After living on the Ignorant Planet for close to 6 years and always depending on Doctors for recommendations on what to inject into my kids, I’ve decided to fly out of Ignorant Planet. CRASH!!!

*gets up and looks around*

This is all really scary territory.

*spends a week snooping around with magnifying glass*

*stands on podium ready for vaccination speech*

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

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*waits for clapping to die down*

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In my past life, people kept asking me if my daughters had gotten their vaccinations or what vaccination they got and I could never answer them. DTP to me could be as good as Diarrhea, Tummy-Ache, Puking (hey, they all go hand-in-hand, right?). Or better still, Discipline, Tantrum-itis (that is to prevent tantrums), Patience…….Muahaha….how I would love to get my hands on some of those for my kids, Doctor, pretty please?

DTP, ladies and gentlemen, is Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis. Dipthy-WHAT?

OK, before we go there, let’s start at the very beginning.

What is a vaccination and why do our kids need them?

A vaccination is basically taking a tiny-tiny *sssshhhh* tiny *whispering voice* dose of a particular disease (those deadly germs) and putting it into your child’s body.  Why do this? So that your child’s good germs train themselves to fight against those bad germs. Should luck have it that your child gets an attack of the bad germs in a large dose, your child’s good germs would have had the training to fight off those bad germs. However, if your child’s good germs have never met those bad germs before, they may not even know they are bad germs to start off with, or worse, the bad germs could take over the good germs. And you have a sick child. Did that make any sense?

Do vaccinations work? How effective are they?

Yes and no. Your questions have to be much more specific. Some vaccines are only catered to very specific strains of the viruses. Some people are resistant to vaccines, nobody knows why. It depends on whether your vaccines are taken at the correct time of your development. Yadayadayada……..so the short of it is, yes and no.

Errr……that was very helpful!

So should I vaccinate my kids or not?

Sure, you should! So pharmaceuticals can make tons of dough! No, seriously…….the younger your child, the more important it is for them to be vaccinated as they are most susceptible to contracting diseases. Even if you keep them home locked in a cage, diseases have a way of finding their way from Nigeria to Australia to Thailand to Jalan Hang Tuah to No 38 Jalan Hang Tuah to dog kennel at No 38 Jalan Hang Tuah to dog to baby.

So does that mean my older children don’t need to get vaccinated?

Well, if you want them to risk getting diseases, then yes. However, if you value your children’s lives and want to save money, as the cost of treating their diseases would far outweigh the cost of vaccinating them, then you should vaccinate them.

How do I know if I can trust what is in the vaccines? What if they are actually harmful?

Well, you can’t. It’s a case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Vaccines are designed and tested under extremely stringent procedures and conditions and if you are worried that you may be unlucky enough to be one of the few million people to get a contaminated vaccine, its benefit of protecting your child still outweighs the risk of him contracting a disease. The mozz bite and possible fever symptoms for some vaccines are very small prices to pay to protect your child. There are combination vaccines (3 in 1, 6 in 1) available that will reduce the trauma of having your child go back for more vaccines which are just as effective and safe.

In 1998, there were rumours (started by Dr Andrew Wakefield, a British surgeon and medical researcher) that the MMR vaccines were potentially harmful causing autism in children but these studies were proven otherwise.

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In Malaysia, there is an immunisation schedule set by the Ministry of Health in compliance with the World Health Organisation that is a minimum that every child should follow, but there also some optional vaccines (chicken pox, rotavirus, hepatitis A, pneumococcal disease; and Japanese Encephalitis for those staying near pig farms) available that parents should strongly consider if they don’t want their child getting any of those diseases.

Required vaccinations are free of charge in all Government Hospitals and as we have learned, very expensive at Private Hospitals. At the private clinics, they cost somewhere in between.

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Anyway, if  you are uncertain, here’s the check list again for what is required by the Ministry of Health:

MALAYSIAN IMMUNISATION REQUIREMENT

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Birth – BCG  and 1st dose Hepatitis B

1 Month Old – 2nd dose Hepatitis B

2 Months Old – 1st dose DTP + Hib and Polio (1st dose Rotavirus optional)

3 Months Old – 2nd dose DTP + Hib and Polio

4 months Old – (2nd dose Rotavirus optional)

