Should Parents Vaccinate Their Children Essay

1563 Words4 Pages

Should Parents Vaccinate Their Children?
Daniel J. Butler
Southern New Hampshire University
2/9/2014

Should parents vaccinate their children?

As the article “Responding to Parental Refusals of Immunization of Children” states, the immunization of children against a multitude of infectious agents has been hailed as one of the most important health interventions of the 20th century. Immunizations have wiped out smallpox infection worldwide, driven polio from North America, and made formerly common infections like diphtheria, tetanus, measles, and invasive Haemophilus influenzae infections rare occurrences. With that being said 7 out of 10 pediatricians that where surveyed said that they had a parent refuse immunizations on behave of their child. According to the article ‘Parents’ reported reasons for avoiding MMR vaccination a telephone survey’ which was conducted in Sweden states that “In the mid 1990s the debate on the alleged risks of childhood vaccines became intense. This debate was largely stimulated by publications from a single research group suggesting a possible link between measles, measles vaccine, and inflammatory bowel disease, and between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) and autism. To date, all expert reviews of the literature as well as population studies have refuted any such association.” Some of the main reasons why parents are refusing to vaccinate their children are fear of side effects, wanting the child to mature, and belief that the natural immunity is better than vaccine-induced. From the telephone survey conducted in Sweden 60% of parent surveyed decided to postpone vaccination while 40% of parents decided to completely refuse the vaccinations. In the article ‘Qualitative Analysis of...

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...DIATRICS Vol. 117 No. 5 May 1, 2006 pp. 1532-1541
The purpose of this analysis was to investigate decision making about vaccination for infants. These where open ended interviews and the participants or subjects of this analysis are mothers 1 to 3 days postpartum and again at 3 to 6 months. 3 topics where addressed attitudes towards vaccinations, knowledge of vaccinations, and their decision making. The main indicators that effected mother’s decision-making where trust or lack of trust and their relationship with a pediatrician or an influential person who played a role in the decision making process. In total 33 mothers were interviewed between the ages of 19 and 43 years old from both suburban and inner city areas in Connecticut. 10 were primigravida, 22 were white, 8 were black, and 3 were Hispanic.

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