Immunizations: The key to
child health and safety
By Lou DiNicola, MD
When confronted with the challenges of childhood illnesses, auto accidents, poisoning and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), prevention has always been the answer to defeating these problems. To date, we have no effective treatment for polio, measles, mumps, hepatitis B and influenza. Even whooping cough is difficult to detect and treat, and still causes death in children. All of these illnesses are almost always preventable, however, through safe and timely childhood immunizations.
Immunization is the process by which an individual’s immune system becomes fortified against an antigen (material that resembles a disease producing virus or bacteria). Vaccines are antigens that are administered either orally or by injection to turn on the immune system to produce antibodies to prevent disease.
Vaccines were first used over 2000 years ago. Edward Jenner coined the term in 1796 when he discovered that inoculation with cowpox “fooled” the immune system into making antibodies against smallpox, therefore saving millions of lives. Now smallpox has actually been eradicated thanks to the worldwide effort to administer smallpox vaccine.
In the United States alone, it is estimated that more than 14 million children a year thwart diseases through immunizations, preventing more than 33,000 deaths a year.
Recent public “misinformation,” however, has lead to a decrease in the number of children being immunized. This decrease has resulted in:
- A significant measles outbreak in San Diego;
- The highest rate of measles in the United States since 1996;
- An increase in the number of deaths from whooping cough nationally; and
- An eightfold increase in mumps in the United Kingdom.
One thing that has confused parents in their efforts to make good, informed decisions about immunizations has been misleading information about the “negative” effects of vaccines. This misinformation continues despite extensive scientific research and detailed Senate hearings on the safety of immunizations. Couple those findings with the fact that millions of children’s lives are saved every year by immunizations and the decision to not immunize your child puts him or her at risk for preventable diseases that can hospitalize or, in a significant number of cases, result in lifelong complications or even death.
Controversy around immunizations has developed partly because vaccines have reduced the rate of illness so successfully that parents do not see the consequences of these diseases and also partly because of fear in the face of misinformation. What we do know is:
- Immunizations prevent millions of deaths worldwide;
- Immunizations are safe based on extensive recent scientific research;
- Vaccines can be given in significant numbers at one time safely (children’s immune systems have to deal with thousands naturally every day);
- Younger children have better responses to immunizations life long; and
- Delaying vaccines puts your child at significant risk of preventable illnesses.
In the 35 years that I have taken care of children, I have given more than 150,000 antigens and I have never seen a child with a severe, long-lasting negative outcome from vaccines. I have, however, seen more than my share of un-immunized or partially immunized children who have died from preventable diseases and many hundreds who have become quite ill.
Children are the casualties of deciding not to immunize. Centuries of experience are the proof that immunizations work.
Dr. Lou DiNicola of Randolph has been a pediatrician at Gifford Medical Center for more than 30 years. He is the hospital’s past medical director and currently serves as director of network development, specialty clinics and provider recruitment.
To learn more about immunizations, he recommends reading pediatrician Dr. Ari Brown’s book “Baby: Clear Answers & Smart Advice for Your Baby’s First Year.”