Why Vaccinate?

Vaccinations are extremely important for the health and wellbeing of a child. Parents are often skeptical about getting their child vaccinated, which is partly due to the fact that they have very little familiarity with the devastating effects of a vaccine-preventable illness. Here are some of the key benefits to having your child vaccinated.

  • Doctors and medical professionals recommend getting all children vaccinated as per the established vaccination schedules because vaccinations provide immunity against infectious and life threatening diseases.
  • Vaccinations build a child’s immune system, and make their body strong enough to fight against certain infectious diseases.
  • Vaccinating one child protects the society at large from being affected by a disease. Vaccinations have a 360 degree impact where it helps prevent the disease from spreading to those who cannot be vaccinated, like aged people who are unable to be vaccinated given a particular condition.
  • Immunization is the safest, easiest and most effective way to prevent infectious diseases from spreading and passing on from person to person. Parents always want to do the best for their children but opt out of vaccinating them because of the lack of awareness about how their act can cause rise in the outbreak of vaccine preventable diseases.
  • Parents need to realize how various infectious and deadly disease have been completely eradicated or are rather rare now because most people are vaccinated against them.

    • In the UAE

    In Dubai (UAE), The Dubai Health Authority and the Ministry of Health decide on the Immunization policies. As per the Childhood immunization and National immunization Program, the single and combined dose vaccinations recommended by the DHA are as follows:

  • BCG at birth
  • DPT vaccine– which is a combination of vaccinations against three diseases; Diphtheria, Pertusis, Tetanus from the age of 2 months until the child is 18 months old.
  • Hepatitis B from birth until the child is 6 months old
  • Polio from 2 months until the child is 5 years old
  • Pneumococcal from 2 month till 18 months
  • Measles, Mumps and Rubella at 1 and 5 years of age
  • Varicella vaccine (chicken pox) for which a total of two doses are recommended for all children.

    • All the hospitals licensed under the DHA are expected to follow these rules and regulations.

    (Credit: Dr. Shamnad Abdul Azeez, General Practitioner at Aster Hospital, Mankhool)