Skipping Child Vaccination: Risk Factors and Parental Responsibility
Parents are only responsible for their children. Their good to bad, behaviour to nature, health to sickness, protecting them from disease is a parental responsibility. Vaccination is the most important part of one’s childhood. Skipping the vaccination procedure can be risky and, of course, falls under the medical neglect regulations. If you choose not to vaccinate your child, you should understand its risks. It should be the first thing to be considered after the birth of your child. A little delay or carelessness in vaccination may charge a huge cost.
Being a parent you need to understand the value of the vaccination to your child. According to the research, surprisingly around ⅓ parents delay vaccination for their children for no reason.
It is very surprising to know, countries are developing or almost developed and everyone is literate. And being an educated person, one should understand the requirement of vaccination.
Above all, you need to understand the meaning of vaccination. Let’s start with it.
What is vaccination?
A large part of the world’s population have no idea about what vaccination actually is. There has been a big misconstruction about vaccination. You, especially parents, need to understand the difference between vaccination and other injections. Vaccinations are important for children and also important for families & public health. Vaccines are those major things that can prevent from the contagious, dangerous and deadly disease and that are like polio, HIV, whooping cough, chicken pox, mumps, and diphtheria.
Vaccine is the way that helps to build your immune system before you get sick. It also prevents you from getting infected and spreading the disease.
Importance of vaccination
It is crucial to understand the importance of vaccination in your life. All you need to understand about the vaccination is it is “A path to improve health”.
Whether you are an infant, child, teenager and adult, everyone needs vaccination. Right from the birth continues to the adult. But infants need utmost. A proper schedule of vaccination is available, what vaccines are needed and at what age it should be given plays a key role.
Vaccines are really important to prevent severe diseases. The disorder can be seen either in earlier age or sometimes later. Moreover, AAFP- a research institute believes that vaccination is also essential to prevent the spread of contagious disease.
To whom vaccination is given
Most vaccinations are given to children. But it is also said that everyone needs vaccination. From infant to child, teenageer to aduld, vaccination is a crucial part of our life like other basic needs. Types of the vaccines may vary according to the age. It is recommended that there are 14 different vaccines by the 6th birthday of a child. Some vaccines are given in different shots, whereas some of them are combined so that they can be given together in a short period of time.
Risk of delaying or skipping vaccination
If vaccination is not done or timely done, there may be many health risks. Besides health risks, one will also face the negligence of the society as society doesn’t accept a child or person suffering from severe disease or disability.
- Your child may be affected by some severe disease and disability.
- Your child may also be asked to stay away from social organizations like school, children care, playing classes and other organized activities.
- Considering your child facing these problems, it may also affect parents and cause mental and health issues.
- You will be advised to keep your child at home and take care of him at home only.
- Sometimes risks and diseases are unknown and come randomly.
- Each disease is different and the time between the disease may also vary.
- It is also important for the parents to get prepared every time for any new changes happening in the body.
- If you know your child has been exposed to a vaccine-preventable disease, you should learn what symptoms to look for and get ready for urgent medical care.
- Unfortunately, you need to keep your child separate from other children, including family members, especially newborn babies and the people with weak immune systems or chronic disease.
Why parents delay vaccination
Above all, poverty could be one of the reasons. But surprisingly,a small study did find that children above the poverty level are more likely to observe than those are below.
However, the reason behind the delay in vaccinations of these children is not very serious.
In addition, sometimes parents are making their own mind sets and decisions about vaccinations whether they are important or not.
Moreover, it happens due to lack of knowledge.
Is there any side-effect of the vaccines
Yes, a child can face side-effects after they get a vaccine. Children are too sensitive. What happens when they get their first time vaccine is- sometimes they get redness or over their body. Other than this, they also feel fever at low temperatures. These symptoms usually go away in 1or 2 days but sometimes remain for long.