Vaccination is a cost effective way of avoiding the spread of diseases, often administered to infants at their tender ages when they are most vulnerable to diseases. It helps boost their immune system while building antibodies for a better protection against the disease causing bacteria. However, the safety of the vaccines is an open debate between concern parents and the Health Organizations, where parents get hesitant towards the vaccinations due to the many uncertainties.
On the other hand, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in combination with The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) are working around the clock to make sure every drug put out there goes through extensive lab testing before its release. The safety and effectiveness of a drug is their mandate, and they pursue it to the core despite how long that takes. It therefore becomes a shocker when a tried, tested and licensed drug goes through numerous scrutiny.
Vaccine hesitancy is the reluctant attitudes parents have towards vaccinations, the refusal to acknowledge the vaccines despite being at their disposal. This nonchalant behavior has since threatened the grand progress the drugs have made over the years of infections and deaths caused by the vaccine preventable diseases.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the hesitancy is slowly becoming a grand global health threat of this, and several years to come. The society is slowly taking backwards steps towards vaccination despite the overwhelming positive evidence at our fingertips. This they say is the reason for the global re-occurrence of the preventable diseases.
Nonetheless, there is never smoke without fire, parents are cognizant of the importance of these vaccinations but remain adamant to them. What could be the reason for this mass hesitancy towards a noble course?
Religious Reasons
One of the most difficult things to do is to dissuade an adult from what he/she believes, when their views are influenced by their religious backgrounds mostly at a time when nearby states are in support of their views, then it becomes hard altering their thoughts. Religious reasons are naturally linked to the parents’ core beliefs making it distinct from other possible reasons.
These decisions are never based on product reviews or ignorance but rather well calculated and intentional choices influenced by the staunch conviction. It is easier for anyone propelled by religious reasons to completely turn down all the vaccines available.
According to study done in New York State, school vaccinations have the highest number of exemptions due to the religious reasons; this has prompted the lawmakers to put measures in place to make vaccination a basic requirement for every student. It is sad enough that parents do not want immunization for their children but using the nebulous loophole of religion is a hit below the belt.
Personal Beliefs
Personal belief is a greater part of our thinking, while we may hope on many states that practice vaccination, some hang on the loose thread in support of the few that are against it. The healthcare practitioners may champion for vaccination and help in spreading awareness but when the mind says no to it, it takes a personal belief restructure to make a parent reconsider their stand. As weird as it may sound some parents also believe that their children should contract certain disease before they become immune to it in the future. Natural immunity to them is more effective than the vaccine induced immunity.
Any parent who harbors such beliefs is one you don’t take preventable diseases seriously, they view the vaccines as extra chemicals injected into their child’s body. They equally believe that high immunity is built from a healthy diet and lifestyle.
Safety Concerns
This is potentially the greatest and main reason parents stay away from vaccinations. The concerns are mainly based on the information they bump into along the media streets and various conversations. The massive information has made them constantly bombarded with different people’s opinion on vaccination, this is sometimes extremely overwhelming, and hard to decipher for a well thought decision.
It’s funny how the numerous reports that are meant to educate end up causing serious uncertainties about vaccines. Another research done in New York State shows that the most commonly established reason for evading vaccination is always a reaction from a miss informed third party.
It would be safer if a parent consulted a doctor instead of an “experienced” parent causing fear of the unknown. The developed fear then becomes the beginning of procrastination towards vaccination.
Many parents chose to delay vaccination as a way of protecting their children; they feel that the simultaneous administration of the vaccines may corrode the child’s immune system. While you may see this as a misconception, they believe the side effects are beyond what the physical eye sees.
Desire for Additional Education
Another reason parents are hesitant towards vaccines is the desire for more information, they want to be intellectually informed about what they are getting into. There is dire need for more sensitization on what vaccination entails and its importance to the children, being under informed keeps parents in limbo.
Study shows that most parents obliged to immunization as a routine check without knowing the benefits concealed in the package, also this is probably the reason many parents never follow suit with the remaining 5 vaccinations after the government support program roles out. It is because they know nothing about them.
Information is power and not every parent has access to the right information portrayed in a factual manner, the few who do are lucky to have the know-how but those who don’t remain oblivious of the benefits of vaccination. It is easier to stay away from what you do not know than run away from what you know.
In summary …
Amidst the fears lies a concerned parent who wants nothing but the best for her child. Vaccination is a certified activity that will not harm but instead secure your child from the vaccine preventing diseases. The decision to either vaccinates your child or not is purely in your hands, but before you make it please note that not vaccinating is a bigger risk than your uncertainty. I believe you wouldn’t want to sanely harm your child and also expose your family members to diseases that can be prevented. Prevention they say is better than cure, also note that in some cases there is never cure. So to prevent or not to, starts and ends with you.
Have you ever second guessed when it comes to vaccines? Share your thoughts with other parents