Now trending topic in many forums and mom groups are reasons not to vaccinate your child.It really pains me to see people turn AntiVaX based on unverified data in the internet.That said, it is ultimately the parents choice to decide what is best for their child. However, as a doctor, I felt the need impress on fellow parents about reasons to vaccinate your child.
As medico parents, we were always careful of the medical choices for our children.
But the one thing we repent the most was the skipping of Typhoid vaccine. It is was not a compulsory vaccine then, and we thought why to expose our baby to yet another vaccine. We talked with a few pediatricians and it was a mixed view as whether to or not to give the vaccine and end of the story
Usually typhoid vaccine is given at 2 years and after we opted out there was no major issue till he was 4 years.
When he was 4 yrs old we shifted from Chennai to Raipur. New place, new culture, we were very excited for the change. The rented house had a local RO filter and we were assured by the owner that it was serviced just before our arrival.
We believed it and started to use the water, that’s was a grave mistake🙁
My son started having fever, and we shrugged it off as due to new place and the change of climate. Then slowly the temperature started peaking to 102 degree Fahrenheit, then we know this was not viral.
Our Paediatrician suspected Typhoid and started him on antibiotics. My husband wanted to confirm the diagnosis and we ran a blood culture .Yes!! It was typhoid.
Believe Me, that was the lowest moment in my life, as a parent and as a doctor I have failed miserably 🙁
My son suffered with fever, vomiting, stomach pain for almost a month, lost 3 kgs of weight, lost his appetite.It was the most harrowing experience that any parent can go through. It took almost 2 months for him to become his old self. I want to share this experience so that no other parent takes vaccination for granted.
Vaccines save lives; fear endangers them. It’s a simple message parents need to keep hearing. Tweet this
10 Compelling Reasons to vaccinate your child
1. Vaccine Vs Medicine
If given a choice between vaccine vs medicine I would always prefer vaccine over medicine (My son had to take antibiotic for 14 long days). I wouldn’t want my baby suffer through the disease and then acquire immunity against the disease. Although painful and with mild side effects, a single shot is far more appealing than facing the symptoms of the disease. The complications of the vaccine preventable diseases are also very severe and by vaccinating we can prevent them.
2. Vaccine Preventable diseases are still a threat!!!
Although we are jubilant over this enormous achievement, if the question arises
Is it advisable to stop Mass Polio Immunizations ?
The answer would be a Definite NO as there is always chance of a stray case which may flare up and spread.
The AntiVax people are proclaiming there is very less or nil chance of contracting an eradicated disease and vaccination campaign is the manipulation of the pharmaceutical giants to amass profits.
CDC has reported a new increase in Measles in the USA due to the trend of not vaccinating the children. (Measles was eliminated in the year 2000 in USA) and this may happen to any of the eradicated disease.
3. Protect the Community!!
Do you know that by not vaccinating our children we are exposing the whole community/country to risk. There is something called Herd Immunity, which in simple terms means that in a community if more people are immunized against a particular disease then the Vaccine acts as a firewall and prevents the spread of disease.
There might be persons who are not eligible for vaccinations like people with allergies, debilitating diseases, immune system disorders. If such persons are surrounded by people who are not vaccinated, then there is high probability of these people getting infected with grave diseases.
4. Help Eradicate Disease !!
Yes, you can help eliminate disease by vaccinating your children. Polio free India is a perfect example. It was because of the extensive pulse polio campaigns we were able to eradicate polio from our country.
5. Safety Assured !!
The concerns on safety of administering vaccines to infants emerged after the controversial paper on autism associated with MMR vaccine. It was later retracted by Lancet and the whole theory has been proved wrong now. Most of the vaccine safety is monitored by CDC, MHRA and in India by WHO and AEFI. Vaccines are released only after a long and careful review of scientists, doctors and health care professionals.
6. Are you concerned about your child’s Immune System Overload?
The AntiVaxx people claim that they do not want to overburden their baby’s immune system with more vaccines.
That is absolutely ridiculous !!!
” The vaccines that a baby has in the first year of life are a tiny number when compared to the thousands of wild bacteria and viruses it will meet within the same time”
What does vaccination have with improving quality of life??
Yes, it does perhaps an example can help understand the concept.
One of my cousins contracted Chicken pox during his 12th board exams, he contracted the severe form of the disease and he wasn’t able to sit for the exams. More than the physical symptoms there was a great psychological and mental disability which not only affected him but the entire family as well. Although chicken pox vaccine was not widely available when he was a kid, still this example can explain why vaccination may help improving the quality of life.
8. Being a Patriotic Citizen !!!
Now this is getting weirder !! ” What is the relation between me vaccinating my baby and me being patriotic???”
Well, India spends crores on Public Health and the Immunization programme is of paramount importance in it.
Most of you would not be aware of what goes in a Primary Health Care who are the basic health caregivers in our country.
Contrary to the general belief of the poor service of the government hospitals, every PHC takes great responsibility to ensure the prompt Immunization of all the children in their region. I have seen Village Health Nurses trudging miles with the heavy vaccine carrier boxes to ensure that her village little ones are vaccinated according to schedule.
Moral of the story – By vaccinating our children we can contribute to herd immunity and thereby preserve the work done by our government.
