a disease that could have been prevented by them. When I was younger I received all my shots and I was healthy then and I am healthy now. I feel that some Americans just don't know how good they have it and how many people from other countries would love to be in their shoes. Parents from other countries have to sit and watch their children suffer and sometimes die because they cannot get the shots to prevent the diseases. As a mother I take every precaution necessary to keep my children safe. It is my responsibility to make sure they are taken care of and receive the services needed for a healthy development.
Reading your post was insightful. I was not aware of the attention was given toward the refusal of immunizations. I have heard of the outbreak of whooping cough but did not attribute to immunization. Thanks for being a mom is an advocate for children, and being diligent concerning the immunization of your babies. I too will continue to be a source of information for parents concerning immunizations.
ReplyDeleteImmunization of children can be a very touchy subject. Many people who opt against vaccines feel just as informed and sometimes more informed than those whose children are vaccinated.
ReplyDeleteThere are also some communities who are skeptical about vaccinations and their skepticism comes from historical encounters involving the government, medical treatment, and their particular race or ethnicity.
I wonder how those who opt not to get or evade vaccinations would be if there were no vaccination requirements for entry into grade school or higher education.
ReplyDeleteImmunizations can be a very debatable topic because parents that are dealing with children that have autism are constantly searching for causes. Some parents opt out of getting immunizations for religious reasons and they feel that all people are protected by a higher power. I am a firm believer of vaccinations because I have witnessed the elimination of certain diseases in my lifetime.
I agree with you BethAnn, immunizations protect the society as a whole. The scare of what might happen to one individual does not outweigh the risk of disease to millions of others. In today's Birmingham News paper, there is an article titled "Measles making a comeback. UAB doctor says: "Get vaccinated!"",explaining how the number of measles cases this year is as high as it was back in 2000. 82% of these cases are from people and children who have not been vaccinated. Here is the link to the article:
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/09/measles_making_a_comeback_uab.html
~Jalice