Immunization
Immunization protects children not only from diseases but also from serious complications, including deafness, blindness, sterility, and meningitis (Berger, 2009). As a director of an early childhood program, I often have families who have questioned whether or not they should immunize their child according to the recommended vaccine schedule and sometimes they questioned whether they should immunize their child at all. The American Academy of Pediatrics believes that vaccines are one of the most successful medical advances of all time. Yet there are still several parents who elect to not have their child vaccinated either at all or through a delayed vaccination schedule. As an administrator, I have had parents question if their child is at risk because some children are not being immunized. I am able to reassure these families that the child who is immunized is not at risk, however the families who opt out of immunizations are placing their children at risk of acquiring a disease which is preventable through immunizations. One reason why some families choose to not immunize according to the recommended schedule is because it is believed that immunizations are one of the main causes of autism, even though this hypothesis has been repeatedly disproved (Berger, 2009).
Immunizations are an important topic to me because I am responsible for the health and safety of all the children in our program. It is important that I am able to communicate the risk factors to the parents of the children in my care and help them to make educated decisions regarding immunizations not only for the health of their child, but also for the health of all the children who are cared for in our school. It is sad that there are still so many children around the world that die each year because vaccines are not readily available for widespread use (Berger, 2009).
References:
Berger, K.S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers
Children's Health Topics, retrieved from www.aap.org/healthtopics/immunizations.cfm on November 12th, 2011.
About Me
- Angella Hart
- Hello! My name is Angella Hart. I have worked in field of early childhood for over 20 years now. I began my career teaching in a childcare center, I later owned and operated my own home childcare, then returned to center-based care through a Head Start program. In 2000 I left Head Start to begin working as a case manager for the State of Florida with children and their families who are at risk of abuse and neglect. In 2002 I moved to the northeast after accepting a position as Director of Early Childhood and Youth Development working with low income families of refugees and immigrants. In 2006 I had the opportunity to open a brand new Nationally Franchised childcare center closer to my home. Here I worked closely with the owners of the school and the corporate office in order to open and run a successful school. In 2010, I returned to Florida and I continued to work for the same national franchised school, under a different owner. Im am extremely happy to be back in warmer climate with my 3 sons (young men) who are all over 18.
5 comments:
Angella,
Many people continue to believe that immunizations are partially to blame for the growing cases of autism. I’ll admit that I was, at one time, one of those people. The more resources that I read, the more the thought is disproved.
Arica
I would be interested in reading the resources you found on autism and immunizations Arica. I haven't read anything compelling either way, but, I too have questioned the effectiveness and long term effects of some of our most basic immunizations.
I enjoyed your post. I've never had problems with immunizations, but I understand there are parents out their who need to be educated about the importance and discounting the myths.
Don't children need to be immunized when they start school? i would like to hear more about this topic.
i would like to know more about this topic. Don't children have to be immunized before they can start school?
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