Childhood Vaccines Essay

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Daja Torrence
Prof. David Murad
English 1120
26 February 2016
Vaccines
Vaccines are common around the world. We all get them at a young age to keep us and the world around us safe. According to the Center for Disease Control; over the years vaccines have prevented countless cases of disease and saved millions of lives. Some may say you are risking your child’s life by not getting vaccinated, others may disagree and say you are risking your child’s life by getting so many vaccines at a young age. This literature review will go over the history of how vaccines came about, the meaning of vaccination, and immunization. It will also answer some key questions like, is vaccines the cause of autism? Are vaccines good or bad for you? Lastly the benefits …show more content…

According to World’s Health Organization known as WHO states that “Immunization is a process whereby a person is made immune or resistant to an infectious disease typically by the administration of a vaccine”. WHO is a website for publications, and other resources to ensure that health information reaches people around the world in languages that they can understand. From birth until the age six, 14 diseases can be prevented from childhood vaccines (parent’s guide). This point is brought up because some people question, is childhood immunization the cause of autism? From my research the answer is no childhood vaccinations does not causes autism here is why. Autism is a mental condition, present from early childhood. Characteristics of autism consist of difficulty in communicating, and forming relationships (Autism speaks). Autism speaks is a website dedicating to funding research into the causes, prevention and even a cure for autism. The correlation of vaccines and autism started in February1998 with Andrew Wakefield a British gastroenterologist did a study on 12 children, out of that eight of whose first symptoms of autism appeared within 1 month or receiving the MMR vaccine (Wakefield). From this study he concluded that childhood vaccines is the cause of autism. I question his findings because there are some unanswered questions I cannot find. One big question I bring up after reading his journal is, if all 12 children were referred to a pediatric unit of intestinal abnormalities who’s to say that the abnormalities is not the cause of autism? Since there are many unanswered questions, Wakefield is not considered a reliable source because he does not have enough data supporting his claim that the MMR vaccine is the cause of autism. Another reason why this is not a reliable source because Wakefield’s journal was retracted. The definition of retracted means to withdraw a statement or accusation as untrue or unjustified

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