Hepatitis B infection can cause chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis, paralysis polio; Tetanus is often a serious and fatal disease; Rubella when suffered by a pregnant woman can cause deafness or mental retardation in the baby. Others such as whooping cough or measles can leave sequels for a lifetime. We are talking about serious infectious diseases for which effective treatments are not available, but which can be avoided by vaccines.
Thanks to vaccines, smallpox was eradicated worldwide, it is on track to eliminate polio and measles, diphtheria is controlled and cases of other diseases that can be avoided by vaccination show a decrease.
Vaccines are substances that make it possible for those who receive them to make defenses against a series of infectious diseases, even if they do not have them. They have the power to individually protect the person who is vaccinated, but in addition, most of them also protect the group by avoiding or decreasing the risk of epidemics by individually protecting the unvaccinated. Vaccines included in the calendar of childhood vaccinations are assured of their effectiveness and safety, backed by the experience of their use for decades around the world and by the control of acquisition and distribution conditions used by all official vaccination points.
The possible undesirable effects that vaccines can produce are usually mild and disappear without leaving sequels or injuries. It is common, for example, a small pain, mild fever, malaise, which will not be significant.
Exceptionally there may be cases of side effects or of greater consideration and severity, such as encephalitis, neurological lesions among some, but these effects appear much less frequently than the fatal complications of diseases that vaccines avoid. For this reason there are also vaccine detractors.
By vaccinating our children we protect their health and that of others. I do not even want to imagine what would be the contagions of illnesses in kindergartens if my son was sick every week when he was in it.
Remember that this text is for training and informational purposes only. If you have any questions, ask your doctor.
Source: Children's Saúde Primer. Xunta de Galicia.
