Child Vaccination Research Paper

The Race to Have India’s Children Vaccinated
As the world’s second most populous country, India “is home to one-third of the world’s unimmunized children” (Laxminarayan and Ganguly). Tragically, the majority of children living in India are unimmunized, and with a vast population, preventable diseases spread quickly. India’s government is reluctant to provide new vaccines to the public, and with the low literacy rate in India, more than ten million Indian children are left unvaccinated (Laxminarayan and Ganguly). If the Indian government does not improve the quality of education and vaccination, the child mortality rate due to lack of immunization will continue to rise. Initially, the government needs to provide quality vaccines to Indian citizens
With a focus on eliminating polio from the country, India has not been conducting research on dangerous new diseases and viruses (Patel). Delhi-based journalist Patralekha Chatterjee of BBC news reveals that child vaccination rates are deteriorating due to “low routine immunization coverage, very dense or mobile populations, inadequate sanitation, and poor access to health services” (Chatterjee). If the Indian government were to put more money towards vaccinating the population and taught the public more about sanitation, the child vaccination rate would start to increase (Laxminarayan and Ganguly). Studies show that even in India's poorest states, sanitation presentations helped boost the immunization rate (Coates et al.). As well as the issues with the Indian government, there are also issues regarding maternal health and education, because a mother who is not educated is less likely to vaccinate her children than a mother who has a sufficient education (Subhani et
Quality vaccines are not readily available to the public, which may just be why in a span of three years, ¨the probability of dying before age five fell more than twice as rapidly in Bangladesh and Indonesia as it did in India¨ (Laxminarayan and Ganguly). Next, routine vaccinations are often skipped by Indian citizens because not enough emphasis is being put on the benefits of an immunized child. Finally, proper educations in impoverished areas are scarce and trained medical workers are absent, due to the government's modest spending on healthcare and schooling. The government needs to provide proper educations on the benefits of immunization, or the hesitation towards vaccination will never