Your child. Their future. The choice is yours. North American children are now the most vaccinated on earth. Children receive approximately thirty-three doses of ten vaccinations by age five. Not only do children need a separate vaccine for most diseases (hepatitis B, polio, Hib, and chickenpox are single vaccines; DTaP and MMR are multiple), but they generally need more than one dose of each vaccine. Due to the numerous vaccines needed, vaccination is an extremely controversial topic in the United States today. Whichever side of the road you might fall on regarding your opinion on vaccination, one thing is certain: the choice to vaccinate or not is a decision that has the potential to have a big impact on your health and, more importantly, on your children for the future. rest of their lives. The idea behind vaccines is to provide the body with enough of the disease-causing substance to cause the body to produce antibodies against it. By injecting weak or dead infectious agents through the skin, the body is believed to create the proper immune defense. Newborns come into the world with antibodies they received from their mother through the placenta. Breastfed newborns continue to receive many important antibodies in colostrum (the thick, yellowish milk press that is secreted during the first few days after giving birth) and in breast milk. During the first year of life, the immunity that a baby receives from the mother at birth fades. To help increase the ability to fight certain diseases, vaccines are administered. Once the antibodies have been produced, they stick around, protecting the child from the disease they were designed to fight. Stephanie Cave, a doctor, said the problem many solve... middle of paper... If you wait, the more likely it is that your child's immune system will be able to handle the onslaught with minimal damage." (Sarah). I'm not suggesting we go back to the days without vaccines. But we must seriously address what appears to be a clear link between the epidemic of developmental delays, autoimmune diseases and the growing number of mandatory vaccines. Every parent should know the benefits as well as the dangers associated with each vaccine, each time it is administered. They should know the positive and negative consequences of refusing to vaccinate their children and be informed about how they can obtain exemptions. Additionally, the government, industry, healthcare providers, and parents must come together to carry out the research necessary to determine the safety of these vaccines. The stakes are too high for us to do otherwise.