5 Months Old – 3rd dose DTP + Hib and Polio and 3rd dose Hepatitis B

6 Months Old – Measles jab only for the children resident in the State of Sabah

9 Months Old – JE jab only for the children resident in the State of Sarawak

10 Months Old – JE jab only for the children resident in the State of Sarawak

12 Months Old – MMR and (Chicken Pox 1st Dose – optional)

18 Months Old – 1st DTP and Polio Booster jabs, (JE jab only for the children resident in the State of Sarawak)

4 years old – 2nd DTP and Polio Booster jabs and (Chicken Pox 2nd dose – optional)

7 years old – BCG (if no scar), Diptheria and Tetanus, Polio Booster and MMR Booster

15 years old – Tetanus Toxoid

OPTIONAL VACCINES FOR CHILDREN IN MALAYSIA

Chicken Pox

Chicken Pox – 1st dose (12-15 months old), 2nd dose (4-5 years old). If your child is above 13 and has never contracted the chicken pox, you can vaccinate him with 2 doses 4-8 weeks apart. Should you miss the 2nd dose at any point, you should get it soonest at your next Doctor’s visit.

Why you should get vaccinated for Chicken Pox

Complications can evolve from a child having chicken pox including a bacterial infection of the skin which can quickly spread or complications leading to pneumonia or brain infections, why take the risk? Although this is rare, deaths have occurred. Besides, chicken pox is an extremely uncomfortable disease.

Rotavirus

Rotavirus – the Rotarix vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline is given in 2 doses at 2 months old babies and another dose at 4 months old babies.

Why you should get vaccinated for Rotavirus

For babies and younger children, it is difficult re-hydrating them quickly as they get dehydrated even more quickly through vomiting and diarrhea and since we live in a tropical country where this disease is prevalent all year round, why risk your child from unnecessary electrolyte imbalance?

Pneumococcal Disease

Pneumococcal Disease – 4 doses required of the PCV13 vaccine for babies aged 2 months, 4 months, 6 months and 12 months consecutively.

Why you should get vaccinated for Pneumococcal Disease

Pneumococcal Disease is a bacterial infection that causes pneumonia, meningitis and bacteremia (bacteria in the blood) and is the biggest killer of all other preventable diseases through vaccination in the United States but that doesn’t mean we are safe in Malaysia. It is a respiratory disease that can be transferred air borne thus prevention is better than cure. Don’t take the pneumococcal disease lightly.

Hepatitis A

Hepatitis A – From 12 months onwards in 2 doses, 6 months apart.  So if your child gets his HepA jab at 12 months, his second dose would be at 18 months.

Why you should get vaccinated for Hepatitis A

Hepatitis A is a liver disease of which is transmitted through bad hygiene and eating and drinking contaminated food, water and ice. If you’re at the hawkers a lot, you should probably get jabbed.

For more information, I found this great site on vaccinations and diseases that explains everything in detail.

Do feel free to forward this to your friend with children (especially babies) whom you think might find this useful. I apologise I’m not tech savvy enough to add in those cool facebook ‘like’ buttons and what have you!

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Who is Mamapumpkin?
Mamapumpkin is a former Design Architect turned Multi-Million Dollar Digital Entrepreneur. She sets out to prove to all that you can have anything and everything that you want; if you have that fire of desire burning within and the drive to work hard. Even better with much love.

Mamapumpkin has not only grown corporate businesses successfully in the past and doubled her salary 5 times over 5 organisations but has grown THREE BUSINESSES to 7 FIGURES within an 8 year period. She now shows others EXACTLY HOW after retiring her own husband from employment. He is now the official dog walker, family driver, chef and THE BEST FATHER to their two girls and THE BEST HUSBAND to the woman who CHOSE HIM!

Mamapumpkin is the girl who has nothing but fights for everything including YOU. She is idealistic in her desire to put unbelievable amounts of money and extrardinary happiness into the lives of good people so we can change the world together believing in happiness for ALL. She strives to impact lives authentically wanting to reduce poverty cycles and enable quality education for all and always supports the voiceless. She believes we can all have a life of our own desires to enable real contribution into the world. But first, one needs to understand what this all means.

A beautiful life without limits.

If you wish to learn how to propel your life forward guaranteed, be brave to take action. Mamapumpkin's purpose is to build people. Her gift is to help them UNCOVER their HIDDEN GIFTS. She operates fairly and always leaves an impression. You either love her or not and she is alright either way.

She is a living testimony that women really can have a lot. Being financially and time free has enabled her to travel the world anytime, anywhere, doing anything with anyone, as she spends most of her days with her children, having fun, supporting others wherever she can. Also having fun.