3 Important Reasons to Get Your Child Immunized

3 Important Reasons to Get Your Child Immunized

Whether or not to get your child vaccinated, and on what schedule, is a highly personal decision that you must make for your family.  While there is controversy in the parenting community over whether or not to vaccinate, within the medical community the recommendation is simple – get your child vaccinated.  Though the recommendation is simple, the way at which the medical community came to this decision was not.  Decades and billions of dollars of research have gone into determining vaccination safety and necessity.  Below are 3 reasons that we at DC Ranch Family Medicine believe that you should get your child vaccinated:

1. Children Can & Do Die From Common Illnesses Without Vaccination

Death from common illnesses, such as the flu, may be rare, but they happen every year and are completely preventable.  And, as CBS News reports, those that are unvaccinated have a far higher change of dying from common illnesses than those that are vaccinated, “The yearly flu shot could prevent most flu-related deaths among children and teenagers, a new U.S. government study estimates. Researchers found that about three-quarters of U.S. kids who died of flu complications between 2010 and 2014 were unvaccinated before they fell ill. If all children got their yearly flu shot, 65 percent of those deaths could be prevented, the researchers estimated. Experts said the findings, published online April 3 in Pediatrics, bolster what health officials already recommend: Adults and children age 6 months and up should be vaccinated ahead of every flu season. “This shows you, once again, that kids should get their flu shot,” said Dr. Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. It also highlights a fact that many parents may not know: “Healthy children can, and do, die of the flu,” said Offit, who was not involved in the research.”

2. Vaccines Are Safe

Though in previous years there has been some controversy and concern over vaccine  safety.  There are strict protocols and rigorous research involved in approving any vaccine before it ever reaches your doctor’s office.  The CDC elaborates on vaccine safety, “The United States currently has the safest, most effective vaccine supply in its history. Before a vaccine is approved and given to children, it is tested extensively. Scientists and medical professionals carefully evaluate all the available information about the vaccine to determine its safety and effectiveness. As new information and science become available, vaccine recommendations are updated. Although there may be some discomfort or tenderness at the injection site, this is minor compared to the serious complications that can result from the diseases these vaccines prevent. Serious side effects from vaccines are very rare.”

3. Children Need Protection From Birth

Children encounter the world and all of its germs from the moment that they are born.  It is for this reason that medical professionals recommend vaccinating right away.  Some parents opt to delay vaccinating with the plan to vaccinate when their children are older and have stronger immune systems or so that they do not have to get so many vaccinations in one appointment.  The Washington Post describes why children should be vaccinated on schedule, “The schedule is designed so that vaccines are given at the earliest possible age at which a child’s immune system will respond well… “If infants don’t get vaccinated as recommended, it really increases the time they could be at risk of getting vaccine-preventable diseases,” Feemster said. If a 2-month-old doesn’t get a recommended vaccine dose to protect against pertussis, the baby could get this highly contagious disease and become severely ill, she said. .. The effectiveness of the vaccine schedule is tested extensively to ensure that the vaccines in the combination don’t interfere with one another and can be easily handled by the infant and the child’s immune system.”