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Parents are very concerned with the side effects of the childhood vaccinations, especially after the publication of the "Wakefield paper," which declared an association between the measles vaccine and autism spectrum disorders. The journal that originally published the paper, The Lancet, These findings have been repeatedly disproved by a variety of respected scientific journals and agencies, but the lasting effects of the frenzy that this information caused are still felt today.
According to the CDC, the only side effects that parents should expect to see after vaccinating their children are mild - usually soreness or redness around the injection site. However, parents that choose not to vaccinate their children often cite concerns about autism as motivation to not vaccinate their children. These parents also frequently believe that the number of vaccinations that the children receive overwhelms the immune system. These are understandable concerns, but these concerns do not have a foundation in scientific studies. Parents hear and read anecdotes from friends and in online forums, and become frightened of the effects that vaccines may have on their children after hearing these stories.
The above chart illustrates the diseases that the childhood vaccinations protect against, and the symptoms and complications that result from these diseases. At first glance, the symptoms of the diseases may not seem severe enough to "risk" the onset of autism from vaccination, but parents should also consider the complications associated with these diseases. Children can experience liver failure, get pneumonia, or even die from these vaccine-preventable diseases. Therefore, when parents choosing to not vaccinate their children declare that the diseases are not severe enough to warrant vaccination, and that their children are better off contracting illnesses "normally," I would urge them to examine the dangerous complications of these diseases before abstaining from vaccinating their children. The real complications of these diseases dwarf the true side effects of the childhood vaccinations in severity.
According to the CDC, the only side effects that parents should expect to see after vaccinating their children are mild - usually soreness or redness around the injection site. However, parents that choose not to vaccinate their children often cite concerns about autism as motivation to not vaccinate their children. These parents also frequently believe that the number of vaccinations that the children receive overwhelms the immune system. These are understandable concerns, but these concerns do not have a foundation in scientific studies. Parents hear and read anecdotes from friends and in online forums, and become frightened of the effects that vaccines may have on their children after hearing these stories.
The above chart illustrates the diseases that the childhood vaccinations protect against, and the symptoms and complications that result from these diseases. At first glance, the symptoms of the diseases may not seem severe enough to "risk" the onset of autism from vaccination, but parents should also consider the complications associated with these diseases. Children can experience liver failure, get pneumonia, or even die from these vaccine-preventable diseases. Therefore, when parents choosing to not vaccinate their children declare that the diseases are not severe enough to warrant vaccination, and that their children are better off contracting illnesses "normally," I would urge them to examine the dangerous complications of these diseases before abstaining from vaccinating their children. The real complications of these diseases dwarf the true side effects of the childhood vaccinations in severity.
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