UK Paediatrician Aston Robert, who is also
a consultant in Public Health and Vaccinations, once said: “vaccinations have
probably made a greater contribution than any other medical intervention
towards the reduction in the human burden of suffering and premature death,
especially among children. He stresses that the objective of
immunisations/vaccinations is preventive.
In other words, while they help to prevent certain diseases, they cannot
prevent the consequences of disease.
And it’s the consequences of these common
childhood illnesses that we want to avoid. For example, babies and young
children who become infected with measles are left with a damaged immune system
that takes a full two years to recover. This exposes them to other infections
they may normally have recovered from quite easily e.g. a cold that becomes
pneumonia. Paediatricians agree that with the recent rise in superbugs and
their resistance to antibiotics, immunising has become top priority.
Having worked for a short while at a home
for mentally and physically disabled adults and children, I learned by reading
their medical files, that many had become disabled as the result of severe
meningitis or the complications of measles.
Those who argue against immunisations
include writer Johan Jacobs (Joy magazine, January 2017) who questions the
safety of vaccinations, claiming that the human race survived for thousands of years
without them, and that by vaccinating their children, parents are not putting
their trust in God.
Parents also worry about the link between
the MMR vaccine and autism as a result of an inaccurate paper published by Andrew
Wakefield, a former British gastroenterologist and medical researcher, in 1998.
Since then, many parents worldwide have refused to have their children
immunised, and this has resulted in some serious outbreaks of measles, mumps
and rubella.
Many neuroscientists studying autism today
believe that this condition could be as a result of insufficient or abnormal
‘prenatal brain pruning’ that happens before birth. ‘Brain pruning’ is when
unnecessary, and un-used brain cells are eliminated. This occurs three times before
adulthood - before birth, in later childhood and early adolescence. This means
that Autism is a condition that a baby is born with and is not something that
parents or health-care professionals are responsible for.
In South Africa, it’s compulsory to have a completed
vaccination certificate before children are allowed to start school. In a
country where TB and infectious diseases are amongst the highest in the world,
and where understaffed and underbudgeted health care services are overwhelmed
by numbers, parents need to take advantage of every available opportunity to
protect their children from infectious diseases that can rob them of their
health and vitality.
How
does nature help to protect your baby against disease?
The good news is that Mother Nature has put some protective mechanisms
against infections for the new born.
Here’s how:
• At about five months into the pregnancy,
the baby inherits his/her mother’s antibodies. Called immunoglobulins, these
offer some protection against infections like diphtheria, polio, tetanus,
measles and mumps.
• Natural birth exposes the baby to the mother’s good skin bacteria that, when
colonised, become the building blocks of the baby’s immune system.
• Breast-fed babies benefit from the extra protection of live antibodies,
proteins and immune cells only found in MOM (Mothers Own Milk).
When making an informed choice about
vaccinating your baby, the benefits must outweigh the risks. For example, where
there are known family allergies and where there is the risk of anaphylactic
shock (which is extremely rare) parents should be advised by their paediatrician
whether or not to immunise, or to delay immunizations.
Keep a record of your baby’s immunisations
and follow-up dates. Keep an eye on your baby’s reaction to immunisations.
There is the possibility of symptoms such as mild fever, tenderness or redness
at the injection site. All immunisations at government facilities in South
Africa are free. There is a fee if these are done privately.
For more information about the side-effects
of immunisations, go to ‘Adverse Effects Following Immunisation (AEFI)’.
