To vaccinate a child or not to vaccinate? How about postponing most vaccinations to the time your child is older? Vaccinate with vaccines only from the mandatory vaccination list or all available on the market? Many parents are faced with the dilemma of what choice to make.
On the one hand, they hear the assurances of specialists about the safety ofvaccinesand even the necessity ofvaccinations , on the other hand, they encounter counter-arguments of parents from the movement on the Internet anti-vaccine, describing the stories of post-vaccination complications and warning againstvaccinating children .
Vaccinating children - emotions and dilemmas
Vaccination of children causes a lot of emotions among parents and causes many dilemmas. Parents hesitate whether a child needs to be vaccinated, why so much in the first year of life, and which to choose from the additional, recommended, paid ones. One thing is for sure: children need to be vaccinated.
It is not an opinion dictated by doctors' beliefs about immunization of children, the whims of specialists, but by reliable knowledge based on research. And the anti-vaccination movements that arise every few years always end the same, i.e. with an increasing number of sick children and disease complications.
The vaccine protects against disease
Vaccines are products whose ingredients are described very meticulously. They are weakened or dead pathogenic microorganisms or their fragments or toxins.
They pretend to be attacked by real, dangerous germs. The immune system responds to this bogus attack and creates mechanisms that allow it to defend itself against these germs in the future. For this immunity to be permanent and to protect the child constantly, it is sometimes necessary to administer several doses of the vaccine, including a booster dose. The vaccine does not cause disease. However, it can cause post-vaccination reactions: pain, swelling at the injection site, rash, and even more serious reactions (this happens extremely rarely). However, even more serious complications from vaccinations occur over a thousand times less often than from the diseases they protect against. This is an important argument to appreciate the value of vaccinations.
When redness appears around the injection site, it is a good idea to compress the baby with baking soda and bandage it.
EvenMore serious complications after vaccinations occur over a thousand times less frequently than after the diseases they protect against.
In Poland, children are compulsorily (free of charge) vaccinated against:
- tuberculosis (only once - after childbirth)
- hepatitis B
- diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough
- polio
- measles, mumps and rubella
- Hib
- pneumokokom
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Vaccinations of children - immunity to years
There are many arguments for vaccinations. The baby is born with an imperfect immune system, the so-called primary immunity. He is exposed to germs and he is not able to defend himself against them as effectively as his parents, older brother in kindergarten or sister in school age. Contrary to appearances, the antibodies that the baby got from the mother during pregnancy do not protect it for long.
In addition to many diseases, this protection does not exist at all, contrary to what many parents believe. For example, the antibodies obtained from the mother protect babies against measles, mumps, rubella and mononucleosis for several months. Provided, of course, that mom has had these illnesses in the past.
The baby gets a vaccine against three of these diseases only after the first birthday (there is no vaccine against mononucleosis), but mother's antibodies protect the baby from meningococcus, pneumococcus and Hib bacteria only for 6-8 weeks after giving birth.
However, they actually do not protect - because their concentration in the baby's body drops quickly - against influenza, chickenpox (even a month-old child may suffer from smallpox), as well as tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough (which is why he vaccinates against these already 6-week-old puppies).
Important! Because antibodies are passed from mother to baby in the final stages of pregnancy, premature babies are deprived of these weapons. Preterm babies should therefore be specially protected with vaccinations, of course taking into account their he alth condition.
Vaccinations for children - prevention is better than cure
Vaccinations protect not against banal, but serious diseases. For example, the World He alth Organization has identified diphtheria as a child killer. Tetanus is also a disease with a tragic ending.
Measles cases are on the rise beyond our eastern and western borders. A dozen or so years ago, there were deaths in the course of measles. Some vaccine opponents argue that it is better to get sick than to protect yourself against them with vaccines.
If it were so, the children would be oversevere diseases should develop better than others, and as you know, this is not the case. Moreover, the disease of some serious diseases against which there are vaccines, such as whooping cough, does not leave permanent immunity.
This means your child may get sick again. Doctors find it difficult to predict the course of a child's disease. Seemingly mild chickenpox sometimes ends with phlegmon of the skin, and in every hundredth case of chickenpox, inflammation of the cerebellum develops. Hepatitis B infection may result in cirrhosis of the liver.
