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The controversial issue of vaccines
Negative consequences of vaccinations
Disadvantage of vaccination
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Recommended: The controversial issue of vaccines
Human beings have benefitted from vaccinations for more than two hundred years. However, this pathway to finding the most effective vaccines has been neither orderly nor immediate. The idea of mandatory vaccines has been highly controversial for many years. This controversy plays a key role when students head off to college and vaccines are mandatory. Based upon religious beliefs, some students have been able to receive a waiver for these vaccines. But, if they’re mandatory vaccines, why can some students receive waivers while others cannot? Famous, well-known personal such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have intervened with this controversy, adding their own viewpoints on the topic. The first observation of a vaccine occurred in 429 BC when Greek …show more content…
Vaccinated mothers can help protect their unborn children from viruses that can cause birth defects once the child is born. In addition, vaccinated communities can help to eliminate diseases for future generations, increasing the well-being of the human population. A common misconception about vaccines is that they cause immense financial problems for the individual receiving the vaccine. While vaccines are expensive, most insurance companies will cover the cost of the vaccination, and may only require a very small copay of five or ten dollars. When compared to the total price, vaccines cost less time and money to be given than to treat infectious diseases, which cost parents time off of work to care for a sick child, potential long-term disability care, and medical costs. For example, children under the age of five who contract the flu are contagious for roughly eight days, and, according to a 2012 CDC study, cost their parents an average of 11 to 73 hours of wages, adding up to a $222 to $1,456 loss in pay, as well as an additional $300 to $4,000 in medical expenses (Should any vaccines be required for children?) A vaccine-primed immune system can prevent a disease before it starts, making a person contagious for a much shorter period of time, or perhaps they will not be contagious at all. Likewise, when other people are vaccinated, they are less likely to transfer a disease to others. Vaccines protect not only individual people but entire communities as well. In the 21st century, children are no longer vaccinated against smallpox since the disease no longer exists due to vaccination, the last incidence of smallpox occurred in 1948, proving that if a large number of people within a community are vaccinated against a certain disease, the entire group of people becomes less vulnerable to contract that disease. This type of protection is known as
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
The article “People Should Not Be Allowed to Refuse Vaccination” focuses on the dangers people who choose not to vaccinate are opening to others. The argument stems from the ease with which disease can spread through an unvaccinated community and the threat this poses to those who cannot vaccinate. Because of this danger the author of the article believes vaccination should not be left to choice, but required for the good of public safety.
“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.
Vaccination was first introduced globally for small pox and later on extended to other communicable diseases which are now known as vaccine preventable disease. Vaccination is beneficial both for individuals and community. This bring us to the ethical dilemma - Vaccination of a healthy child with the intention of protecting both the individual child and the community at the same time exposing the child to the theoretical risk of exposure to disease products whether live, attenuated or killed. There was a time when people never questioned the government or their physicians. Now because of more public awareness and accessibility to medical information, they are questioning the safety aspects of vaccines.
Parents must be forced to vaccinate their children. The detrimental effects of failing to vaccinate a child can be spine chilling for not only your child but you and your loved ones around. Despite our best efforts to keep our children safe, their lives are unhygienic, a proverbial germ fest some might argue. Children must be vaccinated as they are unaware of their surroundings and a vaccination will save their life; only the child’s but also the people around them.
Mumps, Measles, Whooping Cough, Smallpox, Polio and, Diphtheria are all deadly diseases that were once a death sentence to children and adults around the world, but there is something that can help combat these fatal diseases. Vaccinations can change the course of these lethal diseases, but some families are still refusing to vaccinate the future of the world. Vaccinations can not only be beneficial to the child itself but to rest of humanity as well. There is evidence that goes against false claims bashing vaccination and the positive effects of vaccination overrule all of the negative. Vaccination can have a positive effect on the world due to its life-saving properties, effects on humanity and the extensive amount of safety and care that
America looks at disease as a war. Illness is the enemy, vaccinations are the weapons, and the unfortunate cost is that some innocent civilians may lose their lives. A vaccine is a substance used to provide immunity against a disease. In some cases, vaccines have done more harm than good. Ignoring this fact, vaccines are mandatory in every state, and some states are trying to take away the parent’s right to deny them. The disadvantages, diseases, and disabilities caused by vaccines justify the parent’s right to decide against the risk of vaccination.
