WebParenTips - The Online Parenting Newsletter
              vol.7 no.5, May 2006

       ARE YOUR KIDS FULLY IMMUNIZED?

Some scary things are going on. Epidemics of childhood diseases we had already
conquered with public health measures like vaccinations, hygiene, safe water
and food, adequate housing, and public awareness campaigns are popping up. And
not just in Africa or other third world sites but right here in the USA.

Cases of pertussis (whooping cough) in the US went from 1060 in 1976 to more
than 25, 000 in 2004. Pertussis as a dreadful disease that not only can kill
but nearly always makes the infected child miserable for a long time. And it is
COMPLETELY PREVENTABLE.

Not only kids get pertussis. Half of the case reported in 2004 occurred in
adolescents from 11-18 so that the American Academy of Pediatrics is
recommending universal immunization of 11-year- olds and catch-up vaccination
of older adolescents. Even old folks like me in the health professions, or
teachers, or just ordinary grandparents can catch pertussis from an
un-immunized and infected child. Yes we were all immunized but we are living
longer and the protective effects of the shots we had many years ago wear off.

Why don?t parents get their kids immunized? The old reasons still pertain:
ignorance of the necessity, no money for health care, being overwhelmed with
family or personal problems and unable to mobilize themselves and get their
kids to the clinic.

But there is also a new reason: parents, often highly educated, decide they
don?t want their children immunized. Why? These parents think the vaccines
are not safe and they do not wish to subject their children to what they
consider is a risk. In one sense they are right, everything we do is risky.
Putting your baby in the car carries risk even when baby is snug in an approved
child restraint. Life itself is risky.

But the scariest and riskiest thing I can imagine is not immunizing our
children. This means going back to the horrible child mortality rates of
yesteryear, to watching our kids suffer through the morbidity of measles or
whooping cough. Just as in Africa our kids will be so sick they are vulnerable
to other diseases. Been listening to the news about avian flu? Believe me you
don?t want your child to be debilitated if and when bird flu that comes to
your town.

Still worried about the risk of immunizations? Ask your doctors whether or not
their own kids are immunized. Mine were and my grandchildren are. We doctors
don?t take chances with our own kids? lives.
    
Happy Parenting,
Marilyn Heins, M.D.


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Dr. Marilyn Heins is a Tucson pediatrician, parenting
columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, author of the book,
ParenTips, as well as a mother, stepmother and grandmother.

She is available for workshops and lectures to groups of
parents, teachers, and grandparents. See: Dr. Heins' Lectures
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More parenting information can be found in Dr. Heins' book, ParenTips