Making The Choice Becoming a parent is riddled with choices for a newborn baby with the medical community relied upon to provide ethical and accurate data, giving guidance through the maze of issues that parents encounter. The joy and happiness experienced with news of expecting a newborn soon gets overtaken with an overwhelming amount of health choices and sources of information. That’s why during this time of tremendous change, new parents depend upon the experts as they endeavor to make vital decisions for the healthy life of this newborn child. One of the first important decisions a parent has to make after the birth of their child is that of vaccinations. “Creating a circle of protection around infants” ("Centers for Disease
…show more content…
According to the CDC recommended schedule for vaccinations in 1983(.jpg) compared to 2015[6 pages) ten ("Centers for Disease Control and Prevention", 2015) shows a change from 4 different types of vaccinations to sixteen. Today the total number of vaccinations a child is required to have is overwhelming. The NVIC states that “49 Doses of 14 vaccines before age 6” and “69 Doses of 16 vaccines by age 18” ("National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC)") are recommended. An additional change in when the first dose is delivered has been made since 1983. In 1983 the first immunization was given at two months old, now a child gets his first immunization at birth. How are authorities convincing parents that this total number of vaccines is warranted? Intimidation and misleading information. Parents are told that 16 different vaccines are necessary for the good of all, the greatest good and safety for the community, commonly called herd immunity. The CDC defines herd immunity as “Community immunity: A situation in which a sufficient proportion of a population is immune to an infectious disease (through vaccination and/or prior illness) to make its spread from person to person unlikely. Even individuals not vaccinated (such as newborns and those with chronic illnesses) are offered some protection because the disease has
According to the CDC recommended schedule for vaccinations in 1983(.jpg) compared to 2015[6 pages) ten ("Centers for Disease Control and Prevention", 2015) shows a change from 4 different types of vaccinations to sixteen. Today the total number of vaccinations a child is required to have is overwhelming. The NVIC states that “49 Doses of 14 vaccines before age 6” and “69 Doses of 16 vaccines by age 18” ("National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC)") are recommended. An additional change in when the first dose is delivered has been made since 1983. In 1983 the first immunization was given at two months old, now a child gets his first immunization at birth. How are authorities convincing parents that this total number of vaccines is warranted? Intimidation and misleading information. Parents are told that 16 different vaccines are necessary for the good of all, the greatest good and safety for the community, commonly called herd immunity. The CDC defines herd immunity as “Community immunity: A situation in which a sufficient proportion of a population is immune to an infectious disease (through vaccination and/or prior illness) to make its spread from person to person unlikely. Even individuals not vaccinated (such as newborns and those with chronic illnesses) are offered some protection because the disease has