In the media, we all hear about the “horror” stories of childhood vaccinations. This causes us, as concerned parents, to fear the very worst when deciding if we will get our own child vaccinated. Are the vaccines safe? Is it necessary to have a vaccine if the disease has been eliminated in your country? Are vaccines even effective? Will this vaccination cause a debilitating disease instead of preventing one? Will my child’s developing brain and immune system be protected?Many of these questions and more are often asked by anxious parents when considering a vaccination. On the other hand, some parents never question vaccinations and whether their child should have them. What we really need are the facts about vaccine safety. The purpose of this blog is to raise the awareness level on the importance of vaccines, present facts about vaccination controversies and promote education (for nurses, doctors and parents alike) when it comes to children and their vaccinations.
Readers: what is your personal stance on childhood vaccinations? Have you gotten/are you going to get them for your children? What are some issues that are important to you concerning vaccinations?
Because I have no knowledge of the dangers you mentioned, I would have to say vaccinations are safe. I have received them and occurred no side effects. However, I would like to know more about the dangers involving vaccinations.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think vaccinations are safe. I have heard many parents and other people who dont really know what they are talking about expressing their concerns about giving their children vaccinations because of the fear that it will cause autism. As far as I have read and been told by my pediatrician, the link between autism and vacinnations has not been proven or even really tested fully yet. I would rather give my child the protection against viruses that I KNOW they will get and suffer from rather than stop them from getting that protection because of a suspicion.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think twice about giving my son the vaccinations. He is 16 and has autism. I stopped giving him the vaccinations at age 11, but at the point the damage was done. I didn't know. Knowing now what I know, I would have educated myself more on the shots. For example; what is the purpose of giving a child 4 to 5 shots in one doctor visit. Other, then to save the insurance company money on doctor visits. I would waited until the child starts school vs. when they are babies.
ReplyDeleteThe autism rate is now 1/150.
Then there is the issue of all the old vaccinations that are sitting on the shelfs in the doctors offices with the high levels of mercurey. You need to check the shelf life of the shots.
I am in my forties and have never seen first hand a case of measles or mumps-thanks to childhood vaccines. These diseases ARE life threatening. I think that since it's been such a long time since people have been exposed to these childhood diseases, they no longer realize how serious they truly are. If the general population decides to opt out of these vaccines, what might the repercussions be? Will there be a resurgence of these childhood diseases? It seems to me, it would be more beneficial to have the vaccine than not. Although there have been suggestions that these vaccines cause autism, why then are there not more people in their thirties/forties/fifties with autism? Why is this hapening now?
ReplyDelete****Response from Jessica Brown, MSU nursing student. She doesn't have a Google email account so I am posting her comment for her.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so hopefully this doesn't ruffle some feathers. This can be a heated debate. haha
"I believe that vaccinations are beneficial for most people. The anti-vaccination movement to me can prove to be dangerous. I feel that right now, a good amount of herd immunity has been achieved. Herd immunity is defined as "he state in which immunization levels are so high that even the small minority not immunized will still be protected" (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/rxforsurvival/glossary.html). Since the immunization levels are so high, it may lead people to believe that vaccinations aren't as necessary since the diseases appear rare. However, as less people are immunized, the herd immunity will diminish and not be as effective protection for those who are not immunized. Those "rare" conditions will start rising in prevalence. I myself received all the "necessary" shots (MMR, Hep B series, etc) as a child and am grateful. To proceed in the nursing program at MSU, it is required that I received those vaccinations and others. I think that all health professionals are required to receive many vaccinations for their protection, so it would be interesting and possibly more striking to me if it was shown that health care professionals were having problems due to vaccinations. However, I have not heard anything about that. When I have children, they will be vaccinated, and as a nurse, I will strongly suggest that children are vaccinated. "
Hope this helps! : ) -Jess
October 13 at 10:17pm
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/rxforsurvival/glossary.html
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ReplyDeleteMy personal stance on childhood vaccinations as of now is I believe that they are safe. When I was a child my mother would take me to get my vaccinations. I think that it is good to have the chidren vaccinations so it can prevent diseases from spreading. When I do have kids, I plan on getting them vaccinated.
