To combat illness and diseases, one common practice is to vaccinate. Vaccines are a type of preventative care intended to protect individuals from disease by causing the body to produce an immune response. Vaccines encourage the development of antibodies which fight against infections. After receiving a vaccine, your body will create antibodies that can protect against future infection if you are exposed to that disease. Vaccines are often administered in a series of shots, but there are also oral vaccines available for some types of infections.
The Pros And Cons Of Vaccinations
There are many pros and cons to vaccinations that people should consider before receiving their next vaccine. Some benefits of vaccinations include the prevention of certain diseases, long-term protection against illness, decreased risk of getting an infectious illness during childhood, reduced costs associated with healthcare costs due to less time being spent at doctors’ visits or hospitals, and protection for other family members who may not have been vaccinated. However, vaccinations do carry some risks.
The most common side effects are generally very mild but can still be disconcerting to parents who are concerned about their child’s health. Additional risks might be low-grade fever, temporary discomfort at the site of injection, and muscle aches. In very rare cases, a child may have a serious allergic reaction to a vaccine. Research shows that vaccines are generally very safe with few side effects and high regard for safety record. Vaccines do not cause autism or sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), as has been suggested in some research, but they can sometimes cause anaphylaxis which is a severe allergic reaction that can result in death if left untreated.
Pros
If you look into the scientific data on how well vaccinations work, you will find that over 95% of children who receive all of the recommended vaccinations by age two will be protected against most diseases for at least a decade. Some vaccines even offer lifelong protection, such as the measles vaccine. Vaccinate your child against polio and it will protect them for life since there are no known cases of polio in the United States since 1979. Many people take vaccinations for granted, but without them many children would die from contracting preventable diseases like measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, rubella (German measles), tetanus, hepatitis A and B, chickenpox, influenza (flu), meningococcal disease and pneumococcal infections which can all be prevented through vaccination.
Cons
One risk associated with vaccinations is that they are only about 85 percent effective. The reason behind this statistic is because your body must be exposed to the virus in order for your body to develop immunity. This means that even if you are vaccinated against a disease, you may still contract it if the vaccine doesn’t work on some level or if you aren’t completely protected. Another risk of vaccinations is that they can sometimes cause side effects.
Some of these side effects are mild but others are more severe and could potentially be fatal. These include seizures, high fever, anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction), poor coordination, fainting, breathing problems and brain swelling. Vaccinations might also lead to autism in rare cases according to some research which has since been proven false by scientific investigators looking into this matter further.
The pros of vaccinations heavily outweigh the cons. Vaccinations prevent children from contracting deadly diseases that could have potentially killed them. Additionally, these vaccines are given to infants and toddlers at a very young age before they are likely to come into contact with these illnesses which makes them even more effective. On the other hand, some parents worry about the safety of their child receiving this vaccine since it does carry some risks including side effects or even death for rare cases.
This is why it is so important to weigh the pros and cons before allowing your child to be vaccinated against highly infectious diseases. It can save their life by preventing lethal outbreaks of these diseases where everyone around them may become infected without protection through vaccination. If you would like to talk to someone about the potential risks and benefits of vaccinations please feel free to call your pediatrician or a counselor.
One of the main benefits of vaccines is that they prevent disease. Many people who do not vaccinate put their children at risk for getting a very serious disease, or even dying from that disease. The measles vaccine can help protect your child against this highly fatal virus. Before vaccinations were available the measles killed over 2 million people every year worldwide, however now it is estimated to be close to 100,000 people annually.
It has also been said that if there were no vaccinations in the United States nearly 1 out of every 1000 children would die before their first birthday. These are both reasons why it is important to have your children vaccinated so they will not get these life-threatening diseases and because many diseases are contagious you could also put other children at risk if you do not vaccinate your own children.
Another great benefit of vaccines is that they save money. A measles outbreak costs around $10,000 per sick child and a rubella outbreak can cost from $200,000 to $22,000,000 for a single epidemic. Crowing on the other hand vaccinations preventative measures against this kind of outbreaks and save our country a lot of money every year just by keeping it from happening. They also reduce health care expenses significantly because an average case of measles requires five days in the hospital at about $7,000 per day not including follow-up costs such as loss of work time and death (Wiseman). They help keep our hospitals beds open for those who are truly sick so they can be treated.
The polio vaccine is another great example. Dr. Albert Sabin, inventor of the oral polio vaccine said “the world would be rid of this dreaded disease by the year 2000” (Larson). This is exactly what happened in India with one dose of the vaccine. It has been estimated that vaccinations have saved over 6 million people from death annually worldwide since it was introduced in 1979 (Vaccination). These are just a few reasons why vaccines save time and money and protect our health as well as prevent death for millions around the globe everyday.
One possible risk of vaccination is known as an adverse reaction, which includes minor side effects to very serious reactions such as death. Vaccines can also cause allergic reactions such as swelling, redness and even fever (Vaccine Guide.net). Some common minor side effects may include some discomfort where the shot was given, a low-grade fever which is normal, mild tenderness of the area, some fussiness or sleepiness starting anywhere from 1 to 3 days after vaccines are given. Vaccines have been very successful with minimizing the risk of a serious reaction by following a few simple steps before allowing you to get vaccinations for yourself or your child.
The first step is asking if there have been any severe reactions in the past. You should also ask about allergies that might interfere with future vaccinations such as latex intolerance or allergy to chicken eggs since influenza vaccine is grown on chicken embryos. If you tell your health care provider that there are allergies in the family or if any relatives have had bad reactions to vaccinations you should consult with a heath care professional before giving injections.
Other steps include asking about medications currently being taken and noting if they are taking any daily medication for chronic illnesses, even aspirin since it can increase the body’s tendency to bleed. That would be another reason not to get an injection right before surgery because you could become seriously ill due to bleeding (Vaccination).
