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We want them to grow up knowing that they are loved. We want to provide them with chances in life to be all that they can be. We buckle them in safe car seats. We give them nutritious food. We take them to the doctor when they are sick. And there are so many things parents want to give their children. Good health is perhaps the greatest gift. And vaccination is one of the most important ways parents can protect their children’s health.
Vaccines are one of history’s most successful and cost-effective public health tools for preventing serious disease and death. Diseases such as polio, measles, mumps, whooping cough, diphtheria and rubella were once commonplace, and are now only distant memories for most Americans.
In America today there are few reminders of the suffering, disabilities and premature deaths caused by diseases that are now preventable with vaccines. Disabilities from these illnesses included deafness, seizures, brain damage, paralysis, cataracts, heart defects, sterility, miscarriage, terrible pain and mental retardation.
Immunization coverage among children in the United States is at or near the highest ever recorded for most vaccines. High immunization coverage translates into low levels of vaccine-preventable diseases. This is a wonderful thing.
But our success also means that most of today’s young parents have never seen these diseases and the suffering they cause. Therefore, they may be less concerned about the need for immunization. The success of vaccines also means that some health care providers also may not recognize early symptoms of the diseases that vaccines can prevent.
It may be difficult to recognize early symptoms of hib meningitis, for example, when you’ve never seen that disease in your training or practice. However, these diseases are not diseases of the past. They still exist, and they are circulating in many parts of the world.
People in other countries still suffer from the disabilities and death caused by vaccine-preventable diseases. People from Minnesota visit those parts of the world.
People from those parts of the world visit Minnesota. People from all parts of the world are together on aircraft, ships, buses, and trains. It is not realistic to think there is no risk of disease transmission just because we live in the United States. The current outbreak of measles in southeast Wisconsin is a good example of the need for continued vaccination.
We can prevent more diseases than ever before, yet despite recent gains in childhood immunization coverage, over 1 million of our nation’s 2-year-olds are still missing one or more of the recommended immunizations. Each day 12,000 babies are born who will need to be immunized against 14 diseases before age 2. Infants are most at risk for disease.
The first vaccine, hepatitis B, is given at birth. Most vaccines are given before children are 2 years old. The ages at which vaccines are recommended are chosen to give children the earliest and best protection against disease. To give your child the best protection, be sure to immunize them on time. If you do get behind, talk to your health care provider about catching up.
High immunization coverage is an issue that affects our entire community. A decision to vaccinate a child is a decision to not only protect that individual child, but to also protect our community by reducing the spread of disease to those who have not been vaccinated, either by choice or because of medical reasons, such as children with leukemia.
Most immunizations provide immunity to 90 percent to 99 percent of the children who get them. Occasionally, a particular child’s immune system will not respond to a certain vaccine. This child then has to depend on the immunity of others for protection. We all have to be grateful for the many parents who do choose to immunize their children, because these parents dramatically contribute to the decline of these diseases and the lowered risk of exposure for all. If parents stopped immunizing their children, not only would the risk of serious disease go up for their own children, but the risk of serious disease would go up for other
vulnerable people in the population.
Vaccines are safe and effective. Like any other medicine, they can occasionally cause mild reactions. In the case of vaccines, the most common reaction is a sore arm. Serious reactions are very rare and are generally related to an allergic response to some component of the vaccine. Careful pre-vaccination screening of your child by your health care practitioner just prior to administering the vaccine reduces the risk of an allergic reaction.
Vaccines are studied and tested for years before being offered to the general public, and they continue to be carefully monitored while in use. If you have concerns or questions about vaccinations, you can speak openly with your child’s health care provider. The important thing to remember is that making a choice not to vaccinate is making a choice to risk the disease.
We are fortunate in this country to have free and low-cost vaccination programs and the ability to protect infants from 14 diseases through immunizing them on time before they turn 2 years old.
If you do not have health insurance, a program called Minnesota Vaccines for Children provides vaccines at little or no cost for children who qualify. Talk with your health care provider or Winona County Public Health at 507-457-6400 for information about these programs.
National Infant Immunization Week is April 19-26. Love them. Protect them. Vaccinate them by age 2.
Piscitiello is a public health nurse and a registered nurse with the Winona County
Public Health department.
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