August 13, 2007. 11:39 AM.
Immunization is one of the greatest medical success stories in human history - and has saved millions of lives in the 20th century. Many serious childhood diseases are preventable by using vaccines routinely recommended for children. Since the introduction of these vaccines, rates of diseases such as polio, measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), and meningitis (caused by haemophilus influenzae type b) have declined by 95-100%. Prior to immunization, hundreds of thousands of children were infected, and thousands died in the U.S. each year from these diseases. In under-immunized populations of the world, 600,000 children die from pertussis and almost one million die from measles each year. Without immunizations, the diseases from which we are now protected will return to sicken and even kill many infants and children. Many of the children who survive could suffer from chronic health problems or disabilities for the rest of their lives.
3 comments
August 13, 2007. 11:39 AM.
A resident of Snohomish County, Mary has three sons. She got pertussis (whooping cough) a week before the birth of her second child. She caught it from her oldest son's friend, who visited one day with racking coughs. After recognizing the telltale whoop in the cough, Mary discussed the issue with the friend's mother, who indicated she did not believe in immunizations.
August 13, 2007. 11:39 AM.
Vaccines make the body think it is being invaded by a specific disease, and the body reacts by producing antibodies. Then, if the immunized person is exposed to the disease in the future, he or she is protected. "Live" vaccines are made from weakened forms of disease-causing viruses. These live vaccines are extremely effective and usually provide life-long immunity following only one or two doses. Other vaccines are "inactivated" (killed), and require multiple doses to build up the immune response. Some inactivated vaccines require booster doses throughout life, such as tetanus and diphtheria.
August 13, 2007. 11:39 AM.
There are few areas where the impact of a health scare can be as devastating as with vaccines. It's easy to be afraid of everyday childhood ailments that almost everyone has seen or heard about. But it's difficult to fear deadly diseases such as "wild" type polio... that most new parents in our country, and many young pediatricians, have never seen. Americans take for granted that these diseases have been eradicated, never to return. Ironically, the global public health and philanthropic communities are spending enormous amounts of money and effort to ensure that underdeveloped countries - where children and adults regularly die from diseases we no longer fear - have access to the vaccines some are urging us to shun. All it takes is well-organized media and Internet scare campaigns to convince some parents not to vaccinate their children. Unfortunately, electing not to vaccinate your child can have long-term consequences that go beyond just your child's illness. Unvaccinated children can collectively rejuvenate long-dormant diseases and trigger lethal epidemics.
August 13, 2007. 11:39 AM.
Recent studies show that over half of all adults in the US are online and over 80% use the Internet to search for health information. In addition, more than half of the visitors to online health sites believe that the information they find is truthful (Wolfe RM, et al, 2002). Unfortunately, many websites with a focus on childhood immunizations may not offer reliable, science-based information. As you conduct your search for vaccine information on the Internet, you may want to consider the following tips to help you determine whether the information you find is accurate and trustworthy.