Essay On Childhood Immunization

According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (2017), vaccination programs rely on herd immunity to prevent outbreaks of diseases. With the intention of protecting the community, the aim is to get most members vaccinated. This will reduce the chances of person to-person transmission because there is little opportunity for outbreak. Herd immunization protects children who are not eligible for certain vaccines such as infants, pregnant women, not fully immunized or cannot get immunized due to medical contraindications (Duffy & Ragan, 2012).
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Per Recame (2012) in a survey of 203 parents on reasons for avoiding vaccinations the answer of fear of side effects was the most common answer. Additionally,
Hundreds of hours of time went into investigation to either confirm or dispute this hypothesis (Embree, 2004). According to a 2005 study by Zhou et al (2005) every $1 spent on the childhood series of seven vaccines (DTap, Td, Hib, polio, MMR, hepatitis B and varicella) saves $16.50 of medical spending later. “Routine childhood vaccinations with these seven vaccines resulted in annual cost savings of $9.9 billion in direct medical costs and an additional $33.4 billion in indirect cost savings (Zhou et al.,
Many parents feel that they know what’s best when handling their child. They usually make their decisions with their child’s best interest at heart, and when they decide not to vaccinate it is because they feel that is the best option for them. Nurses struggle with the balance of parents deciding not based on research and performing the principle of beneficence. If nurses view current research concluding the benefits of immunizations outweighs the risks, yet are not able to provide the best care for children due to parent’s viewpoints, makes it challenging as nurses to do their