Vaccines for your child: Fears and factors

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A vaccine is an antigenic preparation used to establish immunity to some deadly diseases like smallpox, rubella, polio, measles, mumps, chickenpox, typhoid and pertussis. Vaccines may be living, weakened or killed strains of viruses or bacteria that intentionally give rise to unapparent-to-trivial infections and increase the immunity power in children. When the virulent version of an agent comes along, the immune system is prepared to respond, by neutralizing the target agent before it can enter cells, or by recognizing and destroying infected cells before that agent can multiply to vast numbers.These vaccines almost wiped away those deadly diseases within years through inactive vaccination, live or attenuated vaccination, in the form of toxoids, subunits, conjugates, recombinant vectors, and DNA vaccinations. However, once considered wonderful drugs, vaccines become targets of suspicion on these days.

ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), SIDS (Sudden infant death syndrome) and autism, a developmental disability occurring in very young children prompted many parents to refuse vaccination for their babies. A 1998 study published the controversial relationship between measles-mumps-rubella vaccines and autism. The medical researchers found out that thimerosal, a vaccine preservative contains mercury, a known neurotoxin and leads to ADHD, SIDS and autism. A recent survey has shown that at least 40% of the families refused to have a child vaccinated in the previous year.

Now, here is the bad news for those parents who outrightly refused the vaccinations for their children. The life threatening diseases are marking their comeback through the last four years. 13 kids died of pertussis during the last four years. Measles and mumps broke out in the vaccination prohibited areas in our country in 2003. In 2004 and 2005, England and Wales experienced an increase in the incidence of mumps infections among adolescents and young adults. The cases of polio are again getting reported from areas that refused the dosage of vaccination. To make sure your child gets the most protection with the least risk, here is what you can do.

In order to provide best protection, children are recommended to receive vaccinations as soon as their immune systems are sufficiently developed to respond to particular vaccines.Vaccines for preschoolers are no longer made with the preservative, though some influenza and tetanus/diphtheria (Td) vaccines for kids of age 7 and above still contain it. If you are scared of thimerosal, you can request for two pediatric-dose flu shots that are made without thimerosal. You can consult with your family doctors about your fears and they will allay them by putting vaccines and the diseases they prevent into perspective. It must be well remembered that even after vaccination some children will develop symptoms of those deadly diseases. However it is always better to arm yourself against these deadly diseases than giving a free entry to them.