Friday, September 25, 2009

Information about Vaccines

Welcome to the Vaccine Education Center : Vaccine Education Center - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
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Our resources explain how vaccines work, how they are made, who recommends vaccines, when they should be given, if they are still necessary, and, most importantly, if they are safe.

Vaccines changed medicine
Vaccines have literally transformed the landscape of medicine over the course of the 20th century.

Before vaccines, parents in the United States could expect that every year:

  • Polio would paralyze 10,000 children.
  • Rubella (German measles) would cause birth defects and mental retardation in as many as 20,000 newborns.
  • Measles would infect about 4 million children, killing 3,000.
  • Diphtheria would be one of the most common causes of death in school-aged children.
  • A bacterium called Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) would cause meningitis in 15,000 children, leaving many with permanent brain damage.
  • Pertussis (whooping cough) would kill thousands of infants.

Vaccines have reduced and, in some cases, eliminated many diseases that killed or severely disabled people just a few generations before. For most Americans today, vaccines are a routine part of healthcare.

However, the disappearance of many childhood diseases has led some parents to question whether vaccines are still necessary. Further, a growing number of parents are concerned that vaccines may actually be the cause of diseases such as autism, hyperactivity, developmental delay, attention deficit disorder, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) among others. These concerns have caused some parents to delay vaccines or withhold them altogether from their children. For more specific information on these concerns, visit the Vaccine Safety section of the site.

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Click on the top link to visit this site. And there are many links on the site to more detailed information.




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