Vaccinations are very vital in life. They improve the immune system and prevent us from serious life-threatening infections and disease. A vaccine is a product that produces immunity from diseases. Vaccination is an injection of a weakened or killed organism that produces immunity in the body against that organism. Vaccination protect against meningitis, ear infections, measles, rubella, whooping cough, Hepatitis B, polio, diphtheria, tetanus and mumps to name a few. Vaccinations may be oral, injections or by aerosol. Vaccines help build immunity against diseases in the body.
When germs (bacteria and viruses) invade our bodies, they produce infection which in turn causes illness. Vaccines help reduce the risk of infection. Our immune system is designed to fight infection; therefore, vaccines boost the immune system by providing a surplus of cells that help fight disease in future. Before vaccination, individuals acquire immune by getting the disease and actually surviving it. Vaccines help us to become immune to these diseases. Human of all ages require vaccinations such as new born babies, infants, children, teenagers, young people or adults as well as older people.
In the United States, children must get vaccinated before attending school from diseases like, measles, polio and tetanus. Although vaccinations are recommended for all ages during human development, there are a number of exceptions. Children who have a weak immune system cannot be vaccinated. An example would be kids who have cancer. There are also a group of people who have severe allergic reaction to vaccines. An example would be anthrax vaccine which is not administered to people with very severe allergic reaction, including latex. Pregnant women are at a risk of miscarriage if some vaccines are given to them.
Individuals who have trouble swallowing oral vaccines cannot receive the vaccines too. There are advantages of vaccinations as well as disadvantages. Benefits of these vaccines vary widely depending on the age of the individual. Among children, vaccines prevent a number of diseases, for example whooping cough, diphtheria, polio and chicken pox. Some of the diseases among young kids are deadly and if not vaccinated, they can cause death. Other diseases such as polio cause paralysis among children. Diseases like measles can cause permanent brain damage.
In general, it is important to vaccinate children and babies in order to prevent heart disease, deafness, pneumonia, seizures, paralysis, mental retardation, brain and spinal damage or death. Another benefit of vaccines among all individuals is prevention against rabies. It is transmitted from animals though bites. If not vaccinated against, it can kill. In teenagers and adults, diseases like influenza are prevented by vaccinations. Vaccines one receives as a child protects the individual for many years, but as an adult, one needs to be vaccinated too. Many adults die due to misinformation about vaccines.
Vaccines during adulthood include: Hepatitis A Hepatitis B, HPV, and Flu. Shingles is common in the older generation, especially individuals over 60 years. Benefits of these vaccines among adults vary. They prevent infection and disease. They can prevent hospitalization and hefty bills. They can also prevent death and loss of work. They are important during travelling and certain careers like health care require these vaccinations for one to be eligible to work. Vaccinations have disadvantages too. One of them is if pregnant mothers are vaccinated, the fetus is at risk especially if live attenuated vaccines are used.
If the risk is minimal, vaccines like influenza can be given to prevent the flu. If the risk is huge, it can cause a miscarriage or even death of both the baby and mother. The vaccines that are high risk include measles, rubella, and mumps, to name a few. Some vaccines can cause minor symptoms, for example fever as the body develops immunity. Occasionally, there might be a case of being ill from the disease one was vaccinated against. If an individual is on certain prescription medications, if vaccinated, rare cases of allergic reaction or side effects from the vaccines with these medications may occur.
A number of foods also interact with some vaccines. Most vaccines contain thimerosal /mercury compound that is used to prevent contamination of the vaccine. These compounds may cause minor reaction on the injection site, like redness. These can affect children that have prior history of allergic reactions. Newborns, babies and toddlers are at a high risk of getting exposed to bacteria and viruses that cause infection and illness. They are exposed to germs from everywhere. Example include: from their parents, their siblings, their toys, from the stores, from playgrounds, from daycare centers to name a few.
Babies are born with immunity that is passed onto them from their mothers, but this lasts for a short time. They need to be vaccinated few weeks after birth to help boost their immune system. In my own opinion, this young generation needs to be vaccinated in order to help their immune system fight infection and diseases. If not vaccinated, some diseases may cause serious organ damage or even death. Some of the parents enjoy taking vacations and travelling around the world with their young ones, they need to be vaccinated against infections like flu.
Adults who are travelling too need these vaccinations. In my opinion, I believe it is safe to prevent the disease than to cure it. Some parents refuse to vaccinate their kids because they are afraid. They worry that vaccines can cause disorders like autism or ADHD, but according to the National Institute of allergy and infectious disease, studies show this is not true. Another worry parents have is that their kids will get sick from the vaccines. Only kids with weak immune system are affected by some vaccines and not all of them.
Although vaccination has both advantages and disadvantages, the benefits do outweigh the potential outcome if one is not vaccinated. In my opinion, human of all ages need to be vaccinated to prevent serious infections and life-threatening disease. Sources cited: “Vaccinations. ” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Feb. 2011. Web. 06 Sept. 2013.
“National Institutes of Health (NIH). ” U. S National Library of Medicine. U. S. National Library of Medicine, Mar. 2013. Web. 06 Sept. 2013 DeVito, Joseph A. The Interpersonal Communication Book. 13th. New York: Pearson, 2013. 42-94. eBook.