A mid the chaos and controversy surrounding the COVID-19 vaccination, I would like to revisit the question as to why we vaccinate at all… I must start out by saying we do not vaccinate because we like torturing your children with injections, in fact quite the opposite! (I remember vaccinating my first born… yikes! I cried more them him… by the second, I was holding her legs down… sorry Avery!) We vaccinate our kids (and ourselves) to protect everyone from horrific diseases and complications associated with those diseases. Check out these astounding benefits of science and what vaccinations do to change morbidity and mortality PER YEAR in the United States: Polio: through this vaccine 10,000 children PER YEAR are NOT paralyzed and 3,000 do not die. Rubella: Although, this causes a mild disease; is it is the most harmful virus to a pregnant female, 20,000 newborn babies PER YEAR are not born with congenital rubella syndrome, which can lead to developmental disability, blindness, and hearing loss. Measles: We would expect to see 12,000 measles related deaths per year without the measles vaccine. (By the way, STILL CAUSES DEATH IN 500,000 people per year in the world!) Influenza: 7 million cases of influenza avoided with vaccination, while 110,000 less hospitalizations, and 9,000 less deaths PER YEAR See, vaccines are amazing, and this doesn’t even cover all of them! We are so blessed to live in this great country that makes vaccines available to our people. Vaccines have been around and saving lives for many years, I get the hesitancy for the COVID-19 vaccine, its new and was developed rapidly. However, the speed at which it was developed does not mean steps were skipped in the process. The government really took out all the stops by providing adequate funding and resources so the companies could research, develop, and test the vaccine in a timely manner. Just like the diseases above, COVID-19 is scary and many individuals have been debilitated and died as a result! Disease related risk is greater than vaccine related risk, hands down, bar none, every time. Consider getting vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine if you have not already done so. For more information visit: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/tools/parents-guide/index.html
Why We Immunize