About 87% of children months are vaccinated. This includes measles, polio, tetanus and a few others.
This is a pretty good statistic. The majority of people are vaccinating their kids. Vaccines are a form of prevention. They make it possible for a child to develop immunity to some pretty terrible diseases.
What happens to the 13% of children that don’t get vaccinated? Do they die? Or become seriously ill?
Death or illness is always a possibility. And an infectious child could spread the disease to others who are not immune. Adults can be more at risk when exposed to childhood illnesses.
This can cause an outbreak. We had an outbreak in December last year at Disneyland. On February 9 of 2015 there were 121 cases of the measles. All stemming from one child in Disneyland.
These outbreaks are what happen when people decide that it is not important to vaccinate their children. They might decide this because of the opinion of family members, or because of an article online which might not be very reliable. Some may even decide not to vaccinate because the government has told us we need to.
Whatever the reason, it does not matter. People can still get sick because someone didn’t vaccinate their child.
Some might say, “But wait, measles isn’t around anymore.” Just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has live viruses that they use for testing. This can help them make better vaccines and understand any virus more fully.
Vaccines are very important. They may seem like no big deal, but they can and do save lives. People need to vaccinate their children.
Credits Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web. 31 March Kohn, Sally. "I Didn't Vaccinate My Child and I Regret It". The Daily Beast 3 February Print. Phillip, Abby. "Obama to Parents Doubting 'Indisputable' Science: 'Get Your Kids Vaccinated'". Washington Post 2 February Print. Ropeik, David. "Vilifying Parents Who Don't Vaccinate Their Kids Is Counterproductive". n.p. 2 Feb Web.