Why are vaccines still important in this day and age?

At Pediatric Health, we feel one of the most critical decisions you can make for your child is to vaccinate them. While we appreciate there are conflicting signals sent by some via the internet or television, none of these arguments are valid in the face of the evidence.If you are on the fence about whether to vaccinate your children or not, you may want to view a PBS program called “Vaccines—Calling the Shots”.    See the link below. At birth our immune system is immature leaving us at risk for infections.  After two months of age, the protection provided by the mother drops off rapidly. Vaccines help our immune system to be ready to fight critical infections and prevent illness. They also protect the community by not exposing others who may not have the same protection or who have an illness that leaves them at risk—for example a child or adult on chemotherapy.   Many major diseases have been eradicated thanks to vaccines.   This is why some parents feel it unnecessary to vaccinate today.    While vaccines “wipe out” diseases, it doesn’t mean the virus or a bacteria that causes disease is gone, it just means we educated our immune response.Today we are seeing a resurgence in pertussis (whooping cough) and pregnant women are encouraged to be re-inoculated.   For newborns, whooping cough is especially difficult because not only is their immune system unfamiliar with how to fight the condition, thes...
Source: Pediatric Health Associates - Category: Pediatrics Source Type: news