You are an NP at a clinic seeing a pediatric patient for an exam and vaccine updates.
In this discussion scenario, you are an NP at a clinic seeing a pediatric patient for an exam and vaccine updates. The vaccine you are assigned is listed next to your faculty’s name. The parent is either questioning why their child should receive this vaccine or is refusing the vaccine.
Answer these two questions:
1.) While addressing the parent’s concerns, what sound, evidence-based information would you share with the parent regarding this vaccine and reasons to support your point of view? (See specific requirements in the grading rubric)
2.) If the parent still refuses after you share this information, what is your ethical response?
You must post your discussion response before viewing posts of other students. Your response should have a minimum of 300 words and two (2) professional references. If your post does not meet the word count or professional reference requirement, it will not be graded and you will receive a “0” on the assignment.
Childhood vaccines protect children from a variety of serious or potentially fatal diseases, including diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, polio, tetanus, whooping cough (pertussis), and others. If these diseases seem uncommon — or even unheard of — it’s usually because these vaccines are doing their job.
Still, you might wonder about the benefits and risks of childhood vaccines. Here are straight answers to common questions about childhood vaccines.
A natural infection might provide better immunity than vaccination — but there are serious risks. For example, the natural chickenpox (varicella) infection could lead to pneumonia. A natural polio infection could cause permanent paralysis. A natural mumps infection could lead to deafness. A natural Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) infection could result in permanent brain damage or even death. Vaccination can help prevent these diseases and their potentially serious complications.
Vaccines do not cause autism. Despite much controversy on the topic, researchers haven’t found a connection between autism and childhood vaccines. In fact, the original study that ignited the debate years ago has been retracted.
Any vaccine can cause side effects. Usually, these side effects are minor — a low-grade fever, fussiness, and soreness at the injection site. Some vaccines cause a temporary headache, fatigue, or loss of appetite. Rarely, a child might experience a severe allergic reaction or a neurological side effect, such as a seizure. Although these rare side effects are a concern, the risk of a vaccine causing serious harm or death is extremely small. The benefits of getting a vaccine are much greater than the possible side effects for almost all children.
Of course, vaccines aren’t given to children who have known allergies to specific vaccine components. Likewise, if your child develops a life-threatening reaction to a particular vaccine, further doses of that vaccine won’t be given.
The diseases that childhood vaccines are meant to prevent are most likely to occur when a child is very young and the risk of complications is greatest. That makes early vaccination — sometimes beginning shortly after birth — essential. If you postpone vaccines until a child is older, it might be too late.