* Mom knows best, especially when it comes to getting her children vaccinatedÂ
March 17, 2019
Rizalyn Vargas
As you walk into the home of Aneet Bains, your first impression is: she must love Pinterest. Inside is decorated with trendy touches of mid-century, bohemian-chic and rustic themes. Bains is a first-time homeowner and excited to experiment with different design possibilities. She is also a first-time mom. Near the contemporary and long wooden bench-style table in the kitchen are wooden shapes, books and stuffed animals scattered on top of a newly purchased vibrant colored rug.Â
Bains lives a full life, yet one thing always tops the chart: the health and well-being of her child. The play area near the dining table is where she and husband Jimmy Singh play with Anaya, their healthy 21-month-old daughter.
Like any concerned parent, Bains is proactive about ensuring every decision she makes regarding her daughter’s health and development is well-informed. Anaya is up-to-date on all her vaccinations, including measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) but before that, Bains came across mixed information. She had heard there may be a link between children receiving vaccinations and obtaining autism.Â
“It was mostly reading the contradictions about MMR that was the biggest concern. I’m not a doctor and I don’t even know what’s right or wrong. I’m basing my decisions on documentaries and articles online. The articles give you all these perceptions and you don’t know what to do.”Â
After watching a scathing documentary that advised against vaccinations, Bains was worried, so she called her mom. Her mother, who is a retired neonatology nurse in India, let her know that she and her other siblings received all the necessary vaccinations when they were children. Mom’s words were comforting.
Bains and Singh are both from the state of Punjab in India. She explains, “In India, there aren’t many cases of autism or it isn’t really recognized as a disorder.” Now as Calif. residents, getting all of Anaya’s vaccinations was something they knew they should and had to do, specifically for her Montessori preschool.
Even with the assurance of Mom’s words, Bains still watched Anaya with a hawk-eye after her MMR vaccinations. If there was even the slightest change of behavior in Anaya, Bains would be the first at the scene desperately looking for answers and taking action.Â
“You think the worst when you have a kid. This is what happens when you’re a mom, even if there’s no probability of anything actually happening.”
Bains admits she does not feel the superficial pressure parents feel to be perfect. She worries more about if her daughter is understanding the basic concepts of numbers and letters she is being taught. When she seems to get it, Bains thinks about what challenge to give next.Â
For a lot of parents, any seemingly bad choice can have lasting effects on your children and deem you a bad parent. Every effort a parent does or does not do is up for discussion, including whether to immunize your children.
The conversation about parents feeling strongly for or against vaccinations is nothing new. It re-entered the media spotlight when in January 1, 2019, Clark County’s Public Health department in Washington state confirmed 70 cases of the measle outbreak. This got parents from different corners talking: should we or should we not vaccinate our children? Who is to believe?Â
The outbreak in Washington state is becoming so alarming, Republican state representative Paul Harris is pushing legislation to make it more difficult for parents to opt out of vaccinating their children. Exemptions would only apply to parents who have personal, religious or medically valid reasons to not have their children vaccinated.
Voices for Vaccines, a parent advocacy group for on-time childhood immunizations, explains that when children are vaccinated, they serve as a protective shield for those that cannot receive vaccinations for specific medical conditions. This is what is referred to as herd immunity.
For Bains, getting your children vaccinated is one out of the many things you do to help them be happy and progress through developmental milestones.Â
In response to concerns about vaccinations, Dr. Rahul Melireddy with Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center in Atlanta, Georgia urges parents, “Ask your physician about information regarding vaccines. Think about how your decision could affect your children.”Â
When asked about possible links between vaccinations and autism, Dr. Melireddy refers patients to the Centers for Disease Control website for practical information regarding vaccinations.Â
Bains recently moved from Rancho Margarita to Menlo Park, where Singh is starting a new career as a Facebook engineer. Their next family home will be as decorated with chic furniture and Pinterest-inspired add-ons as their first, and ideally bigger.Â
The hectic schedule Bains manages to keep her family and home organized will become more hectic soon. Bains is pregnant with a second daughter.Â
How her children are doing—their health, well-being and if they are meeting or exceeding developmental milestones—will remain her biggest concern and priority each day. Whatever challenges her children may face, she will know exactly what to do to help—Bains is a mom after all.
* Article written for Digital Journalism: News and Feature Writing, UCSD Extension, Winter 2019
