My Fear of Getting a Shot
Picture this: a small, but extremely angry red-faced three-year-old screaming and crying as her mother carries her out of the doctor’s office. Her mother picks up a sticker from the bucket and offers it to the little girl, who normally loves stickers. The angry child keeps screaming and crying as she throws the sticker to the ground. Can you guess what I am describing? It is one of my first encounters with getting a shot.
Ever since I was really little, I have had a fear of getting a shot. I can’t say exactly why I had this fear. Yes, it hurts to get a shot, but only a little. It isn’t the pain of getting a shot that scared me. I think my fear was partially caused by my instinct for self-preservation; willingly allowing something to break the skin is somehow unbearably unnatural. I am fine if I get a cut accidentally; I once got bitten by a non-venomous snake while trying to catch it, (it’s actually really fun catching snakes) and I didn’t even care. It is the self-mutilation that repulses me so much. The other part of the cause of my fear is that something is being injected into me; yes, I know it is medicine, but I still have an irrational fear that it is unhealthy to have under my skin.
I do not remember the shots I got when I was a baby, but my mom does. She says that when I had to get a shot, I would throw an enormous tantrum; screaming, crying, and flailing around. My pink shirt’s lettering, “Cute as a button!” would no longer describe me; how about “NOOO!!! You will never take me alive!!!”? I don’t think they make baby shirts like that, however. My mom would work together with a nurse to hold me mostly still, though my little red face still screamed and cried, as the doctor gave me the hated shot. ...
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... to wait there for half an hour, with tears on my cheeks, so that they could come and see which spots had gotten itchy and inflamed. And that is how I found out that after all that I WAS NOT ALLERGIC TO ANYTHING!!!
I continued to cringe every time I got a shot for years; the day I overcame my fear of shots was when I was 11 years old. I was at my grandmother’s house and I tripped and cut my head open. I had a small cut on my eyebrow, about half an inch long, and blood running down my face. My grandfather drove me to the emergency room, where I was told that I needed stitches. The doctor came in with a shot to numb my cut before he sewed it up. At that moment, I told myself “You are tough. This isn’t that awful. You will be fine.” And I got that shot and four stitches without a single protest. I was very proud of myself, and I am not afraid of getting a shot anymore.
This fear was the reason the authors explained the creation of vaccines early on. At this point, the authors again used fear in an attempt to convince readers/parents to ignore these warnings. The authors placed blame directly on those spreading negative propaganda, as well as those who accepted it as fact by stating, “such warnings, if widely heeded, raise the specter of widespread refusal to practice vaccination, thus putting the wider society at risk” (Lee, Carson-Dewitt, 2016, p.2). This directed blame seems to claim that every unvaccinated child puts all members of society at risk, without considering evidence of how an individual’s choice to vaccinate one’s self would offer protection in any
“Vaccinations are causing a major upsurge in childhood diseases, adult maladies, and even deadly ailments such as Gulf War Syndrome and Lou Gehrig’s disease” (Blaylock). Every now and then an individual’s doctor calls telling them about the latest vaccine they should receive. The person immediately schedules a time to come in and get it done. But do they even give a second thought about it? Have they ever thought that maybe they do not need another vaccination? Many people have not taken the time to seriously think about the process of immunization. The truth is, there are many dangers that the average person should be unaware of. Rarely do vaccines actually accomplish what the public has been told. In fact, a lot of vaccines contain harmful substances that have been linked to disorders such as autism. The lack of education and dishonesty from doctors are putting people in danger of health problems without even realizing. Many parents feel obligated for their children to get vaccinated because of school, not knowing they have the alternative option of refusing immunization.
The simple injections have potential to save thousands of lives every year and they are making the world a safer place. Vaccines can help create an environment where children are not receptive to disease which would have taken lives in previous decades, and for the general population to be healthy, and to keep children safe from illness and disease people should vaccinate themselves. Throughout my research for vaccinations, I didn’t realize the many stances parents could support. I knew previously before researching that many parents didn’t agree with the idea of giving their child a vaccination that could possible cause an issue that wasn’t present before. Although, I always supported vaccinations strictly because of scientific facts; when I read about the many reasons why parents didn’t it was a shock and ultimately overwhelmingly disappointing. Mainly, because it seems like parents are only looking at the few effects vaccinations could have on a child. Overall, I believe that everyone should be vaccinated, not only to help themselves but to help the public from outbreaks that can easily occur if the anti-vaccination movement continues and makes
The extent of adverse reactions to vaccines is crippling. Every year, there are more than 20,000 vaccine adverse reaction reports that are filed with the US government (Merino 17). 13% are classified as serious, including death, lifelong disability or life-threatening illness (“Vaccines ProCon”). Considering that almost all Americans are vaccinated makes these numbers seem less significant. However, it is estimated that less than ten percent of adverse reactions are reported (“National Vaccine…”). This means that over 200,000 people in America are possibly affected in a negative way by vaccines per year.
A vaccination is the injection of weak disease-causing agents that help the body develop immunity against specific infectious diseases ("Why Are Childhood Vaccines So Important?"). It is through these vaccinations that children will develop immunity without suffering from the actual diseases that vaccines prevent ("Why Are Childhood Vaccines So Important?"). The field of medicine has come a long way. Vaccines are considered to be one of the public health’s greatest accomplishments to date. With the help of vaccines and public health, the overall goal is to prevent disease and promote health.
