January 25, 2018
10 Reasons to Vaccinate Your Kids
Today, I wanted to share reasons to vaccinate your kids, including medical science and research, which is what I go by in order to choose to vaccinate my own kiddos:
1. Vaccine-preventable diseases are coming back
Diseases that we thought
were gone have come back with people choosing not to vaccinate. Cases of Hepatitis
A have increased in Michigan, and there have been a mumps outbreaks on college
campuses, measles at Disneyland and whooping cough outbreaks in Michigan in
2014. These diseases are all preventable with vaccines but can make a comeback if
enough people choose not to vaccinate.
2. Vaccines do not cause autism
There is no credible medical
or scientific research to support any link between vaccines and autism. Read
more on these studies on the I Vaccinate or CDC website.
3. Vaccines are safe
Each vaccine has been
studied for at least 15 to 20 years in tens of thousands of participants by
thousands of scientists, statisticians and health care providers before it is
offered to the general public. Vaccines are safe for the majority of children
and adults. The United States has the safest, most effective vaccine supply in
its history. The safety and effectiveness is studied in clinical trials before
it is brought to market, and all vaccines must be approved by the FDA.
4. Vaccines will not overwhelm your child's immune system
It is safe for your
child to get several vaccines at one doctor's visit. Vaccines contain
ingredients called antigens, which tell the body’s immune system to create
those antibodies. Every day, our immune system successfully fights off millions
of antigens—the parts of germs that cause the body’s immune system to go to
work.
The antigens in vaccines
come from the germs themselves, but the germs are weakened or killed so they
cannot cause serious illness. Vaccines
contain only a tiny fraction of the antigens that we encounter every day in our
environment.
5. 322 million illnesses are prevented by vaccines
The CDC estimates that for children born in the United States from 1994 to 2013, vaccines will prevent 322 million illnesses, 21 million hospitalizations and 732,000 deaths over their lifetimes. Crazy!
6. Some diseases have been eliminated by vaccines
Vaccines have reduced
and, in some cases, eliminated many diseases that killed or severely disabled
people just a few generations before. Vaccines have eliminated diphtheria,
smallpox and polio. Other diseases are down about 99 percent including measles,
mumps, rubella and HiB.
7. Vaccines protect the people you care about
When a person is
vaccinated, they prevent disease from spreading to others in their community,
including babies who are too young to be vaccinated, pregnant women, the
elderly and those who cannot be vaccinated due to medical reasons such as
having a weakened immune system or those with a chronic illness.
8. Almost half of Michigan toddlers are not up to date on their vaccines
As of June 2017, only 56
percent of Michigan toddlers were up to date on their recommended vaccinations.
Wow! In this day in age, that number honestly shocks me. Please vaccinate your
kids, especially for those who have not received all of their vaccines yet, like
newborn babies. So scary!
9. Michigan's childhood immunization rate is one of the nation's worst
It is the 43rd lowest
out of the 50 states for toddlers aged 19 to 35 months old. That is just crazy
to me because at our pediatrician's office they pretty much tell me which
vaccines the kids are getting and it is not even an option (nor do I want it to
be one). I follow our doctor’s recommended schedule for vaccines. I am not a
doctor and therefore do not think that I know better than one. Also, only 36
percent of Michigan teens ages 13 to 18 are up to date one their vaccines (from
MCIR in June 2017).
10. Michigan had the 10th highest non-medical exemption rate for choosing not to vaccinate
During the 2015-16
school year, Michigan
had the 10th highest non-medical exemption rate in the nation, with
3.4 percent of parents simply choosing not to immunize their children. Parents
with kids in school have the option to sign a vaccination waiver for personal
reasons. As of 2015, parents who sign this waiver have to attend an information
session at their local health department to share how important vaccinations
really are. In 2016, Michigan had 20 counties with a vaccine waiver of 5
percent or more among kindergartners.
I
Vaccinate provides information and tools based on real medical science and
research to help Michigan parents protect their kids. Most of the above
information is from the I Vaccinate website
and I am proud to share this information as a parent and Michigan resident.
Check out the I Vaccinate site for more answers to your vaccine questions.
I’ve partnered with I Vaccinate to share my story and this content is sponsored by I Vaccinate.
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ask the RD
What kind of comments do you not delete? lol
ReplyDeleteOnes that are not rude or against science. What if someone read your comment and decided to not vaccinate their kids based on that quackery? I would feel terrible!
DeleteI love this post so much! Vaccines are so vital.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!! Yes, they are.
DeleteOh, sorry. I wasn't trying to be rude. It's just from the research that I've done from doctors, scientists, researchers and other experts, I came to a very different conclusion. I'm all about facts! ;) I haven't yet seen a study on the safety of injected aluminum or mercury. Nor on the long term effects of the CDC schedule or on combination shots. Or a true double blind placebo study on all vaccines. Do you have those to support YOUR claims? Can you please cite some credible sources? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteare you also a climate denier? because you can find a few screwball scientists that will dispute that as well. you can get 'facts' that support any number of b.s. theories. vaccines are safe, have been studied using THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD for years. THEY SAVE KIDS LIVES. if you are not a biologist or have a scientific background (for example Jenny McCarthy) then folks have no business trying to promote this dangerous theory. maybe you should tell your anti vax nonsense to a mother i know that lost her infant to whooping cough??
DeleteAnother comment deleted?? Can you detail what was rude or "quakery"? lol Because I'm getting the impression that you don't have an open mind at all and refuse to even consider anything that doesn't support vaccines. (even if it's facts)
ReplyDeleteI apologize if my passion comes across as harsh, since you can't read tone in type. But just imagine if I were right, I'd feel just as or more terrible than you, at all the injured (& even dead) children from something that is supposed to be good! I absolutely believe in diet and nutrition and supporting our immune system to do what it was designed to do. That's probably how I got subscribed to your newsletter. But then it shocked me to see you believe so strongly in vaccines, especially when your statements can not be proven. I was genuinely thinking it was satire at first. I am a mother & have vaccine injury in my large family. (Over $3.6 BILLION dollars has already been paid out in vaccine injury court, even though vaccine manufacturers can't be sued for their faulty products) I hear testimonials all the time that break my heart. I think it's compassionate to educated people. (<that's sincere, not sarcasm) And I try to always keep an open mind - even when it comes to opposing viewpoints. (How else do we learn, right?:)
ReplyDeleteIf you're not staunchly against open dialog that possibly goes against what you posted, I'd like to address your above claims. And even if it's in hopes to prove me wrong, I hope you look into the information. And allow others to look and choose for themselves as well. I will even quote/post credible links to much research, from doctors, scientists & other experts - and it won't be "rude or against science". But before I spend time to go through all my research to post "rebuttals", would you allow it to stay/not delete it? As I'm sure writing this post took you a few minutes. (with life & kids & all lol). Thank you for caring enough!
Vaccines have been studied up and down for decades. Is the present review process for safety and efficacy unsatisfactory?
DeleteAnd this money has been paid out for legitimate claims of vaccine injury. The VIC was put in place to protect manufacturers from an inordinate number of frivolous injury suits (as exemplified by the Autism Omnibus circus of a trial).
Vaccines have a safety record that would make Ralph Nader blush, and they're more effective than any other treatment we have available for contagious diseases. While providing a varied, healthy diet and modeling exercise habits are vital for our children's health, vaccines also play an essential role in preparing our children for a healthy future.
Love this! Thanks for the comment James : )
Delete