Essay On Childhood Immunization

Childhood Immunizations have been a highly talked about topic for many years. As early as birth, infants are given immunizations to help prevent diseases. The controversy lies in the beliefs that immunizations can cause autism and other autoimmune diseases and the fear of the unknown preventing parents from properly immunizing their children. Even though some still believe that childhood immunizations cause Autism, children should be immunized before attending public schools, they get sick less often and are protected from diseases and illnesses they may potentially be exposed to. Infectious diseases were once the number one cause of deaths in the early 1900's. Immunizations have dramatically changed this outcome and the number of deaths associated with them. For example, in 1950 there were 319,124 cases of measles reported and 468 deaths, later in 2011 there were 212 …show more content…
Whereas most insurance companies pay for immunizations, there are also programs such as local health departments and state agencies that can help with low cost or free immunizations. Parents are also skeptical to the adverse reactions immunizations can cause, include pain, fever, or swelling at the injection site. However, these reactions are usually minimal, can be treated at home and most children quickly recover. Fear of immunizations causing more serious diseases comes from parents being misinformed or from others who have had bad experiences with them. Some parents believe "they may cause severe, very uncommon side effects, such as Guillain-Barre syndrome, encephalitis, or unsubstantiated adverse effects, such as autism or autoimmune diseases such like type 1 diabetes" (Anderson 3). Another mistaken belief some parents have, is that children who contract diseases that could be prevented through vaccinations will quickly recover from them on their