By Brittany Toms – [email protected] – Contributor | March 25, 2015 |
Parents are beginning to question themselves.
The recent measles outbreak have parents debating whether vaccinating their children is a good idea, but most still agree it’s the best way to go.
One student, a senior atmospheric sciences major from Dahlonega, Georgia, said he believes all children should be vaccinated to prevent future illnesses.
“These things are in place for a reason,” Kenneth Webb said. “And the FDA and CDC also work together as far as getting these vaccinations that you need to have when you’re a kid to make sure it’s not going to happen later on in life.”
Some parents have a fear of vaccinating their children due to speculation that vaccinations are causing disorders, such as autism at an early age, but according to the Centers for Disease Control, this is not the case.
Through a study, the CDC reported that antigens in vaccines help the body’s immune system produce disease-fighting antibodies, and is not connected with autism.
Didylia Coulson, a junior accounting major from Greensboro, said she believes autism begins during pregnancy, not from a vaccination.
Coulson said there is no proof and she is 100 percent sure vaccines are not causing autism.
Lin Thompson, a registered nurse at the UNC Asheville Health and Counseling Center, said she has seen the impact that measles can have on children.
“I’ve seen so many complications from the disease,” Thompson said. “And I took care of children early in my career that had brain inflammation from getting measles and they ended up mentally retarded or with seizures.”
According to the CDC, most measles outbreaks occur in communities where people have not been vaccinated.
The virus in the United States has been eradicated for the most part, Thompson said, but for people who have not been vaccinated, the illness tends to recur.
The CDC reported that an estimated 20 million people get the measles every year worldwide.
“In the 60s, 70s and 80s, one out of 20 children that didn’t get immunized for the measles, mumps, and rubella got pneumonia,” Thompson said. “One to two children out of a thousand died.”
Accounting major Coulson said this should be an easy problem to address. It comes back to vaccinating kids.
“It’s preventing our kids from spreading diseases amongst each other in school, public places, and wherever they’re going,” Coulson said. “So I think I would advise any parent to give their kids vaccines.”