Sports and Health

             In recent years’ questions have arisen whether vaccinating children is safe. I fully support vaccinating children. Although there is no scientific evidence some will argue vaccines cause children to develop autism[1]. Now this paper will take a closer look at positive and negative affects vaccines have on children.

 

            “A vaccination is the injection of a killed or weakened organism that produces immunity in the body against that organism.[2]” Vaccines help prevent the spread of life-threatening illnesses like Polio, Measles, Varicella (chicken pox).[3] Without vaccines there would no doubt be an increased rate of infant and children mortality. In fact, 2.5 million children’s lives are saved when vaccinated while 1.5 million unvaccinated children will die.[4] Vaccines are harmless in many cases.

 

            Although vaccines are great at protecting children from getting life-threatening illnesses the vaccine itself may cause, a child to experience a life-threatening situation an anaphylactic shock. A child may have an allergic reaction to an ingredient in a vaccine.[5] This is unlikely to occur but has a slightly better chance in children with already diagnosed with food allergies. In some cases, parents opt to not vaccinate their child based on religious reasons.[6] It is completely up to the legal guardian of the child to decision whether to vaccinate a child.

 

There are many arguments surrounding vaccines and children. Each parent should complete their own research with reliable sources before vaccinating a child. However, I believe the positives of vaccinating children out way the negative.

 

 

 

 

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Footnotes

 

[1] Vaccine Safety. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/autism.html. Published November 23, 2015. Accessed May 5, 2017.

[2] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Basics. Vaccines.gov. https://www.vaccines.gov/basics/. Published October 11, 2006. Accessed May 5, 2017.

 

[3] Lesson Plan Library. Discovery Education. http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/common-vaccinations.cfm. Accessed May 5, 2017.

 

[4] ACTION. ACTION Vaccine Fact Sheet. ACTION.org. http://www.action.org/resources/item/action-vaccine-fact-sheet. Accessed May 5, 2017.

 

[5] Franceschini F, Bottau P, Caimmi S, et al. Vaccination in children with allergy to non active vaccine components. Clinical and Translational Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4384976/. Published 2015. Accessed May 5, 2017.

[6] Krule M. Why Is There a Religious Exemption for Vaccines? Do Any Religions Really Object? Slate Magazine. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2015/02/religious_exemption_for_vaccines_christian_scientists_catholics_and_dutch.html. Published February 5, 2015. Accessed May 5, 2017.