When it comes to keeping your child healthy, preventive medicine is one of the most important ways to ensure they’re far less likely to develop certain childhood conditions. One of the easiest, most effective forms of preventive medicine is getting vaccinated.
Routine childhood vaccines are effective, safe, and important for helping strengthen your child’s developing immune system. Find out from Rainilda Valencia, MD, board-certified pediatrician at Valencia Pediatrics in Victorville, California, some of the common myths that surround these vaccines and the accurate reality behind these myths.
There’s currently no identified link between children developing autism and childhood vaccinations. Doctors haven’t identified the cause of autism, but several research studies show getting vaccinated doesn’t increase your child’s risk.
A study conducted in 1997 suggested a possible link between the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine and autism, but that study has since been disproven repeatedly. In reality, children with autism usually show symptoms well before they receive the MMR vaccine.
Attempting to make your child immune to childhood illnesses is far more dangerous than any potential benefit they might get from gaining immunity from having the illness. Your child has a far higher risk of dying from these measures than having any complications from the associated vaccine.
Childhood vaccines are a significantly safer approach than catching illnesses like measles and give your child more than ample protection.
There’s no evidence that it’s possible to overwhelm an infant’s immune system by getting multiple vaccines. Instead, your child’s immune system and response are strengthened by receiving these vaccines.
There’s no evidence vaccines will make your child ill, contain any ingredients that cause side effects, or cause long-term health problems. Getting vaccinated also won’t cause your child to catch the illness they’re being vaccinated against.
Side effects from vaccines are very minor and might cause your child to feel soreness in their arm or have redness where they got the injection for a day or so after receiving the vaccine.
Herd immunity is the concept that nearly everyone won’t be able to get certain illnesses because most of the population is vaccinated. This concept benefits the minute number of children who can’t get vaccines for health reasons.
However, when healthy children don’t get vaccinated, this reduces the number of vaccinated individuals in the community. This puts your child at greater risk of getting the disease from other unvaccinated people and is especially dangerous for immunocompromised members of your community.
Our team is here to assist you in keeping your child on track to get vaccinated against dangerous viruses. If you have any questions or concerns about getting your child vaccinated, Dr. Valencia, Micaela Marin-Tucker, PA-C, and Megan Reynolds, C-PNP, are here to educate and support you.
We’re trained to work with children as well as administer childhood vaccines and provide compassionate, skilled care. To schedule routine childhood vaccinations for your child, call our office to make an appointment.
