As a parent, you may be protective and may not like seeing your baby being pricked by a needle several times. However, vaccination is an important step in protecting your child against a range of serious and potentially fatal diseases.

Measles, mumps and whooping cough may seem like quaint old illness confined to past. However, more and more children are being exposed to them, especially in schools, day-care centers, parks and malls where large numbers of people are together in close quarters. Diseases like measles, which were on their way out in the U.S., are making a comeback in (North East & Fort worth) via travelers and guests visiting from other countries. If kids are immunized it won’t spread quickly.

Vaccinations are quick, safe and extremely effective. Once your child has been vaccinated against a disease, their body can make antibodies to fight that disease more effectively if they come in contact with it. If a child isn’t vaccinated they will be at a heightened risk of catching the illness. There will always be some children, who are unavoidably unprotected because,

• They can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons.

• They’re too young to be vaccinated.

• They can’t get to the vaccine services.

• For a rare few, vaccination doesn’t work.

If more parents have their children vaccinated, then more children in the community will be protected against catching an illness. This lowers the chance of an outbreak of the disease.

How does vaccine work?

A vaccine is made from a tiny amount of the disease causing germs (virus and bacteria). For example, measles vaccine is made from the measles virus. The germ in the vaccine is killed or weakened version to ensure that the person does not contract the disease. When the vaccine is given, the body produces antibodies against the small amount of the germ protein in the vaccine. These antibodies fight off the disease when the person is exposed to the disease anytime in the future. Vaccines are a safe way of developing immunity in our children.

Are vaccines safe?

Vaccines are safe. Before the vaccine is approved for use, it undergoes years and years of testing and research. The Public Health agency continues to monitor all vaccines after they are approved.

Like any medicines vaccines may also has minor side-effects like soreness, redness and swelling in that area. Receiving one is far safer than getting the killer disease it prevents. Statements that vaccines causes autism is bunk and fraudulent science. Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.

Can you overload a child’s immune system?

Studies have shown that vaccines do not weaken a child’s immune system. In fact, the immune system is strengthened by immunization. Every day our body come in contact with millions of germs that rev our immune system to work overtime to protect us. The killed/weakened germs in the vaccines are very few when compared to the millions of germs fought every day by our immune system. A single cold virus presents greater challenge to the immune system than the number of antigens in virus. Today, we immunize against great number of diseases and because of advances of vaccine production, there are fewer antigens in vaccines today than there were 40 or 100 years ago.

More on Vaccines in our Part 2 later…..