Immunization is defined by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention as “A process by which a person becomes protected against a disease through vaccination” (2014). The National Healthcare Services records that immunizations began as far back as 429 BC with Thucydides, the Greek Historian, who noticed that people who survived smallpox did not get re-infected. Thus began the process of immunizations. The Chinese are the first nation on record as having discovered and used a primitive form of immunization (NHS, 2014). Today there is a huge debate going on over whether immunizations are life savers or a death sentence. The United States government’s website on vaccinations claimed that “Vaccines are the most effective tool we have to prevent infectious diseases” (Vaccines). This claim is based on the research that shows a drop in communicative diseases after a vaccine was introduced.
On the other hand, there is a growing population of people who believe that immunizations can cause severe life changing adverse effects on children who receive them. Parents have scores of videos and articles online telling of their experiences with their children before and after immunizations. Some of these parents believe that autism is caused by vaccination, however, there is no scientific proof of this. The time period when some immunizations are given is the same time period when symptoms of autism occur. As a result, some parents believe the two are correlated.
I looked at immunization in Mexico. It is said that the immunization process is better in Mexico than it is in the United States. In Monterrey, a major Mexican city if parents of young children are late in getting their child inoculated, a public-health nurse will come to their home, pull down the youngster's pants and give the vaccination right there in the living room with or without the parents’ presence and consent (Vaccination News, 2002). Obviously this will never happen in the US with privacy rights and the amount of forms and paperwork that must be filled for before the immunizations can be administered. Vaccination News reports that “After the measles pandemic reached Mexico in 1990 and killed 5,899 babies, the Mexican government established a central authority to oversee the national vaccination campaign, known as the National Immunization Program” (2002). While the United States experienced a measles outbreak in 2014 with 383 people in Ohio’s Amish country falling ill with the virus none was recorded for Mexico. This is possible because in Mexico everyone has the right to have access to vaccines, it is free to all citizens, and it is mandatory (Yutacan Times, 2015).
I am a believer in the benefits of immunizing children. My whole family has been immunized, and I immunized my daughter according to the governmentally based schedule. When weighing the risks of encountering life-threatening disease against the benefits of being immunized I decided that immunization was the best choice. The vast majority of children who are immunized do not experience anything worse than short-lived redness or itching at the spot of the shot. As a practitioner in the early childhood field, the health and prosperity of children is my greatest concern. If asked whether I would recommend that parents immunize their children I would advise them to research the process carefully, pray about it, and confer with a number of physicians before they make any decisions concerning their children.
References
National Healthcare Services (2014). Vaccinations
Retrieved from http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/pages/the-history-of-vaccination.aspx
Center For Disease Control and Preventions (2014) Vaccine and Immunizations
Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/imz-basics.htm
The Yutacan Times (2015) Retrieved from http://www.theyucatantimes.com/2015/02/while-the-u-s-faces-the-largest-measles-outbreak-in-recent-history-mexico-has-had-not-a-single-case-since-1996/
Vaccination News (2002) Retrieved from http://www.vaccinationnews.org/DailyNews/December2002/MexicoMore22.htm
Vaccines.gov (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.vaccines.gov/basics/effectiveness/index.html
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