What are the pros and cons of vaccinating children?

Answer 1

This is a great question. I have worked administering these vaccinations for many years. I have discussed this issue with many parents who are wondering about it. There are two trains of thought. First, allow me to say that the incidence of adverse effects from vaccinations are very, very low. Autism was suspected to be caused from a particular vaccination that used to be used and the thought was that it was from an additive in the immunization and not the immunization itself. This additive has since been discontinued.

The reasons to vaccinate your kids:
1. Many of the illnesses that we vaccinate for (rubella, tetanus, measels, Hemophilus influenza type B, etc.) are serious illnesses. This is why the vaccines exist. The illnesses themself are bad enough, but the problems that exist after the illness goes away there are problems that linger.

2. Vaccinations are required for all public and most private schools. Unless you can document the reasons why you did not have your children vaccinated, the school reserves the right to require that they be vaccinated (you could get a lawyer to fight this). The only acceptable reason is if it were against your religion.

3. Vaccines are safe ways to prevent certain illnesses. There is a thing called herd immunity. The theory is that if everyone around you has been vaccinated, then there would be no chance you could be affected by an illness because you wouldn't be able to catch it from anyone. The problem is that we are seeing a resurgence of these illness, especially mumps, measles, and polio... polio is by far the worst. The reason is, is that we have trended over the past 15 or so years the percentage of children receiving their childhood immunizations is decreasing. Therefore this "herd immunity" is no longer effective.

4. As I said, vaccines are very safe today. There may be local reactions to the vaccine like swelling or mild muscle tenderness, but this may last a few days at most. The illness you can get from not being vaccinated are much worse.

Reasons not to get vaccinated:
1.. It is against your religion.

2. Your child is very sickly and has too many problems that the doctor feels immunization is not healthy.

This all being said:
It is a law that if a child has a serious adverse effect from receiving an immunization, it must be reported. I am sure that if you were concerned with the rates of serious complications from vaccines, you would be able to have information given to you about the percentages of these complications. In my many years of administering childhood immunizations, I have never had to fill out one of these forms. Please look into this if you are concerned.
Also... There are certain vaccines that are available that aren't required. These include varicella, influenza, meningococcal, and pneumococcal. Varicella is for chicken pox. My personal issues with this vaccie is that it doesn't necessarily prevent chicken pox. They say it lessens the severity of chicken pox if the child gets it at all. Chicken pox to me isn't really a huge problem, though there are a minority of cases where they are severe enough to cause hospitalization. Influenza (the flu shot) and pneumococcal (the pneumonia shot) are only used in kids who are at risk. These include mainly kids with asthma problems. Meningococcal vaccine is the one for meningitis. Most colleges now require this vaccination if the student is staying on campus. I had the option of having this vaccine when I started college. I decided not to. I figured that it only protects against one specific kind of meningitis and I have good health habit. I figured I'd take my chances. And I never did get meningitis. Of course that's not to say I never will, but I'm not concerned about it!

I hope this information helps. I would encourage you to get your child vaccinated especially given the rise in these illness right now. You can get more information from your doctor or from the health department. The health department would be able to give you percentages of the illnesses that are vaccinated for that have occured in the past year. Ultimately the decision is yours. You need to be well informed to make the best decision possible. It is never easy to make healthcare decisions. I wish you the best with this decision and please feel free to private message me if you have any other questions or concerns.

Answer 2

The pros: Although nearly a million people--mostly children--a year die of measles worldwide, very few children in countries where vaccination is routine have even seen a case of measles.

It is the same with other "minor" childhood illnesses against which we can vaccinate. Mumps, diphtheria, polio, pertussis, rubella, tetanus, Haemophilus influenza type b, all can and do kill. Only a well-inoculated population in many industrialized nations keeps them at bay.

You are not required to vaccinate your children in order to protect the rest of us, but remember, if they come into contact with an infected traveler from another part of the world, they will have NO immunity. And it is mass immunization that protects us and, eventually, may entirely eradicate these diseases throughout the world.

My daughter contracted Haemophilus B when she was a year old--before the vaccine was available. If you have to hold your child for a spinal tap, or watch as her body shakes with fever and you worry about brain damage, blindness, deafness or death, you'll figure out the pros real quick. When my youngest contracted chicken pox while undergoing chemotherapy at age 5 - well, it was scary. Almost as scary as the cancer.

And polio--most people currently having children don't remember, but ask your parents and grandparents. There were children all over every American city who could no longer walk. Iron lungs. To say nothing of the dead. And now, they're learning that the virus is *still* damaging the victims who survived.

It can happen again if we choose to avoid vaccination.

Oops! Got on my soapbox, didn't I?

The cons: There are a group of alarmists currently trying to convince us that the combined MMR vaccine can cause autism. At this point, there isn't ANY evidence that this is true. While the difficulties of a child with autism are certainly heartbreaking, autisnm is rare. The mortality rate for measles is currently about 20%. Before the vaccine, MOST American children contracted measles. I believe I'd rather love an autistic child than a dead one. But the rumors are only that.

There are negatives. Perhaps someone else will tell you about them. I might never shut up. I'm passionate about this issue, in case you couldn't tell.

Answer 3

When I had both of my children I did extensive research on this subject.There is a doctor by the name of Mendelssohn,first name is I believe Robert.I am not sure of the spelling of his name.But,he has some very valid points on why children should NOT be vaccinated.I did not give either of my children shots and they have both been extremely healthy.In fact,more so than normal children.My oldest is now almost 17 and barely gets colds.I know that vaccinations have alot of ingredients that can be very harmful to anyone,but especially a small child.There is mercury,sheep's blood and a whole list of things that do not belong in the human body.I will try and find the doctors web site for you and when i do will post it.Do some research,I think you will find it very interesting.There have been numerous cases of children GETTING polio from the vaccine,autism IS NOT a myth.There are cases of vaccines KILLING children.Do the research DO NOT take the word of people on yahoo answers.These are the lives of your children.

Answer 4

Would you really consider taking a chance in not vaccinating your kids? The risks are far worse if you don't. Why are you worried about pros and cons?

Answer 5

Well I have a sister who works with autistic kids and she gave us this book when we were pregnant for the first time. It talks about the risk of causing Autism with some of the current methods of vaccination.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446677078/sr=8-3/qid=1151202901/ref=sr_1_3/103-8227116-9898235?ie=UTF8

Check it out. I'm not saying you shouldn't vaccinate but I think you should be informed be for you do.

Good luck!

Answer 6

why shud there be any cons of vaccinating?? its all good provided its necessary... and as far as the pain is concerned that can be the only con

Answer 7

the whole "vacinations casue autism" is a myth.