Immunization for Kids and Dogs

My last blog entry focused upon the thousands and thousands of women who died giving birth. What I didn't say was many of the children who were born healthy later died of the various diseases. For centuries children were not protected by medical advances that developed immunizations against these killers.

Although childhood immunizations have prevented the agony and deaths of untold millions, here in Sonoma County, California a great debate has emerged regarding the safety of giving childhood vaccinations. In some parts of Sonoma County as high as 50% of children do not get the preventive inoculation.


Fear of Autism

Although it has been proven that the shots do not cause autism, some people still believe they cause it. The rate of autism has shot through the roof, but the actual cause of this rise may be due to more accurate diagnosis. As a school psychologist, I found tremendous resistance to bringing up this diagnosis with parents and other professionals in the field. Thus many of the children I believed had autistic characteristics were left undiagnosed. After the motion picture Rainman came out, reducing the stigma of autism, many parents who had a child with poor communication and social interaction skills wanted the previously feared diagnosis. In addition, 30 to 40 years ago professionals believed autism was caused by what they called,"refrigerator parents." Of course parents feared the pronouncement that they were so cold and uncaring their child developed poor language development and inadequate interpersonal skills.

Today, the parents are not being blamed for their child's autism (a neurological disorder that is probably genetic) and funds and special education programs are provided for children with this label. There are now parent support groups providing education tips for a family who has an autistic child. The result of these changes has allowed many more children to receive a rightly deserved diagnosis of autism. Thus the rate of autism has risen.

Lack of Information about past childhood diseases:

Since many children have been immunized for childhood diseases there is often a herd protection for children who do get measles, mumps, diphtheria, polio and other killers of kids. Thus the general population tends to forget the tragic consequences of catching these diseases.

I remember my Grandmother telling about her little brother dying of diphtheria when he was two years old. He was not the only one. Every child two and younger died in her small town, during this outbreak.

Before Polio shots were developed almost thirty thousand children caught this tragic disease every year.

Before I wrote this opinion, I looked it up on the Internet. What I found was a wild mixture of truths and myths. Any parent doing research of the safety of vaccines should be thoroughly confused after reading the pros and cons.

One thing I know for sure, my two Chihuahuas get their shots every year. They never get sick. My daughter also received her childhood vaccines as prescribed by her physician. She never caught any of the killer diseases. However, I did not receive a measles vaccine. When I was 30 years old I caught measles. At first I got the typical rash and fever. Then my joints swelled up. I could not go to work for a month. Very scary.

Copyright 2009 Sharon Porter Moxley