Are Parents’ Vaccine Views Impacting Their Children’s Health?

Vaccines are a difficult subject for a lot of people, especially as not everyone agrees with them. As a result of this, studies have shown that the number of children and teenagers having all their vaccines is down. This can be due to their parents’ views about vaccines.

Not having certain vaccines, has then seen a rise in certain illnesses which were usually prevented by or minimized by vaccines. However, for a child to have these vaccines they require their parent’s permission.

In this article, we will discuss whether parents’ vaccine views are impacting their children’s health.

Why Are Vaccines Given?

Every year millions of vaccines are offered to children and teenagers to help prevent several illnesses. There are a lot of vaccines out there which have helped to reduce the number of cases of really harmful diseases.

Vaccines are seen as important by the World Health Organization (WHO). This is because they “help protect individuals and communities from various illnesses, prevent outbreaks, and reduce the severity of diseases,” as stated by a spokesperson for MyBioSource.com.

They provide a lot of benefits, to build up your defenses against illnesses. Each vaccine contains an inactive or weakened form of the virus. Once noted in your body, antibodies are produced to fight off the bacteria.

Your body will then recognize these bacteria if it enters your body again. It’ll know how to fight it off and minimize the seriousness of diseases.

Impact Of Fewer Vaccines Being Given

No one can say for sure why there can be a decline in vaccines being given. This could be people forgetting to catch up on any missed appointments for their children. However, this decline could also be due to parents not wishing their children to be vaccinated.

In the UK, studies have shown that 7% of teenagers are receiving important vaccines against diphtheria, polio, and tetanus since 2020. In addition to this, more research has highlighted that fewer children are receiving their meningitis vaccines.

This is an issue for any teenagers who are about to attend university or college. Since these are areas where the illness is known to spread the most rapidly. Especially, as your child is living in close quarters with a large group of people.

Furthermore, Epic Research, a US company has discovered that in February 2023, there has been a sharp increase in strep throat infections. The cases have risen by around 30% since 2017. While there isn’t a vaccine for strep, we must stay up to date, to help our immune system have the best odds for combating any illnesses we may face.

Reasons To Vaccinate Your Child

If you don’t stay up to date with all your vaccines this could mean that your immune system struggles to fight particular illnesses. If you are still unsure whether to vaccinate your children, we have a couple of reasons to keep in mind.

Individual Protection – Many illnesses, including measles, polio, and influenza, can be fatal or result in major complications. This can be prevented, or the severity reduced by vaccinations.

Also immunizing against specific diseases, we can drastically cut down or completely eradicate their prevalence in the next generations, hence strengthening public health.

Eradicating Diseases – Numerous infectious diseases, including smallpox and polio, have either been completely eradicated or have seen a sharp decline in prevalence thanks to vaccination campaigns.

Reduce Strain On Healthcare – Vaccinations aid in lowering healthcare expenditures and the strain on healthcare systems by reducing diseases and their effects.

Protecting Young And Old – During the pandemic, the majority of individuals had heard of this. When a sizable section of the populace gets immunized, it helps to protect others who cannot receive immunizations. This includes infants, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems.

This phenomenon, known as herd immunity, makes it more challenging for the disease to spread inside the neighborhood.

Final Thoughts

There are lots of reasons why a parent may not wish to have their child vaccinated. However, there has been a decline in young people receiving vaccines which has seen a rise in certain serious illnesses.

If your children are not receiving vaccines, they don’t have the extra protection their immune system needs. Thus, if they catch a certain illness they can fall seriously ill. This in turn puts a bigger strain on the healthcare system, as they will require specialist care.

The impact of children not receiving vaccines is huge for themselves and the community. We hope this article has shown you the impact parents’ vaccine views are having.

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