ReplyDeleteI actually wrote a paper on this last semester--Some thoughts from it "The fear caused by the results of the Wakefield study caused parents to refuse giving the MMR vaccine to their children. Giles (2008) reported that “the drop in immunization rates that followed the MMR scare, from over 90 per cent to around 80 per cent, contributed to hundreds of extra cases of measles in the UK”. A New York Times article by Harris (2008) reveals that the situation is much the same in the USA with more cases of measles in the first six months of 2008 than during any period since 1996. As stated by McGreevy(2005), it is necessary for at least 95% of the population to receive vaccination in order to eliminate a disease. The current results of Hornig et al(2008) should alleviate some of the concerns created by the media following the release of Wakefield’s results, and hopefully lead to restored faith in our vaccination programs."
ReplyDeleteI believe that vaccinations are an amazing break through but to this day I dont completely understand whats going on with vaccinations and autism. I think that's my biggest concern with them. I remember seeing a Law and Order episode dealing with having one child skip vaccinations that can lead to the death of others. Although vaccinations are amazing I understand why some parents are against them which I feel that as nurses we will have to explain the benefits usually outweigh the risk
ReplyDeleteBeing a product of the Generation Y mentality, I have come to just accept that vaccinations are a requirement and a part of life. I'm pretty sure that my parents in some way or another thought the same because I got all of my shots when I was young. These days, one of the stipulations of actually getting to attend school is having all of the immunization shots while you are young (including the MMR). When I do have children of my own, I'm sure that the times will have changed but my mentality will probably be the same.
ReplyDeleteI see childhood vaccinations as a necessity. It stops the spread of diseases before they get a chance of actually spreading. There have been enough studies stating that there isn't a connection between early childhood vaccinations and autism. This makes me believe that, while there are side effects, the vaccinations are safe enough.
My concerns is if enough people decide to not give their child the vaccinations, that the disease that the vaccination is trying to counter comes back with a stronger, more lethal strain.
I don't want any world organization or us govt mandating that I get any kind of shot. Apparently I am going to be forced to get the H1N1 because of my career choice but I'm very upset about it.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested what information you found reguarding vaccines and Autism. I know that alot of populations believe that it might be a cause or atleast precipitate the disease.
ReplyDeleteI feel like vaccinations are important for children to get. I think that some of the vaccines given now days are somewhat uneccessary just because the diseases that they are preventing are not as prominient now as they were when they first developed the vaccine. The anti-vaccine movement could possibly bring some of these diseases back especially in the third world countries and with the new globialization these disease will now be spread more easily.
ReplyDeleteAs a child I had all of the required vaccinations and feel that children now should continue to be required to be vaccinated. I have heard many parents that are concerned with the vaccines because the media discussed the risk that could go along with the vaccines. I feel like many of the parents are not as educated nor know how to read these articles and the media emphasizes the the worst parts and do not provide the entire story with all the details.
Health care professionals and children should continue to be vaccinated in my opion to continute the prevention of many fatal diseases.
I'm not scared of no vaccinations.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I know, I teach English... it's a quote from Ghostbusters (kind of).
I want to get my pregnant self and my kids vaccinated for both the flu and H1N1 since we are all at high risk, but convenience is a factor. Both mine and my kids' doctors are out of the flu shot, and of course the swine flu shot isn't available yet. Maybe thanks to your suggestion I will take the kids to Walgreens this weekend, though. What fun that will be!
Thank you so much for your opinions on childhood vaccinations.
ReplyDeleteMicki- I'm glad this blog will be able to present you with more facts about vaccines. I think it'll really open your eyes to a lot of potential questions. Thanks for reading!
Mrrandomdude, Princess Mommy, Jessica Brown, Laura R, Annette and others- I'm glad to hear that you think vaccines are safe. I am glad you also have an idea of how not being vaccinated could be potentially dangerous. Please continue to read. We have many useful posts for you to read!
Pharmocology in Nursing 2009- we have a new autism post up! Feel free to read that comment as well. It has lots of useful information.
Doug-It is interesting that you don't want to get either the seasonal/H1N1 flu shots. As a person in the medical field, you are easily going to be around people with the flu. You could be susceptible. Heavily consider your options and talk to your healthcare provider if you have more questions.
Mrs. Doyle- Here is a link with more information about giving multiple vaccinations at one time. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/updates/multiplevaccines.htm There is a lot of information on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website about vaccinations and we have another post that could potentially answer more questions. I hope the information we have up is helpful for you.