Top Reasons for You to Vaccinate Your Child – A Brief Guide for the Uninitiated

Parents want to do everything possible to keep their children safe. While they will take great care to ensure they are safe from accidents, many do not know that one of the best ways of ensuring that they grow up healthy and free of disease is by vaccinating them. According to the World Health Organization, vaccines can prevent more than 20 life-threatening diseases.

The Importance of Vaccines

Save lives: Immunization programs have saved the lives of millions of children and continue to do so. Advances in medical science have made it possible for you to protect your child from more diseases than before. Some diseases that not so long ago injured or killed several thousands of children every year have been eradicated, and there has been impressive progress in arresting the incidence and spread of many more diseases. A sterling example of the efficacy of vaccines is the complete elimination of polio from the US which was once a deadly scourges affecting thousands of children.

Safe and effective: The Government only permits the public to access vaccines after scientists and healthcare professionals have carefully reviewed them for efficacy and safety. While vaccines protect against viruses, you can expect to develop some soreness, pain, tenderness, redness, etc., after taking a vaccine, but the discomfort is minimal compared to the repercussions of the disease, and generally, the symptoms disappear within a few days. It is rare for children to develop any severe allergic reaction to vaccines. All scientists and medical professionals confirm that the benefits of vaccination far outweigh the possible side effects.

Protect your near and dear ones: Vaccines represent one of the most effective ways you can protect your near and dear ones from deadly diseases. Despite the extensive vaccination programs, many children in America still get diseases they wouldn’t have got had they been vaccinated. Whooping cough remains a big issue in the US, with 10,000 – 50,000 cases reported annually since 2010. While some deaths are due to the children being too young for vaccines, others cannot take the vaccines due to disease-weakened immune systems. Vaccinating your children is imperative for keeping them safe and also for arresting the spread of the disease and infecting those who cannot undergo vaccination.

Save time and money: If you do not vaccinate your child against preventable diseases, childcare facilities or schools may deny her admission or attendance because she represents a risk to the other kids. What is more, you will invariably spend a lot of money on medical treatment and long-term disability care besides lost wages if you cannot attend to your work. The best thing to ensure that your child is fully vaccinated is to take advantage of the Vaccines for Children program funded by the federal government to provide free vaccines to children of low-income families. Even if you pay for the vaccines, usually your insurance will cover the cost.

Conclusion 

In addition to the all-around benefits of immunization of children, vaccines help stop the transmission of deadly diseases from one generation to the next. Keeping the focus on vaccination will ensure our future generations will not suffer from many diseases.