Vaccines: Fact vs. Fiction
Introduction
Vaccines have been developed to prevent the spread of diseases that have serious effects on the world’s population. The more individuals that go unvaccinated the greater the chance that these diseases, that are easily preventable, are spread.
The issue of vaccinating children has been a recent "hot button" issue and highly debated. Parents have many reasons for not vaccinating their children. More often than not, I have heard from parents who say that they refuse to vaccinate their children due to several reasons. These reasons can range from religious objections to concerns about the potential adverse effects from the vaccine.
Most of the time, I have found, the reasoning the parents use does not involve a valid medical issue. Often, the resources that these parents have used to make this life choice are not reputable resources. The parents appear to be making the decision solely because their friends are doing it and they want to follow the trend. Not vaccinating a child is the “in thing.” It is quite scary to think of the potential consequences of so many people making this choice just because they want too, and not because of a valid medical condition, previous adverse effects from vaccines or true religious beliefs.
Vaccination Basics
I believe that it is important to start with the basics. In many cases one may not know exactly what a vaccine is or what it does. One also may not know about the various types of vaccinations. I believe it is important to know the basics of this subject. Knowledge is power!
Vaccinations are substances that contain a specific antigen in which our body’s immune system responds to with the intention of preventing disease (Adams ...
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...r, 2013). When clusters happen herd immunity is severely compromised putting many at risk for preventable diseases.
Should Vaccinations Be Required?
Immunizations should absolutely be required for every child, unless there is a valid documented medical reason. Vaccinations prevent diseases and serious illness. “Granting philosophical and religious exemptions becomes problematic when it begins to undermine a community’s herd immunity” (Parkins, 2012). No individual should have the right to risk the health of the community because of their personal morals.
Conclusion
It is time to make a change in our country. Immunizations need to be given until the diseases are completely eradicated, and it is time to implement consequences to those that put the herd at risk. The government needs to bind together and put stringent guidelines on exemptions from vaccines.
There is a war going on against parents that refuse to vaccinate their children. It is coming from the government that makes and enforces laws requiring parents to vaccinate their children, hostile parents of vaccinated children, and doctors that refuse to see unvaccinated children. They are concerned about the potential health risk unvaccinated children pose to the public. These parents aren’t lunatics but are concerned parents that are trying to make the best choice for their children. In fact, these parents aren’t fighting alone; a number of pediatricians and medical experts are apart of this crusade and have taken the lead. They will tell you there is an agenda, “Vaccine manufacturers, health officials, medical doctors, lead authors of important studies, editors of major medical journals, hospital personnel, and even coroners, cooperate to minimize vaccine failings, exaggerate benefits, and avert any negative publicity that might frighten concerned parents, threaten the vaccine program and lower vaccination rates.” 4
“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.
Vaccines have been used to prevent diseases for centuries, and have saved countless lives of children and adults. The smallpox vaccine was invented as early as 1796, and since then the use of vaccines has continued to protect us from countless life threatening diseases such as polio, measles, and pertussis. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2010) assures that vaccines are extensively tested by scientist to make sure they are effective and safe, and must receive the approval of the Food and Drug Administration before being used. “Perhaps the greatest success story in public health is the reduction of infectious diseases due to the use of vaccines” (CDC, 2010). Routine immunization has eliminated smallpox from the globe and led to the near removal of wild polio virus. Vaccines have reduced some preventable infectious diseases to an all-time low, and now few people experience the devastating effects of measles, pertussis, and other illnesses.
The fact that parents see’s vaccinations as a choice makes me think why do they see vaccinations as a “bad” thing. Then I realized just maybe some parents don’t know anything about vaccinations and prefer that they don’t put a unknown source in their baby, or maybe they are just given wrong information by other parents that don’t believe that infants should get vaccinated. I believe that every single parent should to a pediatrician/ or family doctor and ask them all the questions the have on vaccinations because at least they will get the right
... you wait, the more likely your child’s immune system will be able to handle the onslaught with minimal damage” (Sarah). I am not suggesting that we return to the days without vaccines. But we must seriously address what appears to be an obvious link between the epidemic of developmental delays, autoimmune diseases, and the increasing number of mandatory vaccines. Every parent should know the advantages as well as the dangers associated with each and every vaccine, each and every time it is given. They should know the positive and negative consequences of refusing that their children be vaccinated, and be made aware of how they can go about getting exemptions. Also-- the government, industry, health-care professionals, and parents must band together to get the research needed to determine the safety of these vaccines. The stakes are too high for us to do otherwise.