Some of the most fatal and dangerous diseases known to the human race are measles, polio, and diphtheria. Before the 1900s, these diseases caused communities to live in fear as they went about their daily activities. Since then, vaccines have been a solution created to prevent people from acquitting these horrendous sicknesses. “In the 20th and 21st centuries, many people in the United States have not personally encountered some of the diseases that are now vaccine-preventable” (p. 132). However, even with a major advancement in medicine, there are still children all across the United States that are being deprived of life saving vaccinations. The universal vaccination dilemma causes moral principles such as beneficence and justice to be debated continuously in regards to how nurses provide care to patients.
“Childhood vaccines not only have personal benefits, but for entire communities and the future of public health” (Espejo 1). If a child goes without immunization, then he or she is also putting others at risk. Most parents do not consider all of the options and effects that come along with not having their child vaccinated. Many are quick to reject because of the possible side effects and harm it could cause. However, nothing in today’s world is completely harmless. An adult can easily be in a danger at work, while the child is in danger of disease at daycare. That is why it is completely necessary to vaccinate. By doing this, family, friends, and others are being protected as well (Allen 71). “There are also children who cannot get certain vaccines for medical or other reasons, and those who are too young to be vaccinated. These children have no protection if they are exposed to someone who is infected with a communicable disease” (Espejo 4). Commonly, this is not thought
Believe it or not, but investing money in vaccines actually helps our economy. When a person thinks about it, it makes sense. For every vaccine you receive, the less likely you will have to pay medical expenses if you get sick. And that money adds up, “Every $1 invested in immunization returns an estimated $16 in health-care savings and increased economic productivity” (Bustreo par. 4). Using those statistics, every ten dollars a person spends on getting a flu vaccine potentially saves them one hundred-sixty dollars from doctor visits. Imagine what that could do in third world countries where hundreds of people are dying everyday from vaccine-preventable diseases. Imagine how quickly that money could add up. Not only would it save their citizens’ lives, it would actually help their economy
The ethics of federal mandatory vaccination in the United States can be determined through the following case-study.
Each year, about 2.1 million people die from vaccine-preventable diseases. Many children may not receive their necessary first year vaccinations because of lack of availability, religious beliefs, and safety concerns (Healy, Rench, and Baker 540). The dictionary definition of a vaccine is a biological preparation that improves the immunity to a certain disease (Healy, Rench, and Baker 540). Although all 50 States in the United States require children to be vaccinated to certain diseases before entering school, the states also have exemptions for these vaccinations (Lu 870). Parents often choose not to get their children immunized, and it has proven harmful to the health of the global population. It is important for parents to have their children vaccinated against diseases such as measles, mumps, and polio because it is important to promote the welfare of the human race (Parkins 439).
Imagine world where no grandparent has to worry about their grandchildren contracting some horrible disease. Contracting measles not only effects children but it also effects future mothers. Contracting measles while pregnant can lead to the fetus being deformed or worse, it can lead to miscarriages. According to Frances Child, “miscarriage, stillbirth, severe heart defects, and deafness in the unborn child are all linked to measles.” Getting an immunization can prevent this and other catastrophic events. Vaccinations can save not only those who are already born, but those who have yet to open their eyes as
“Childhood vaccines are one of the great triumphs of modern medicine. Indeed, parents whose children are vaccinated no longer have to worry about their child's death or disability from whooping cough, polio, diphtheria, hepatitis, or a host of other infections.” (Ezekiel J. Emanuel, 1). Vaccines helped humanity for many years in eliminating illnesses that disfigured, disabled and a lot of times took lives away. Children who do not get vaccinated not only risk themselves by being an easy target for diseases they also, harm everyone around them. In the end, today's children are the fuel of the future. Every parent should think carefully before taking any chance that may harm the coming generation.
Vaccinations are a medical necessity to protect children from preventable diseases, like measles, mumps, and rubella, pertussis, and chicken pox. Some parents, however, are steadfast in their belief that vaccinations are a threat to their children’s health. They believe that vaccinating their children is a decision that only affects them and their families. However, vaccinations are based on the concept of “herd immunity.” Herd immunity occurs when the vaccination of a population provides a measure of protection for individuals who have not developed immunity or received vaccination.