Infant/ Child Immunization vs. No Immunization

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TOPIC: INFANT/CHILD IMMUNIZATION Vs NO IMMUNIZATION
Immunization is the process of bolstering the body’s immune system against foreign particles like disease-causing agents, for example, bacteria and viruses. The environment surrounding infants holds different micro-organisms potentially lethal to an infant’s system or functioning. Immunization serves to improve the system’s defense mechanism against such by identifying the organisms and appropriate action is taken. The vaccine used in immunization is a weakened form of the lethal micro-organism introduced into the body either through injection or as pills. The body’s defense mechanism will identify them as foreign matter that should be deleted from the system. Antibodies will be formed against this weakened form and will eventually be removed from the system CITATION She06 \l 1033 (Shendurnikar N. & Agrawal, 2006). In the course of fighting against these organisms, the body will also keep a ‘copy’ of the micro-organism for subsequent interactions or infections. The system will, therefore, become acquainted with this weakened microorganism and will, therefore, be protected against its disease or effects. The advantages of infant immunization have wider scope: to us as parents and to the community.
Immunization of infants is a preferred choice of risking the real infection or the disease. Infants’ body is very vulnerable to disease-causing agents. It can be compared to a new product or machine; one will face difficulties trying to operate it for the first time, but the degree of complexity reduces as experienced is earned. Infants should be immunized at the early stages to prevent fatal infections in subsequent ages if they were not vaccinated against that disease. The recommended age is two years and should be done routinely. Vaccines are scrutinized thoroughly before being released to the public; thus they are safe for use and an infant’s body cannot be overwhelmed by the use of more than one vaccine. They are continually monitored and improved to bolster their effectiveness and their side effects are unheard of. It’s often said: it’s much safer to get the vaccine than the disease. This has reduced the prevalence of diseases such as smallpox which is almost unheard of. Consider the data from the Public Health Agency of the US,
DISEASE

Vaccine Introducti-on

Pre-Vaccine Period

Pre-Vaccine Period


2007-2011





5-year occurrence/100000

Peak annual Occurrence


5-year occurrence/100000

Peak annual occurrence


Diphtheria

1926

1925-1929

84.2

9 010

0.006

4

Measles

1963

1950-1954

372.7

61 370

0.60

752

Hepatitis B

1990s

1989-1993

9.1

3 378

5.3

2 011

Poliomyelitis

1955

1950-1954

17.5

5 384

0

0

This data clearly shows the decreased number of cases of diseases usually immunized at the birth after the introduction of vaccination. The polio cases were rare after the immunization against the disease was introd...