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Why does my child need to be vaccinated for diseases that no one gets anymore?
Do vaccines always work?
Do vaccines really make a difference?
What would happen if my child didn’t get these shots?
Does my child need to be vaccinated if everyone else is anyway?
How does my child getting vaccinated affect anyone else? It’s my choice.
Why does my child need to be vaccinated for diseases that no one gets anymore?
These diseases may be rare in the US, but they aren’t gone. There are still reports of diseases, like diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, and measles, occurring in the US each year. Why risk your child being one of them?
If we stopped vaccinating, these serious diseases could become common again in the US. They could make many children sick and may result in death, just as they did before we started using vaccines. Some of these diseases kill people in other countries that don’t have vaccination programs like the US.
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Do vaccines always work?
Vaccines work most of the time. At least nine out of 10 kids who are vaccinated get immunity to the disease. But sometimes a child doesn’t respond to a vaccine and so doesn’t get immunity. In those cases, the child can still be safe if the people around him or her are vaccinated.
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Do vaccines really make a difference?
Yes. Thanks to vaccines, we have already wiped out one deadly disease. Smallpox used to kill millions of people each year. Now, because of a vaccine, it’s gone.
In 1954, the year before the first polio vaccine was introduced, there were more than 18,000 cases of paralyzing polio reported in the US. Today, there are no cases reported in the US. That’s mostly thanks to a vaccine.
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What would happen if my child didn’t get these shots?
No one can know for sure. But, if your son or daughter is exposed to any of these diseases, then he or she runs the same risk that people ran before vaccines were developed. That is, sickness and possibly death.
Look at it this way. If you drove your baby around without a car seat, maybe he or she would be okay. But is it worth the risk? Not having your child vaccinated is like not having a car seat. It’s a risk you don’t need to take.
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Does my child need to be vaccinated if everyone else is anyway?
Yes, your child runs a lower risk of getting sick from a vaccine-preventable disease if everyone around him/her has been vaccinated. But it can still happen. A disease can be brought in by people visiting from other countries.
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How does my child getting vaccinated affect anyone else? It’s my choice.
The health of our whole society depends on everyone getting vaccinated. If we all keep getting vaccinated, over time we may wipe out some diseases forever. But, if we stopped vaccinating, then these deadly diseases could become common again.
Also keep in mind that some people, like those with some medical conditions, can’t get certain vaccinations. Others just may not respond to a vaccine. These people are at risk. Their safety depends on the health of the people around them. If almost everyone around them is vaccinated, they will probably be safe. But, if those around them aren’t vaccinated, a disease could spread and they could catch it.
Getting vaccinated is your choice. But it’s also a responsibility to the world we live in.
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