I chose immunization for my topic this week. This topic has been in the news in the last year because of controversy surrounding possible side effects of getting children immunized. I firmly believe that all children should get immunized. Why take a chance that a preventable disease could harm your child? Small pox was eliminated because of immunization. Other diseases like polio are extremely rare in the US because people are vaccinated against it. The CDC argues that by vaccinating we are protecting our future (www.cdc.gov/vaccines).
Immunization has been in the news recently as well because of attacks on workers administering a polio vaccine in Pakistan. Pakistan is one of three countries in the world where cases of polio still occur. Afghanistan and Nigeria are the other two. The vaccine is 99% effective if a full course of 4 doses is administered. The Pakistan workers were going house to house to vaccinate the children who live there. Gunmen fired on teams in 4 separate attacks. Six people died as a result with others injured. It is believed that the Taliban are responsible. They have stated that they believe the vaccination program is an espionage effort by the USA. India has recently announced that they will start a polio eradication campaign this year. More than 170 million children under the age 5 will be immunized. I find it hopeful that countries are taking this seriously. There is no need for children to suffer from this disease.
I will use this information to encourage parents to immunize their children. I have many cultures in my classroom and this means different attitudes towards immunization. Learning about how vaccines work and the success rate means that I can confidently recommend that parents participate when they ask for my advice.
References
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines
Immunization has been in the news recently as well because of attacks on workers administering a polio vaccine in Pakistan. Pakistan is one of three countries in the world where cases of polio still occur. Afghanistan and Nigeria are the other two. The vaccine is 99% effective if a full course of 4 doses is administered. The Pakistan workers were going house to house to vaccinate the children who live there. Gunmen fired on teams in 4 separate attacks. Six people died as a result with others injured. It is believed that the Taliban are responsible. They have stated that they believe the vaccination program is an espionage effort by the USA. India has recently announced that they will start a polio eradication campaign this year. More than 170 million children under the age 5 will be immunized. I find it hopeful that countries are taking this seriously. There is no need for children to suffer from this disease.
I will use this information to encourage parents to immunize their children. I have many cultures in my classroom and this means different attitudes towards immunization. Learning about how vaccines work and the success rate means that I can confidently recommend that parents participate when they ask for my advice.
References
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines
My mother told me about a classmate of hers that the family refused to give her (or her siblings) the polio vaccine. This would have been in the 1950's. The oldest daughter contracted polio, and she almost died. This girl's body was so weakened by the polio that she died young (around age 21) instead of living a full life (my mother is currently 70). The family decided to vaccinate the rest of the children! More recently, in 2006, I took an online class with a mother who described her refusal to get her child vaccinated for whooping cough. This mother told the class how her child contracted whooping cough and did not survive. She believed that breast feeding would protect her child; this mother breastfed past the age of 1 years. When I went to work for the hospital, I was offered as part of my employment, a free hepatitis B vaccine (a series of 3 shots). I took them; the minor inconvenience and temporary pain is worth not getting a chronic illness and having complications with my liver.
ReplyDeleteI chose Immunizations also, Jennifer, and I agree with you about having the child immunized for prevention of deadly diseases. It will only benefit the child. I use to work with a gal who's religion forbid immunizations. I don't agree with that ( I did voice my opinion) but in the end it's the parent's choice. Interesting post!
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