First Vaccine Controversy

Ever since the first vaccine for smallpox was invented over 200 years ago, there has been plenty of controversy over children receiving vaccinations (Smith & Bouck, 2009). It seems to be a delicate balance between personal liberty and public health. Every parent is concerned for their child’s health and todays parents want more information. To vaccinate or not to vaccinate should be an informed choice and not one made from fear (Glanz, Kraus, & Daley, 2014). Edward Jenner invented the first vaccine for smallpox in 1796 which, according to the World Health Organization (2015), eradicated the disease worldwide by 1980. A vaccine is “a product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease” (CDC, 2014, para.

1). A vaccination then is “the act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease” (CDC, 2014, para. 1). They come in many forms including live, attenuated and inactivated. Some people think that vaccines cause more harm than good, causing disease rather than preventing it. All children that are able to receive them need to be vaccinated on the grounds that childhood vaccinations are critical for their role in limiting or eliminating deadly infectious diseases. Why should children be vaccinated?
Thanks to vaccinations diseases are becoming very rare in the U.S., having reduced the number of infections from vaccine-preventable diseases by more than 90 percent (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2012, para.

2). Vaccines prevent more than 2.5 million deaths each year (CDC, 2014, para. 5). The viruses and bacteria that cause these diseases are spread from person to person and it is important to keep immunizing until the disease is completely eradicated. Herd immunity comes into effect when a large percentage of the population is vaccinated, thus limiting the spread of disease (NIAID, 2015). This indirectly protects unimmunized individuals, including those who cannot be vaccinated (NIAID). According to The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (2015), vaccination rates may need to be as high as 80%-95% to achieve the herd immunity threshold (para. 2). Not only do vaccinations protect our children, they protect our future. If vaccinations are stopped, these diseases could stage a comeback and more children would get sick and die. For example, “over 90 percent of the people who caught measles during the United States’ 2008 outbreak, the largest outbreak in more than a decade, were unvaccinated” (Smith & Bouck, 2011, p. 191). How do vaccinations

work?
Every day the body is under attack by microscopic viruses and bacteria. Vaccines work with the immune system, which is the first line of defense against these pathogens, to strengthen its protective response. It can distinguish self from non-self and thus detect and destroy foreign material (VanMeter & Hubert, 2014). Natural active immunity comes from acquiring an illness or disease which means that it takes getting sick to develop resistance (VanMeter & Hubert). A vaccine is an artificial active immunity that stimulates the production of memory T and B cells, thereby reducing the occurrence of infectious diseases (VanMeter & Hubert).
Live, attenuated vaccines contain a version of the living microbe that has been weakened in the lab so it can’t cause disease. Because a live, attenuated vaccine is the closest thing to a natural infection, these vaccines are good “teachers” of the immune system (NIAID, 2015, para. 2).