Professional Documents
Culture Documents
cases of polio in 17 countries in 2006. Currently, polio has been eliminated from the
Western hemisphere and from the European and Western Pacific regions (Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, 2008). Smallpox, an acute infectious disease caused
by the Variola viruses, was one of the worlds most feared diseases until it was
eradicated in 1979 by an extensive global vaccination program led by the World Health
Organization. Prior to its elimination, smallpox caused death in as many as 30 percent
of those infected. Highly contagious, it threatened 60 percent of the worlds population.
Due to aggressive vaccination programs, the last known natural case of smallpox
occurred in 1977 in Somalia and the last death from smallpox occurred in 1978 following
a laboratory accident in England. Today, the last known strains of the viruses are
contained in one of two laboratories in the world one in the United States and one in
Russia (World Health Organization, 2008). Haemophilus Influenzae type B (Hib) was
the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in United States infants in children
before the Hib vaccine was made available. One in every 200 U.S. children under the
age of 5 contracted Hib meningitis and it killed up to 600 children each year while
leaving many survivors with deafness, seizures, or mental retardation. Once the Hib
vaccine was introduced in 1987, the incidence of Hib has declined by 98 percent; there
were less than 10 fatal cases of Hib meningitis reported from 1994 to 1998 (Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, 2008).
Unfortunately, the viruses and bacteria that cause these diseases, and many
others, still exist and can be contracted by people who were not immunized. It is very
important for nurses and doctors alike to ensure that parents and caregivers are given
proper information regarding the importance of vaccinating their children. Though most
parents believe in the benefits of immunization for their children, it is possible for health
care providers to encounter parents who question the need for or safety of childhood
vaccines. Myths such as vaccines cause autism, the mercury in vaccines harm
children, and Hepatitis B vaccines cause SIDS can cause parents to choose to delay
or forgo immunizing their children with some or all of the recommended vaccines
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008).
To assist parents in making fully informed decisions, nurses should try to
understand differing views of vaccine risks and benefits and be prepared to respond
effectively to concerns and questions. Prior to teaching parents about the benefits and
risks of vaccinating their children, the nurse must first assess the parents readiness to
learn. Barriers to communication must be identified and addressed. The nurse must
also be aware of appropriate routes of administration for each vaccine and educate
accordingly. While most immunizations administered parenterally, certain
immunizations are given subcutaneously while others are administered intramuscularly
aspect of the teaching poster is organization. Keeping the poster organized makes the
information more easily understood. Allowing peers to review the efficacy of the poster
enables the nurse to gain feedback. Anonymous comments such as Good use of color
and graphs and Like that you indicated this is for 2008 can be helpful for future
projects.
Having your child vaccinated helps the community to stay healthier, because
there are some that cannot be vaccinated, either for medical reasons, or that they are
too old or still to young. Vaccines are held to the highest standard of safety.
(Importance of Childhood Vaccinations. 2007) In the end, the only real argument to have
your vaccinations is that they keep you healthy, but does there need to be anymore
reason than that? I believe that children should have their childhood vaccinations. It
keeps everyone a little safer than if they didnt have them. Before vaccinations came
along, hundreds of people died from what we call today simple diseases or childhood
diseases, all because they didnt have the vaccinations that we have today. They use to
have plagues, and I for one do not want something like that to happen again. Medical
research has come along way and I fully believe that we should advantage of it and its
offerings. In my opinion if every child was vaccinated then sickness and diseases will
become less and less, like they have been over the past few hundred years.