9. Saves Money!!
I have nothing great to add to this, as everybody is aware of the healthcare cost now.
Health always comes before money, and as a parent we will be ready to spend to any extent for our children. But that might not be the same scenario for all the parents and vaccine preventable diseases if contracted can be debilitating with prolonged hospital stay.
10. Peace of Mind
Being Antivaxx and worrying whether the child may contract the disease is a harrowing experience. It is better safe than being sorry!!!
Please Note: Vaccination is a vast topic covering all aspects in a single article is impossible, I have just touched the essential points do read the below useful websites for more information.
Hi dr hema, m glad to have subscribed to ur posts they help a lot can u tell me one thing , I. Give my baby girl -11 months, doses in health center as well as pvt and the issue is there is one JE vaccine given at 9 months is it necessary? Have u heard about it?
There are these painless vaccines available nowadays and paediatricians give mixed opinion about whether one should opt for traditional or the new painless vaccine. Can you tell me whether painless ones are as good add traditional ones? I am confused what to give to my baby. Thanks!
It makes me angry of the false information given out regarding autism and vaccination leading to thousands of parents opting not to vaccinate their children! Hopefully, media campaigns informing parents of the risk to benefits of vaccines will help! Thanks for an important post!
Thanks for this, especially with your personal experience. I know a family who recently lost their 2yo to diphtheria. They couldn’t locate the antiserum to diphtheria as haffkine has stopped making it. So rare it is. But the kid died. At 2…to a vaccine preventable disease.
This craze is one reason why I have decided to be choosy about taking my kid to play dates. No way is she playing with unvaxxed kids unless her primary doses are done.
That’s so sad to hear Varsha, these type of news doesn’t reach the media, only negative campaign against vaccine is blown up big which confuses the new moms.
Unfortunately, you’re mistaken on “safety assured.” That was ONE of many studies which have shown issues. No medication is absolutely safe. There are always risks. One must look at the risk of the vaccine versus the risk of contracting the disease and what affects there will be if they do contract the disease. You didn’t make a grave mistake, so please don’t beat yourself up over it. Please reconsider your wording for “safety assured” as that is misleading.
Here are a few things you can look up and determine if you want to say “safety assured”
1) SV40 – in injected polio vaccine
2) Formaldehyde
3) Human fetal tissue
4) Use of bovine syrum
5) Aluminum
Also, know that if you had given the typhoid vaccine, there’s still a chance your child would contract it as no vaccine has 100% efficacy. Yes, you should do what you feel comfortable doing, but don’t believe it was entirely your fault.
Vaccines can do a lot of good, but to say “safety assured” is a bit misleading.
Yeah, Amanda I agree with you that safety assured can be a little misleading, there are very few instances of vaccine reaction reported, I’ll check upon it.. Thanks for your information 🙂
Hi dr hema, m glad to have subscribed to ur posts they help a lot can u tell me one thing , I. Give my baby girl -11 months, doses in health center as well as pvt and the issue is there is one JE vaccine given at 9 months is it necessary? Have u heard about it?
Hi Marie, you can check with your pediatrician regarding the JE vaccine for your little one.
There are these painless vaccines available nowadays and paediatricians give mixed opinion about whether one should opt for traditional or the new painless vaccine. Can you tell me whether painless ones are as good add traditional ones? I am confused what to give to my baby. Thanks!
Hi neha,
I would advice you to opt for painless vaccine, we did the same for our daughter and son
It makes me angry of the false information given out regarding autism and vaccination leading to thousands of parents opting not to vaccinate their children! Hopefully, media campaigns informing parents of the risk to benefits of vaccines will help! Thanks for an important post!
Yeah, Roshni, Media is the only way to reach people to know about the importance of vaccination
Thanks for this, especially with your personal experience. I know a family who recently lost their 2yo to diphtheria. They couldn’t locate the antiserum to diphtheria as haffkine has stopped making it. So rare it is. But the kid died. At 2…to a vaccine preventable disease.
This craze is one reason why I have decided to be choosy about taking my kid to play dates. No way is she playing with unvaxxed kids unless her primary doses are done.
That’s so sad to hear Varsha, these type of news doesn’t reach the media, only negative campaign against vaccine is blown up big which confuses the new moms.
Unfortunately, you’re mistaken on “safety assured.” That was ONE of many studies which have shown issues. No medication is absolutely safe. There are always risks. One must look at the risk of the vaccine versus the risk of contracting the disease and what affects there will be if they do contract the disease. You didn’t make a grave mistake, so please don’t beat yourself up over it. Please reconsider your wording for “safety assured” as that is misleading.
Here are a few things you can look up and determine if you want to say “safety assured”
1) SV40 – in injected polio vaccine
2) Formaldehyde
3) Human fetal tissue
4) Use of bovine syrum
5) Aluminum
Also, know that if you had given the typhoid vaccine, there’s still a chance your child would contract it as no vaccine has 100% efficacy. Yes, you should do what you feel comfortable doing, but don’t believe it was entirely your fault.
Vaccines can do a lot of good, but to say “safety assured” is a bit misleading.
Yeah, Amanda I agree with you that safety assured can be a little misleading, there are very few instances of vaccine reaction reported, I’ll check upon it.. Thanks for your information 🙂