Vaccinating Your Child: A Parent's Choice (Essay Sample)

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Vaccinate Your Child: A Parent's Choice
As a parent, one would like to give her child the best care possible as a sign of love and a show of concern for the welfare of the little, naïve human being. For babies, good health care is one of the most important attentions that safeguard their present and future wellbeing. When mothers give birth to newborns, it is their responsibility to ensure that they take all the available necessary steps to protect the health status of their babies. In the U.S, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) mandate mothers to take their babies for different vaccines to protect them against various diseases that can threaten the lives and wellbeing of the babies. However, there has been a controversy over the safety of such vaccines, which has prompted some mothers to avoid taking their babies to get vaccination. The government and the medical fraternity have greatly condemned this, claiming the vaccines are safe and should be embraced by all mothers to protect their children and inhibit the spread of certain diseases in the country. Although it is the parents’ choice to vaccinate and despite the assumptions of negative long term side effects, it is in the best interest for the child, as well as others around the child, to get vaccinated.
According to McNeil, a reporter with The New York Times, a big number of citizens in the U.S are adamant about vaccinating their children owing to the various negative perceptions associated with the vaccines. In his report, McNeil, claims that since the 1990s, some Americans have somewhat associated vaccines with controversies with some claiming that vaccines have dangerous side effects that can ruin the well-being of their children. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which is a U.S government sponsored program also elucidates that every year, about 30,000 cases of adverse reaction to vaccines are reported, 10-15% of them showing serious health concern (HRSA). At the same time, mothers get upset when they witness their babies receiving many injections of about 20 to 30, while stile at their tender ages of below 2 years. With such knowledge pertaining to the negative aspects of vaccines, people shun the opportunity to experience the benefits of vaccines. Despite the many benefits accredited to vaccines, it has become a matter of great concern that some mothers avoid vaccinations, particularly for their newborn babies, who deserve them, in a great way.
Child vaccination is not only practiced in the U.S, but also in many parts of the world. As a parent, one can choose whether or not, to vaccinate her child. However, parents are encouraged, on behalf of their children and the other children in their children’s school or childcare facilities, to embrace child immunization. This way, parents would ensure protection for their children as well as others in their school, daycare, or on the playground. In the U.S, it is recommended that a child should get immunization against 14 infectious diseases (CDC). Young children are susceptible to various vaccine-preventable diseases such hepatitis A and B, anthrax, chickenpox, diphtheria, HIB, HPV, influenza, polio and rabies among others. Some of the vaccines for children include Ipol for polio, Havrix for Hepatitis A and RAY-beez for rabies. As long as vaccine-preventable diseases are still present, vaccination would remain to be necessary, to help save lives. The CDC estimates that vaccinations have helped to prevent more than 732,000 deaths and 21 million hospitalizations among children delivered in the last two decades. Vaccinations have helped eradicate, by 90%, the most common vaccine-preventable diseases among children. This confirms the American Academy of Pediatrics’ claims that most children vaccines are 90%-99% effective in preventing the diseases (HRSA). These statistics indicate that a majority of the mothers in the U.S consider vaccinations as a valuable undertaking and are indeed complying with the government’s call to embrace it.
Conversely, the opponents of vaccination claim that mothers should not be rebuked for denouncing the practice. They believe that children’s immune system is more effective than most vaccines and can deal with most infections naturally. Besides their concern for the pain associated with the vaccine injections, the opposing mothers claim that some of the vaccines make their children suffer from mild fever and seizures that can become routine side effects (McNeil). There are more rumors affirming that some vaccines contain some questionable ingredients that can cause paralysis, and even death, which has increased the level of fear among people to merit their evasion of vaccinations. Others content that that numerous studies prove that vaccines may trigger problems like autism, ADHD, and diabetes. The opponents assert that the issue of medical choice should be left to be a personal decision and that the government should cease intervening in such matters.
However, there are many evidences proving that vaccines are safe and that the claims made by those opposing vaccination are just mere rumors and theories. According to CDC, the U.S government through Food and Drug Administration (FDA) body ensures that all vaccines meet certain quality standards for human consumption. CDC has objected any claim linking vaccines to causing autism by affirming the non-existence of a scientific study that can prove vaccines cause the disease. In fact, numerous studies have refuted any linkage between vaccines and autism. The studies have only concluded that just like any other medicine, vaccines have mild side effects, which parents should not be afraid of. A child who is not immunized is automatically more susceptible to dangerous and sometimes deadly diseases. Fighting these diseases can take a great deal of time, mandatory isolation, money...