Anyone
who has a child knows that children are to get vaccinated against fourteen diseases
that were very common before such as measles, rubella, mumps, etc. We get these
vaccinations because we are told that it will immune us from these diseases. In
the USA 90% of parents vaccinate their children, 9% delay or skip shots, and 1%
does not vaccinate at all. If that 90% drops just a few points then we can
start to see more cases of past diseases come back. One way a disease does not
come back even though everyone is not vaccinated is called Herd Immunity. Herd
Immunity is when there is a high vaccination levels keep most people safe
because the likely hood of unvaccinated people running into someone with the
disease is very rare. Those who do not vaccinate their children are afraid of
what might be in the vaccine or it may cause reactions that can damage their
child. However, damage from a vaccination is very low in percentages. It causes
more harm than good to the society (Pemberton, et al, 2014).
How does
a vaccination work? We know that white blood cells are the protectors of the
body. When a disease enters the body it begins to fight against these invaders.
If they win the war they have a way of remembering the disease they attacked
before. White blood cells actually stores memory. Wow! In the event the disease
tries to come back it will fight before it gets too aggressive. In the case of
vaccinations, when we get a shot the doctor is actually injecting the very
disease that you do not want to invade your body but it is in a weaken state.
The white blood cells still attacks the invader and remembers the disease in
the event the stronger disease appears in the body. They will remember it and
fight and win and you may never know it attacked you (Pemberton, et al, 2014).
How did
doctors know that vaccinations worked? Well, about 1000 years ago in India
small pox was severely spreading in the country. India’s healers would scratch
the upper arm of an infected person and then scratch an uninfected person
without the disease. When the disease is given to the uninfected person the
disease is in its weaken state. The uninfected person would not get infected
with the stronger disease because they were immune (Pemberton, et al, 2014).
I am responsible for making sure the immunizations are up to date. However, sometimes it is hard to pressure parents to get the immunization forms into the center. I will have to somehow let the parents know how important immunization are to society and to our school. I can suggest the topic be in our newsletters with a story of a child not being immunized and its affects.
Pemberton,
S., Washington, S., Efron, D., Fensterszaub, S., Geschwind, D. H., Larson, H.,
Middleman, A. B., ... PBS Distribution (Firm),. (2014). Vaccines:
Calling the shots.
