The Importance Of Parenting Vaccinations

Almost everyone has heard of the benefits and dangers of childhood vaccines. Parents are especially eager to do what is best for their child to protect him or her. Some people have different opinions on what the best specifically entails when it comes to childhood vaccines. Vaccinations are a controversial discussion as parents question whether it should be mandatory or optional when they feel the cons outweigh the pros. The government says it is the right thing to do for parents and their families to remain safe from illnesses and diseases. However, there have been opinions of opposition voiced by parents and health

A person’s health can be one of the most important aspects in their life. When thinking about what can help one to remain healthy, vaccinations come to mind. Vaccinations, to many people, are a necessity to remain healthy. I know when I was younger I hated to get a shot, but when I think about it today I am glad my parents made me get them. My mother was a nurse, so she knew the importance of vaccinations. Unfortunately, in todays’ society some parents think vaccinations can be more harmful then helpful, therefore refusing to vaccinate their children. The articles “How Vaccines Protect Us All” by Harrison Wein and “Beliefs About Childhood Vaccinations is the United States: Political Ideology, False Consensus, and the Illusion of Uniqueness” by Mitchell Rabinowitz, Lauren Latella, Chadly Stern, and John Jost both talk about vaccinations as the main point. While both of the articles talk about the importance of vaccinations and how they should be required, the first article by Harrison Wein talks more about how vaccinations protect the community and the second article by Rabinowitz et al. talks about how parents have the control of their children’s vaccinations. However, both articles prove readers to believe vaccinations can help keep children safe and healthy.

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? Parents with infants and young children have been tussling with this proverbial question for several decades now. With the advent of the internet and the World Wide Web, parents have been bombarded with a plethora of information about pros and cons of vaccines from all kinds of sources, some creditable, and some are not. To the non-scientific community, these conflicting information can create problems in the decision making process; thus, forcing parents to make the wrong choices and putting their offspring and others at risk. However, this article will attempt to address the importance of vaccinations, how vaccines work, why we should vaccinate, and why parents should not be afraid to vaccinate their offspring.

Vaccinating your child seems to be the question of the decade for many parents and families. Typically, parents usually follow their doctors advice and automatically get their children vaccinated. But now, almost every parent has heard these concerning and alarming side effects that may accompany vaccinations. Faced with conflicting information, there are many questions that arise from these concerns and parents do not want their children to catch any crucial illness but are also concerned about the risk and side affects of vaccines. Challengers have claimed that vaccines do not work, that they are or may be dangerous, or that mandatory vaccinations violate individual rights or religious principles. Some wonder, are vaccinations even 100%

Controversy concerning the risks of vaccinations will always exist. As is the nature of a preventative intervention, it is difficult to rationalize giving a completely healthy child an injection that is known to have varying degrees of sides affects5. Additionally, these injections are to provide immunity to children for diseases that have an extremely low risk of circulating within a population. Since these vaccines have been able to protect so many individuals from experiencing these dangerous infections, most parents do not even have personal experiences regarding the impact of these diseases. As such, many parents do not see the vaccine-preventable disease as a threat to their child. This often causes parents to not fully understand the risk their child has for contracting a disease and the subsequent danger of a vaccine-preventable disease infection verses the potential side effect of a vaccine which is normally only mild to moderate discomfort for their child15.

When it comes to getting, your kids vaccinated many parents must get it due to the school’s policies. Many schools will not let the student back to school until vaccinated or will kick out a student if they do not get the vaccine. On the other hand, some parents do not believe in getting their kids vaccinated so they do what it takes to not get their kids shots. There’s two sides to this issue that people have opinions on. There is many pros and cons When it comes to getting your kid vaccinated. This topic is very important because it’s a subject that all parents need to know about before doing so. Being a parent is hard and there is no way to go around it. Being that person who will decide their medical

On one end of the spectrum, parents feel strongly about vaccinations, and it is the main cause, millions of children’s lives are saved. Parents believe that it is their right to choose; therefore,

Vaccinations are considered to be the greatest health development of the 20th century. Because of advancements in medicine, vaccinations are becoming a widespread medium in the prevention of disease. They have provided the eradication and immunity to many deadly diseases such as smallpox, polio and rubella. Although there is no law that mandates the vaccination of children, they are necessary to prevent the infliction of disease and harm. By making the decision to vaccinate their children, a parent has the potential to save their lives.

