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Immunizing Children for International Travel
Exploring the World Safely with Your Children
By Johnathon Allen
The immunization of children in America is a controversial subject for parents and medical professionals alike. Many of the diseases routinely vaccinated for in the U.S. are either mostly eradicated domestically or non-lethal, and because there is some evidence that immunizing young children may compromise their immune system, a growing number of American parents now choose to avoid vaccinating whenever possible. For the kids who grow up entirely within America's relatively sanitary and medically advanced borders, this decision probably results in stronger healthier bodies more often than not, but for those children whose parents are given to traveling abroad, the issue is considerably more complex.
"It is important to immunize children when traveling for the same reasons that it is important to immunize adults -- because they will likely be exposed to malicious entities against which their bodies have no natural defense -- with the significant added factor that many diseases are more severe in younger children," says Dr. Edward K. Chapnick, M.D., Director of the Infectious Diseases Division at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. "Most children born and raised in the United States, are not likely to possess a natural immunity to the diseases commonly endemic in developing countries, and immunity can wane even for children who were initially raised in foreign countries after they come to an area where exposure is unlikely."
"Our daughter is very important to us and we don't want to take any unnecessary risks by not vaccinating her before we travel, but we also want her to have a naturally healthy immune system so we will avoid vaccinating her if it is not absolutely necessary," says Rachelle Canady, from Ashland, Ore., who intends to spend the next year traveling in New Zealand and Central America with her 2-month-old daughter, Amani, and her partner Lorin Mussell. "Ultimately our goal is to get only the most necessary of the vaccines and wait as long as possible before vaccinating her in order to enable Amani's body to be stronger and more equipped to deal with them."