A greater risk to a child's organism is their disease than vaccination against them. Each infectious disease may be mild or end in complications. Is it worth the risk?
Worth knowingCombined or multi-component vaccines
In order to spare your child a sting, it is worth considering administering a combined vaccine, i.e. a multi-component vaccine. These are vaccines that, thanks to one injection, protect against several infectious diseases at the same time, e.g. diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, meningococci, pneumococci. Combination vaccines mean fewer injections, less pain and fewer adverse reactions to the vaccine. The downside to combination vaccines is that parents have to pay for them out of pocket as they are not reimbursed.
Child vaccinations eliminated many serious diseases
Introducing universal vaccinations makes it possible to fight diseases. Thanks to them, smallpox was eliminated. Soon, it may be possible to say goodbye to polio forever.
The number of measles and rubella infections also decreased significantly, also among pregnant women (we owe it to vaccinations). This is important because infection of a pregnant woman with rubella is dangerous for her unborn child. Mumps can lead to infertility, especially among boys.
The fact that nowadays infectious diseases are not as common as 10-20 years ago is not a coincidence or the mere increase in hygiene, but precisely through vaccination.
If they were to be abandoned, as opponents of vaccination suggest, a new wave of cases would soon unleash. This was the case after the unjustified (numerous credible studies have explained) linking the old mumps, measles and rubella vaccine to the emergence of autism.
After this "scandal", parents stopped vaccinating their children, which resulted in an avalanche increase in the incidence of these diseases and their complications. The recovery to morbidity prior to the cessation of vaccinations was long and tedious.
ImportantFor vaccines to be safe, a number of recommendations must be followed
It must be emphasized that the vaccinesthey do not cause disease and do not cause autism. However, in order to be safe, a number of recommendations must be met. First of all, the child must be examined before immunization. The administration of the vaccine without medical examination is unacceptable. In addition, appropriate intervals must be maintained between doses of the same and different vaccines. And of course they must be given to the child in the right way. Therefore, vaccinations are performed by experienced persons.
Parents ask about vaccinations of their children, Anna Jaworska, family doctor, replies
Isn't it better to postpone vaccinations to a later period, when the child is, for example, one year old and stronger? Ewa from Kielce
- Anna Jaworska, family doctor: Definitely not. Infancy is the most dangerous time, because children's immune systems are not working properly yet. This is when the infections are usually serious and end with complications.
Are vaccinations too heavy on the child's immune system? Magda from Warsaw
- Studies have shown that the human immune system can respond to over 10 million antigens. For comparison: in the pertussis vaccine, which is part of the "5-in-1" vaccine, there are only 2 or 3 of them
Are recommended vaccinations less important than mandatory? Katarzyna from Koszalin
- No. The state simply cannot afford to fund all vaccines. The recommended ones include those worth recommending to all children (e.g. against pneumococci, meningococcus and rotavirus), as well as those which should be used primarily by children from risk groups (e.g. against tick-borne encephalitis).
Do you want to give your child all available vaccinations? Iza S.
- Of course - no. Everything has to be made to measure, i.e. selected individually for the little patient. The decision in this matter is made by the parents after talking to the doctor, who can only advise, and should not persuade or frighten. However, the doctor is obliged to inform the parents that there are recommended, paid vaccines. It is required by Polish law. And this information should be included in the medical records.
It is worth vaccinating against meningococci, pneumococci and rotaviruses
Meningococci are bacteria that cause invasive meningococcal disease, with sepsis or meningitis. Pneumococci, i.e. pneumonia, are also dangerous. Pneumococci can cause many diseases. The most common infections, called invasive, are acute pneumonia, meningitis, blood poisoning(bacteraemia), generalized blood poisoning (sepsis)
Rotaviruses are also very dangerous pathogens that cause acute, watery diarrhea (administered even several times a day), high fever (up to 40 degrees C) and upper respiratory tract infections. They should not be underestimated, because of rotaviruses, 20 to 30 thousand children are hospitalized each year. Therefore, vaccination is all the more important - it can be performed between 6 and 24 weeks of age.
Child immunization - side effects
Many parents choose not to vaccinate their children due to possible side effects from the vaccinations. Alicja Karney, a pediatrician from the Institute of Mother and Child in Warsaw, tells about what reactions may occur after vaccinations.
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