As humans we have a tendency to make decisions before completely rationalizing them thoroughly. Through science we now know that our frontal lobe, which is responsible for motor function, problem solving, memory, judgment, impulse control and much more does not fully mature until our late twenties. The average age to start having children is in our early twenties, (25 years of age or younger) not to mention the teen parents. Throughout childbirth, one question that needs proper judgment and consideration to make is, whether to have their children vaccinated. One barrier that can affect parent when making solid decisions about childhood vaccinations is the scientific terminology doctor and other people use. For example, when comparing the word vaccination to immunization sometimes people will use the terms interchangeably not realizing that they have two distant meanings. Vaccination is just that, a vaccine that that is administered to develop immunity, or immunization, to a specific disease. Childhood vaccinations are a crucial part to the development of children and their health, despite the barriers that are present. By introducing research to the community regarding possible risk factor, myths that are commonly associated with childhood vaccinations, and possible laws, the goal is to help people understand why all children should be vaccinated.

Parents may feel more comfortable with the decision to vaccinate their children if the APRN strongly recommends this route of care or explains that they have vaccinated their own children. If a parent chooses not to vaccinate, keep the lines of communication open and revisit their decision at a future visit, over time with parents may reconsider their vaccination decision. Lastly, an APRN may be more prepared to take on this issue if the proper tools are in your tool belt so to speak. Items such as fact sheets, vaccine safety, and strategies for successful vaccine conversations with parents all may be resourceful to handle this important topic with parents. All of these recommendations should help an APRN become more involved with the discussion

Vaccinations occurs when a health provider purposefully administer a virus or a bacteria into the body through injections. Vaccines only contain a small amount of weakened virus. This procedure gets done in order to prepare the bodies immune system for future infections. The immune system can recognize the virus and determine the right tactic to destroy it, before it takes a toll on the body. Exposing the body to a virus can potentially save it from getting harmed from diseases like the whooping cough, chickenpox, influenza, polio, and many more life threatening illnesses. Even with the minor and infrequent side effects from vaccinations, several parents refrain from vaccinating their children. They do not want to put their children’s lives at risk and would rather take the chance with the diseases that may occur without the proper vaccinations. The negative effects of vaccinations are simply too risky for

The first major concern parents have when it comes to childhood vaccinations is that of the health and safety of their children. Some parents

The controversy concerning the vaccination for children has been a debate for many parents. Many have chosen not to vaccinate their children. In most cases the decision is made, simply out of ignorance or lack of knowledge. The problem is that many parents are unaware of what a vaccine is and how it works. Vaccines are like a training course for the immune system. They prepare the body to fight disease without exposing it to disease symptoms. When your child becomes infected, his/her body relies on the immune system to fight the invader. White blood cells activate and begin making proteins called antibodies that locate the infectious agent and

“In 2011 alone, 1.5 million children died [worldwide] from diseases preventable by currently recommended vaccines” (“Immunization” 2). The magnitude of this tragedy is in part caused by the fact that some of those children simply weren’t reached by organizations like UNICEF, which aim to vaccinate children (“Immunization” 2). However, there are other reasons for the recent deaths and epidemics—such as the whooping cough epidemic of 2012, with 48,000 cases nationally in the United States—involving vaccine preventable diseases (McClay 1).

Some parents have a reservation about vaccinations with their children. Some of the reasons may be due to not understanding why immunizations are an essential need and how they can save lives. There have been advances in medical science that now assist in protection from diseases when patients are immunized. Parents need to understand that certain diseases have killed many individuals in the past and some diseases have been completely eradicated such as polio due to immunizations and smallpox immunization is another example of eradication a disease across the world (Viswanathan et al, 2012).