Is Vaccinating Your Child The Right Thing For Them?

Vaccinations have been around for centuries, the first reported vaccine was in 1798 as a possible treatment for smallpox. Hundreds of years have passed and more and more people believed in the power of vaccination, especially for children.

Fast forward to today, less and less people, or parents, are getting themselves or their children vaccinated due to the many studies that have come out about their effects. Ask your pediatrician about these effects.

Although it is essential to vaccinate for some diseases, some other common ones may not be as deadly or hard to deal with as in the past. Here are a few reasons for getting vaccinated in Qatar.

Reasons Behind Vaccinations Today

A vaccine is essentially an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism being injected into the immune system to help it fight the disease when it occurs. This is why sometimes when you receive your vaccinations, you get a little sick as your body is fighting the agent the same way it would fight the actual disease if it were to come. Now that you are vaccinated against it, if or when that disease comes, your body is ready to fight it, or can be already immune to it, so you are not affected at all.

Infant vaccinations

An infant, especially newborns need to get some very essential vaccinations to kick start their immune system. Although many believe that everyone is born with a certain way to fight diseases, scientific evidence suggests that infants that have received regular vaccinations are more likely to have stronger immune systems and get sick less often. Here are just some of the most important vaccines for your newborn:

• HepB: protects against infections of the liver, hepatitis B.
• RV: protects against a disease called rotavirus, which causes diarrhea
• DTaP: protects against tetanus, pertussis (whopping cough) and diphtheria
• Hib: protects against an infection causing bacterial meningitis
• PCV: protects against several diseases
• IPV: protects against polio
• Influenza (flu): protects against the flu.
• MRR: protects against mumps, measles, and rubella (German measles)
• Varicella: protects against chickenpox.
• HepA: protects against hepatitis A

Ask your pediatrician about the best times and locations to getting these essential vaccinations. Follow an immunization schedule. Providing you with a vaccination card to follow Qatar’s immunization schedules, is also important.

School immunizations

Preparing to go back to school? It is essential to understand the importance of vaccinations. Your child is entering a whole new area of germs and diseases. However, the myth that you believe about the fact that if you choose not to vaccinate your child, he/she will be the only ones affected is completely false. Un-vaccinated children who get sick from any of the diseases listed can actually infect other children who are not vaccinated as well. It can also affect children with naturally weaker immune systems.

Some of the most important vaccines required before starting school are:

• HepB
• MRR – second dose
• Influenza (flu) as flu season can run from September through May, including allergy seasons.

Check with your pediatrician for follow up vaccines required for back to school.

Disease prevention

DTaP is given as a booster for teens. Adults can receive many vaccinations against different types of flus and new diseases. However, be careful, try and find a vaccination center qualified in **determining the need for these vaccines before receiving them.  **

Vaccines given to children over the past two decades will prevent 322 million illnesses, 21 million hospitalizations, and 732,000 deaths according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Less and less vaccines now contain chemicals, and are significantly reducing diseases worldwide. Vaccines save about 8 million lives each year and according to the WHO, are estimated to be only 2-3% of the total pharmaceutical market of the world. Which means they are not just after money, it really does save lives!

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