Research paper
Immunization were designed to help eliminate sissies from our population. The idea was to vaccinate as many people as possible so that we would no longer have disease such as measles, mumps, rubella, vermicelli, just to name a few. For many parents this is no question in their mind, if an immunization can be given to help protect their child from a serious or sometimes deadly disease, of course they will choose to have their child receive it. Others choose not to minimize their children due to the possible and sometimes serous side effects or complications that can result.
So the question is why minimize? Or for many the question may be why not minimize? There are many reasons parents are choosing not to minimize their children lack of education and knowledge about vaccines plays a big role. Immunization are an ethical dilemma that continues to be debated, despite research showing that the benefits of minimizing outweigh the risks, many parents still choose not to minimize their babies and children. Many parents do not understand how the immune system works and why their baby is at such high risk if they do not receive vaccinations.
Babies are born with immature immune systems that are not effective to protect them against disease and infection. If they are exposed to a disease within the first year of their life it could be very serious or life threatening. They have immune systems that are immature and do not know how to respond. There are two different types of immunity that can be obtained to protect a baby from a virus or disease. The first type of immunity, that a baby is born with, is passive immunity. This is passed from the mother to the baby through the placenta (Driver, 2011).
This immunity will fade overtime and after a few weeks the baby will no longer be protected. Passive immunity can continue if the mother is breastfeeding. Passive immunity is immediate and protects the baby from anything that mom has antibodies to. The other type of immunity is active immunity. This is the type of immunity obtained from immunization. This is when the person is exposed to a disease and the immune system develops antibodies for that disease (Driver, 2011). This can occur naturally from actually getting a virus or disease or it can occur through a vaccination.
Many parents believe that vaccines contain a disease and they are putting their child at risk for developing that disease, this is a common reason parents choose not to minimize their child. A vaccination works by imitating a disease or infection, so the body thinks that it has been exposed to a disease and develops an immune response to this disease. The person does not actually get the disease. A vaccination contains the same germ that causes the disease, but the germs have been killed or weakened to a degree that they will not cause the disease (Steelmaker, 2012).
These germs stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies as if the child had been exposed to the actual disease. In the future if the child is exposed to the disease then the immune system recon sizes the disease and produces mass antibodies to kill the germs invading the body before the person gets the disease. There are two different types of vaccines available live or attenuated vaccines and killed or inactivated vaccines. A live vaccine contains a version of the living microbe that has been weakened so that is cannot cause the disease.
An inactivated vaccine is created by heating or chemically treating the pathogen so that it is inactivated and can no longer replicate (Steelmaker, 2012). When this is injected into the person the immune system can initiate a response and develop antibodies to it, but the germs cannot replicate so it is eliminated from the body. Live vaccines are not recommended until the baby is no longer breast feeding or at least 1 year old. This is because they baby still has the moms antibodies and will not develop its own immunity to the disease and the immune system is too weak to be given a virus that is live.
Many parents are concerned that they are vaccinating their child to prevent a disease, but the vaccine itself has serious side effects. There are a variety of side effects that can occur related to vaccines (Rudy, 2010). The side effects are usually mild and include fever, malaise, pain or tenderness at the injection site. These usually go away within few days and do not cause any complications. There are a few major side effects that can occur including nonphysical. Nonphysical is rare and most of the time can be treated without causing harm to the child.
The CDC has recommendations for what age babies/children should receive what vaccine based on research and the effectiveness of the vaccine at that age (Steelmaker, 2012). Generally side effects are much milder than what the child would have experienced if exposed to the actual disease. Some children will still get the disease or virus after they have been vaccinated, but they get a much milder version. A common concern of parents is that if this vaccine is not going to guarantee that the disease is prevented then why should they give it to their child. Educating parents about how effective vaccines are is really important.
Childhood vaccines produce immunity 90-100% of the time (Driver, 2011). Vaccines are the most important preventative activity that health care professionals are involved in. No opportunity should be missed to vaccinate a child (Waddle, 2013). Even if their child is not 100% protected from getting the virus or disease they have been exposed to it and their body will develop antibodies quickly next time hey are exposed to it. If they get the virus or disease they may get a lesser version and just be sick for a few days, but not need hospitalizing or have severe complications.
Parents often don’t understand why are continuing to minimize children for measles and polio when these haven’t been an epidemic for decades. Nurses need to do teaching to parents that these diseases are still around, but there has not been an epidemic because so many people have been minimize to these diseases they are not being spread around. Since the vaccine for measles came out the number of outbreaks greatly declined. In recent years there have still been a few cases, but no epidemics since the majority of people are minimized to measles.
Smallpox has been completely eradicated from the Untied States and we no longer minimize for it. (Furnace, 2010). By continuing to minimize until the disease is completely eliminated we are protecting our children and others in the community that have not been minimize. When parents choose to minimize their children they are choosing to help protect others in the community that cannot receive the vaccine. This is due to herd immunity. If we minimize as many people as we can for a disease then the disease will to be spread around and the people are cannot receive the vaccine for health reasons will not be exposed to the disease.
This is very important for children under one year Old that cannot receive the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine (MR.) because it is a live virus. If enough people in the community are minimized against MR. then it will not be spread around and the infant will not be exposed to the disease. This is also true for people in the community with an autoimmune disorder or someone undergoing chemotherapy that has an altered immune system and cannot protect themselves with a vaccine. They count on others to help protect them by minimizing their children. In 2007 75% of children 19-35 months had received the recommended vaccines for their age. Bareback, 2010). This is a great number since we have over half the population following what the CDC is recommending, but we want to protect more than 75% of our children. All of the vaccines that are administered protect against diseases that have serious complications including death. As pediatric nurses it is important to continue to educate parents about why it is important to minimize their children and never miss an opportunity to minimize a child. The most recent reason parents have been hesitant to minimize their children is the research that came out saying that vaccines could lead to autism.
As nurses we need to educate parents that this has been reviewed by the Center for Disease Control and American Academy of Pediatrics and the research was not accurate. There is no evidence that suggests that vaccines are linked to autism (Steelmaker, 2012). Many people are still unsure about the whole idea since the research that was presented showed vaccines were linked to autism. Parents need to be provided with the facts and research so hat they can make an educated decision whether or not to vaccinate their child.
Education is the most important thing health care professionals can do to facilitate parents to minimize their children. There is no right or wrong answer on whether a parent should give their child an immunization. There is no set time frame that it has to happen in. Recommendations have been made on what immunization should be given and when, but parents have the final say. As nurses working in the labor and delivery department it is important to make sure babies received the required vaccines before charges and have follow up appointments with a pediatrician.
Nurses need to make sure patients receive vaccinations that have been missed as soon as possible. If a missing vaccine is identified, but the patient goes home with intentions to get this vaccine at a follow up appointment there is a strong chance that they will not return and the opportunity will been missed. Nurses can provide all the information and information brochures to parents so that parents can make a decision based on knowledge and facts not based on what their neighbor told them. As health care professional it is important to sites to the parents concerns and provide information related to their concerns.
