The Importance of Immunizing Your Child

In today’s modern world, debilitating diseases that used to cause parents to shudder with fear have largely been eradicated. Before vaccines, many children died from diseases that vaccines now prevent, such as whooping cough, measles, and the dreaded and debilitating polio. While those same germs exist today, babies are now protected by vaccines, so we do not see these diseases as often. But just because these diseases are rare is no reason to let your guard down.

Why should you immunize your child? While it is true that newborns are immune to many diseases because of antibodies received from their mothers, this immunity lasts less than a year. In addition, young children do not have maternal immunity against some vaccine-preventable diseases, such as whooping cough. Childhood immunization is one of the most important things you can do for your baby.

Sometimes the media sends mixed messages by highlighting certain rare side effect. But these risks are overblown and the overall salutary effects of immunization cannot be overstated. Just because many diseases are out of sight, they shouldn’t be out of mind. Vaccines help prevent infectious diseases and save lives. Vaccines are responsible for the control of many infectious diseases including polio, measles, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), rubella (German measles), mumps and tetanus. What would happen if we stopped vaccinating in the US? Diseases that are almost unknown would stage a comeback, causing epidemics of diseases that would make thousands of children sick and others to die.

For more information on the benefits of immunizations, see the Center for Disease Control at http://www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/fs/gen/importance.htm

Read More Parent Resources