The return to school is a circumstance that involves many associated things: return to stress, return to routines, return to worldly noise, return to the spiral that phagocytes us to become part of the social gear and back to viruses and diseases, that children so well catch and spread.
It is only necessary to take a look at the people, in the streets, to see that the mucus has returned, and the colds, and the first bronchitis, and soon will come otitis, pharyngitis and other "itis" and with them, Hopefully not, secondary complications. Taking into account that the return to school implies all this: let's not forget about vaccines.
But ... vaccines don't work for colds
Of course not. Nothing is going to save your child from a cold beyond providing him with a balanced diet and the possibility of exercising, not stressing him too much and helping him to be happy. No matter how much vaccine you give him, if he has to catch a cold, he will get it. But that does not mean that some diseases that our children take can complicate with other infections and end up being problematic.
For example, and although it does not yet enter all the autonomous communities, the pneumococcal vaccine is effective in preventing pneumococcal otitis and pneumonia due to the same bacteria (and pneumococcal meningitis). Given that many of them end up in empyema (when pneumonia is complicated, pus occurs in the pleural space), it seems quite interesting that children up to 5 years old, which is the age of greatest risk, are immunized with this vaccine.
As in addition to viruses and bacteria, the return to school brings us a return to falls and blows, wounds and abrasions, the tetanus vaccine is still very important. I know it sounds old, to illness of our time that nobody knows now, but the Clostridium tetani continues to exist and therefore remains a completely necessary vaccine to prevent disease, the tetanus, which can be deadly. The tetanus vaccine is associated with diphtheria and pertussis. This last, whooping cough is one of the least effective vaccines there are. It does not get complete protection and also lasts a short time, so unfortunately many children end up suffering from the disease despite being vaccinated. This does not mean that it is still important to get vaccinated, because no matter how little you do, it is always better than nothing.
Another very important and that many children do not carry is the second dose of the viral triple. This vaccine contains three, in fact, measles, rubella and mumps. He measles is one of the most contagious viruses out there and it is the one that, as soon as the vaccine coverage falls, the faster it appears again.
Will children have better health if they have all their vaccines?
They will have better health than if no child were vaccinated, no doubt, because then the contagions for major diseases would be continuous and many children would suffer the consequences of those viruses and bacteria that we already have controlled. Now, in a situation like the current one, in which most children are vaccinated, the fact of giving them more vaccines will not make them healthier than they are, but that is less likely to suffer from diseases that nobody has suffered for a long time (or almost nobody).
This is so as long as the vaccine coverage remains high. If at some point the parents begin to think that it is no longer necessary to vaccinate because the diseases are controlled, then the risk will begin to increase and a possible case of illness could spread rapidly as there are many unprotected children.
What we do know, which is the opposite of what many think, is that unvaccinated children do not have better health. Many parents believe that not vaccinating their children is good for them and that they relieve their immune systems from vaccines, making them healthier children, but at the moment of truth, this is not confirmed in the studies. In fact, what is confirmed is that the unvaccinated suffer more from diseases than those who do not get vaccinated, and this is more dangerous than getting a cold more or less.
Have you not been asked for the vaccination card at school?
Many schools, with the intention of reminding parents that children have to have vaccinations up to date, ask parents for vaccination cards. This causes parents to worry about looking for them and worry about seeing if any vaccine is missing and, if necessary, go to their health center to get it.
It is actually an anecdote: vaccines are not mandatory and that is why, although public schools can request the vaccination card if they want, the enrollment cannot depend, in any case, on whether or not a child has the vaccines recommended in the annual vaccination schedule. Yes, private schools can do it, which can mark, for enrollment, the requirements they deem appropriate.
So if you have been asked, perfect, but if you have not been asked, it is time to look for the card, take a look and make sure that children do not lack any vaccine, for their sake. As a phrase I read a few days ago (and that I have put on the cover image) says:
The worst thing about vaccines is not being vaccinated.
Photos | iStock
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