Vaccines are substances used to provide immunity against one or several diseases. So why are new parents so resistant to vaccines?
What’s The Issue?
Sickness is a dangerous thing. Many sicknesses out in the world are known for causing dangers such as nausea, infections, emotional stress and even death. And so vaccines were created in response. From the Oxford Dictionary: “Vaccines are substances used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against one or several diseases…”.
Knowing this, you would think everyone would want vaccines for themselves and their children. However, there’s a lot of people who would disagree even though numerous scientific studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing ASD and other illnesses. If it has been proven that they do not cause diseases, why do people still refuse to give their child vaccines? Parents’ hesitation to vaccinate their children is not rare at all. In fact, experts say it’s more likely that parents refuse vaccines with over 60 percent of new parents expressing hesitations but are willing to be persuaded. Beyond that, between 5 and 10 percent of new parents who are completely resistant to any vaccine. Why?
That’s where doctors come in. “Healthline spoke to 20 parents who fall into that vaccine-hesitant 60 percent. We asked them to explain their concerns and to bring us their questions.”
Many people believe the main reason for this could be an old debunked research claiming that MMR vaccines could lead to autism. It sounds unbelievable, but when surveyed, none of the parents mentioned that as an actual concern. Instead, the reasons why they were worried included religion issues or questionable information they found online.
Another concern parents voiced was the idea of overloading children’s immune systems with too many vaccines at once. Dr. O’Leary explains, “The immune system responds to thousands of things every day, so the amount of proteins that it responds to in a vaccine is a drop in the bucket… You are being exposed to far more antigens in your daily life than you are from vaccines.”
It’s important to have young children get their vaccines as soon as possible, because many of these diseases are a lot more severe for children of young age.
WHat Information Can YOu Trust?
Finding credible resources is vitally important for parents who may have questions or concerns. L.J. Tan, chief strategy officer of the Immunization Action Coalition (IAC), recommended Vaccinate Your Family and the Vaccine Education Center for parents who might have questions they’d like answers to before their next pediatrician appointment.
Rebekah Ficco, a new parent, said “her biggest regret is that she allowed her earlier choices about vaccinations to be guided by fear instead of science.”
“The biggest thing I’ve learned in this journey is that correlation does not equal causation, and to really consider the source of what you’re reading before you take anything as fact.”
Jerry Carter – DMSF
De LaSalle Institute