With vaccines more abundant we can eradicate harmful disease like HPV, influenza, and Hepatitis. All treatable and yet still common among many communities in the United States. The only chance is providing people the necessary information and requiring mandated immunizations with no exempts in every state. Then maybe we can eradicate those diseases and permanently wipe them off worldwide like small-pox. Vaccines are safe and if we continue providing them we could eventually face disease like HIV and even some cancer that have not ever been able to treat in the future.
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 an integral part of modern preventive medicine. Without vaccines, not only would most malignant epidemics still be around, and the world would also be in a much more polluted era. The streets would be littered with diseased, there would have to be mass graves for the dead, and the healthy would have to be quarantined inside a sterile environment.
Vaccines are a big part of the modern world. They help our immune system in the same way someone runs a training course; preparing for something they may encounter in the future. Vaccines have many benefits that can help in the long run, that is why I stand in firm affirmation that vaccines should be required for children.
A beautiful, perfectly healthy baby is delivered into the world, only to be poked and prodded with needles just minutes upon its arrival, in the name of protection. Parents are practically forced to give their children all of the latest and greatest vaccinations without any other options. I believe that most vaccines are unnecessary, and it should be entirely up to the individual to make the decision on whether or not to be vaccinated. They should never be mandatory for any reason because it is your choice to decide what goes into your body, and your choice alone.
To ensure that they live a long and prosperous life to adulthood, they need to passionately think about vaccinating their offspring. Immunizing at a young age can spare their lives in the long run from Measles, Polio, Pneumococcal disease, and Rotavirus etc. A mother of a 10 month old boy was lucky when her son contracted the measles from another mother who brought her ill son into the waiting room of a pediatrician 's office. The parents of that 10 month old baby boy said they “spent 3 days in the hospital fearing we might lose our baby boy. He couldn’t eat or drink, so he was on an IV, and for a while he seemed to be wasting away. When he began to be able to drink again we got to take him home”(106 Degrees: A True Story). Due to the doctors catching the measles in time and taking prescriptions, the baby boy ended up recovering successfully. The boy 's mother Megan explained, “people who choose not to vaccinate their children actually make a choice for other children and put them at risk”(“106 Degrees”: A True Story). She also said that, “at 10 months, my son was too young to get the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. But when he was 12 months old, we got him the vaccine - even though he wasn’t susceptible to measles anymore. This way, he won’t suffer from mumps or rubella, or spread them to anyone else”(“106 Degrees”: A True Story). Megan’s son was one of the unlucky toddlers to catch the measles virus. He was not old enough to get the vaccine to protect him against the disease. However, now that the child has had that experience, it made the parents firm believers in vaccination and protecting them against these terrible diseases. Another example of why vaccines saves lives is when a mother (Michele) of two twin boys William and Andrew contracted the Rotavirus and it nearly almost killed them. When the children were ten months old, “they came down with severe
Vaccinations have significantly reduced the disease rate throughout the world. Usually, vaccines prove to be between 90 and 99 percent effective. This reduces disease and mortality rate by thousands every year (Jolley and Douglas 1). On average, vaccines save the lives of 33,000 innocent children every year (“Vaccines” 1). In addition, if a vaccinated child did contract the vaccine’s targeted illness, that child would, in general, have more mild symptoms than an unvaccinated child that contracts the same illness. These vaccinated children will have less serious complications if they do contract the disease; they will be much more treatable, and have a lower risk of death (Jolley and Douglas 2). The risks of not vaccinating greatly outweigh the small risks of vaccination. Diseases like measles and mumps can cause permanent disability. While there i...
In reality most parents choose to get their children vaccinated after following doctor’s orders, getting persuaded too, or after getting blackmailed. Any how, most parents who reject vaccines is due to past experiences. Such as in Nikie DesRoches case, she no longer supports vaccines after her daughter’s heart stopped due
Those who choose not to vaccinate their children are endangering the health of those unable to be vaccinated themselves, such as infants, pregnant people, and the immunocompromised, by jeopardizing community immunity. According to vaccine.gov, a federal government website managed by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, community immunity or “herd immunity” occurs when “a critical portion of the community is immunized against a contagious disease, most members of the community are protected against that disease because there is little opportunity for an outbreak” (Community Immunity). An infographic featured in an NPR article entitled “How Vaccine Fears Fueled the Resurgence of Preventable Diseases” illustrated the rise in measles cases in Western Europe and of pertussis (whooping cough) cases in the U.S (Doucleff). In the first eight months of 2014, there were eighteen measles outbreaks, and six hundred cases of measles.
We are always hearing on the news and in newspapers about children catching diseases and often dying from them. Why is this happening when all of these diseases are easily preventable by simply being immunised, why aren’t parents getting their children Immunised, is it for religious beliefs or just carelessness. What ever their reason may be is it really good enough, because why would anyone rather let their child be able to catch and spread a deadly disease then have them Immunised, so Immunisation should be made compulsory for all children.