For many years children have immunized to prevent
diseases beginning at birth to prevent infectious diseases. Immunization is the
process whereby a person is made immune or resistant to an infectious disease,
typically by the administration of a vaccine. Vaccines stimulate the body’s own
immune system to protect the person against subsequent infection or disease.
Immunizations
and vaccinations is a safe and effective way to prevent these diseases.
According to the World Health Organization, 6.6 million children under the age
of five died in 2012. More than half of these early child deaths are due to
conditions that could be prevented or treated with access to simple, affordable
interventions. Leading causes of death in under-five children are pneumonia,
preterm birth complications, birth asphyxia, diarrhea and malaria. About 45% of
all child deaths are linked to malnutrition.
In Australia, the last
ten years more than 137 people have died and many more have become ill from
contagious and infectious diseases. This is a tragedy because all these
diseases are preventable through immunizations.Children in sub-Saharan Africa
are about over 16 times more likely to die before the age of five than children
in developed regions. A child's risk of dying is highest in the neonatal
period, the first 28 days of life. Safe childbirth and effective neonatal care
are essential to prevent these deaths. 44% of child deaths under the age of
five take place during the neonatal period.
Immunizations are
important to me because I am working with children. I have had a few parents
that do not immunize their children for religious reasons or the fear that
these immunizations may cause some type of disability. When children are not
immunized they are likely to spread diseases such as whooping cough or measles
or they more prone to diseases that may lead to death.
Advocacy for
immunization is essential to raise awareness on the role of immunization in
improving the health of individuals throughout the world.
http://www.who.int/vaccines/en/advocacy.shtml
http://www.world organization.org
Working with children and their families who are not immunized can be frustrating. My employer allows children to attend our program not immunized, but requires all staff to receive flu shots. To me it doesn't make sense to allow children attend the program and possibly infect others, due to not receiving vaccinations, but require staff to receive a vaccination. This year some staff did not want to get the flu shot and unless they had a doctor's note or letter from their clergy, they were required to receive the flu shot or no longer were able to be employed. I have recently been seeing more and more employers require their employees to receive flu shots.
ReplyDeleteBerger (2012) also mentioned that there are no current findings that vaccinations cause health issues such as autism.