Vaccines are not fun. Getting poked with a needle is not exactly considered ideal. I know I never liked getting vaccinated. When I was a baby, I would scream and kick and beg the nurse not to give me a shot. I hated needles and I hated shots. I have outgrown my fear now, but I still do not want to get poked with a needle every day. Despite my hatred of needles as a young girl, I still received every vaccine that my doctor recommended. And guess what? I have never gotten polio, measles, whooping cough, mumps, rubella, and other diseases that have killed millions of people in the past. Even though I hated it, they still helped me in the long run. So no, vaccines are not fun, but they are necessary. The benefits
The American people have rights, and one of those rights is to decide what we want administered into our bodies. I think it is very important to educate others on the risks of vaccines so that they can decide what is fit for them. I also want to bring awareness to the difficulties people face to keep vaccines out of their bodies and their children’s bodies. It should not be a struggle. We have rights to our own bodies and we should not be treated any differently for choosing not to vaccinate. I do not get the flu shot, nor do I get every new shot thrown my way by doctors, and I am perfectly healthy. In fact, I rarely get sick. I depend on natural immunity and other natural means for my health, and that works great. (“Vaccines ProCon.org.”) Barbara Low Fisher, Co-founder of National Vaccine Information Center, stated, "If the State can tag, track down and force citizens against their will to be injected with biological products of known and unknown toxicity today, there will be no limit on which individual freedoms the State can take away in the name of the greater good
(Jane C Finlay, Noni E MacDonald, 2001). Working with Vaccine -hesitant parents. Canadian Paediatric Society. Retrieved May 3, 2013, from http://www.cps.ca
Almost every child receives a total of fourteen vaccinations before age six. Almost. As discussed in the Frontline episode “The Vaccine War”, some parents choose not to vaccinate their children against diseases such as measles, polio, and whooping cough. The episode, aired on April 27, 2020 and produced and directed by John Palfreman, explores the views of these parents who feel vaccinations are a threat to their child and also the views of medical researchers and government agencies who work to placate the fears of nervous parents.
I hate needles. That doesn’t come as a shock to most people who know me. I’m a wuss. I have a fairly long list of phobias, but needles rank right up there at the top. I once read somewhere that public speaking is the number one fear of most Americans. Coming in a not-so-close second place was death. So the way I interpret that statistic, that must mean that at a funeral, most people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy. That’s pretty shocking. So what does this have to do with my fear of needles, you may ask? Not much. I just figured that since this paper is for extra credit, I can pretty much write whatever I want and not have to worry about getting a bad grade for being creative, so I just thought I’d throw that in there for giggles and make it a little more entertaining. But it actually does tie in. Can you guess what the third-ranking fear of most Americans is? Needles. (Okay, not really. I made all that up, but I hear that 90% of all statistics are made up anyway, so I guess it is possible that I could’ve read that somewhere.)
Not only are we not allowing our body to build an immunity on it’s own, but we are also traumatizing our children by making them receive shots on a routine basis. There are many reasons that vaccinations should not be mandatory, but the most important are the number of vaccinations, ineffectiveness, and side effects. The number of vaccinations a child receives, in the first six years of his/her life, has increased dramatically. According to “Vaccine Controversies” by Kathy Koch, “Today, an American child receives up to 39 doses of 12 different vaccines, most given during the first two years of life. And, unlike in previous decades, today’s youngsters are given multiple inoculations on the same day” (643).
When children are born and for the first two years of their lives, they receive multiple shots and drops of vaccines. These vaccines protect them from getting diseases that were deadly and common in children many decades ago. Vaccine is one of the greatest achievement in medicine history. There were thousands of lives lost in the battle with some of the terrifying diseases like smallpox and polio. Now, after years of vaccine invention, vaccination spread in many countries which helped in eradicate several illnesses. In the United States, each family is required to show their children's immunization chart in order to get accepted in many educational institutes. Parents usually face the decision whether to vaccinate their children or not when their children are first born. Knowing how vaccines are made and their mechanism to prevent diseases as well as, the process they go through to be approved for public use, can help parents in making the choice for vaccinating their children.
According to World Book Advanced Encyclopedia, immunization is defined as the process of protecting the body against disease by means of vaccines or serums (Hinman). While medical science backs up the efficiency and necessity of vaccines, within the past decade, a rise in parents disbelieving the medical community and neglecting to immunize their children has occurred. This “fear of vaccines” is nothing new, but with the ever-increasing safety of vaccines, the benefits of inoculation far outweigh the risks. Parents who refuse to vaccinate, or anti-vaxxers, put more than their children’s lives on the line, but also risk the safety of the whole community. Because vaccines are essential to protecting individuals and communities
Painless needles are one way technology is improving society. Needles are always scaring young children and even adults. Now with the new painless needle pediatricians can give vaccinations pain free. Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology call theses new needles micro needles. [1] They are made from silicon, metal, glass or biodegradable polymer. Theses needles are 500 times smaller then ordinary hypodermic needles, which are too small to irritate nerve endings. These new needles will consist of 400 embedded micro needles will be glued to a patch that will gently puncture the skin. Now with this new technology society can have pain free shots.
Fear of failure, I know this phrase very well. It allows the fear to stop me doing the things that can move me towards achieving my goals. When I look back at my fears, I grasp the moment that I have been so afraid of failing that I decided against it and I lost some great once in a lifetime opportunities. Fear of failure subconsciously; hint at, I weakened my own efforts to escape the risk of a higher failure. Many of us have possibly faced this at one time in our lifetime. The fear of failing can be restraining. It can cause us to stop the forward progress in life; we are probable to miss some huge opportunities along the way. Everyone describes failure differently, since we all have diverse expectations, and wishes. However, there’s something