Vaccine Nation Documentary Review The documentary Vaccine Nation, a heavily biased attack on vaccines, was directed by Gary Null and was initially released in March of 2008. This documentary explores the negative view of vaccines pushing blame for autism, infants deaths, and other genetic disorders on vaccines. Not only is this documentary based on inconclusive evidence and unsupported accusations, but it lacks credibility due to the heavy bias and lack of credibility of its director and associates. Rather than a well thought out, factual documentary, this documentary can be defined more as a vector, allowing people to place blame on vaccines instead of facing the hard truth of their children's genetic disorders. Vaccine Nation strongly supports …show more content…
its side of the issue, arguing against mandatory vaccinations and the consequent interests of greedy pharmaceutical companies, yet not achieving its goal due to a heavy bias because of lack of representation from scientists and public health officials as well as the lack of credibility and authority of the director. The main purpose of this documentary is to persuade the public and everyday people about the alleged dangers of vaccines and immunizations.
By exploring the emotions of the parents of autistic children, this documentary tries to establish a sense of pity and empathy for the “victims.” It also aims to villainize vaccines and pharmaceutical companies, expressing only the negative aspects of vaccines and portraying pharmaceutical companies as imposing, greedy corporations with no care for the people. Ultimately, this documentary argues for a negative view of vaccines and blames them for many diseases and disorders that commonly affect young children, offering people a chance to change their views and, basically, focusing their blame toward something …show more content…
tangible. Many people know about the debate surrounding vaccines and how some people believe that they can cause autism.
The initial study that argued against the use of vaccines was harshly debated after it first came out but, eventually, the study was thrown out and rejected by the scientific community. Although the original study was proved to be false and fabricated, many studies reaffirming the necessity and importance of vaccines are still coming out. This documentary seems to ignore the invalidity of the initial study linking vaccines and autism and similarly ignores the multitudes of studies glorifying vaccines and what they have done to increase world-wide health. These studies affirm that vaccines work by infecting the human body with a weakened strain of the disease in order to build up the immune system of the individual and, ultimately, make them immune to the disease. Not only is this important to people with immunological disorders, sick, elderly, and infants but also to the majority of the population because with a large herd immunity for a long period of time, diseases can actually become extinct outside of laboratories. While some people might find vaccines scary, mysterious, and unknown, like the people shown in this documentary, vaccines are ultimately a safe way to maintain the health of a community. The director of this documentary, Gary Null, is a well-known advocate for alternative medicine and known to be an anti-vaccinationist, not only showing a bias but
also hurting his credibility. Null holds many unpopular and unsupported views in the scientific community and many of his views include attacks at pharmaceutical companies and physicians. Although Vaccine Nation utilizes many aspects of the documentary to persuade the audience to have negative views of vaccines, many of the aspects, such as the interviews with the parents of autistic children, provide little to no expert support and evidence for the argument against vaccines. In fact, the use of parents in this documentary is essentially emotional fear mongering, scaring the audience, especially those with children, into a negative view of vaccines without scientific support of their claims. In addition to this, the credibility of the people being interviewed and consulted is lacking, influencing how the documentary is considered and interpreted by the audience. While some of the arguments against vaccines in this documentary do bring up some health and safety concerns, the majority of the claims are unsupported, without studies actually linking vaccines to diseases, making the documentary seem unfocused, unscientific, and aggressively accusatory. In conclusion, not only does this documentary not convey its ideas well and not consider the other side of the argument, but it also lacks the credibility and authority to successfully sway its audience. Moreover, the documentary blatantly ignores facts and lacks support with evidence and support for any claims it makes. Instead, the documentary relies solely on emotional input from the interviewed parents without scientific, professional, or respected advise or contribution. While the documentary does utilize the emotional influence in an effective way, it is dwarfed by the massive lack of credibility and scientific validation throughout. The film Vaccine Nation is not a trustworthy or reliable source of information on vaccines or the importance of vaccines, preying more upon the audience rather than informing them. Therefore, Common knowledge → the argument was thrown out → the original one isn't valid but there still are valid studies coming out → valid topics weren’t talked about… what does society know
Deborah Lee and Rosalyn Carson-Dewitt MD, a medical and scientific writer (Lee, Carson-Dewitt, 2016, p.2), worked together to write Point: Vaccines Save Lives, found on page two of “Point of view: Vaccines and health hazards” to discuss vaccines. Lee’s article used historical events, expert opinion, and comparison to make the argument that vaccines protect society. With people taking what they read on the internet at face value, it is more important than ever to be sure one knows the facts before making decisions. The authors attempted to clarify the subject to help parents make an informed decision. Did Lee and Carson-Dewitt effectively present evidence in an unbiased way to support the claim that vaccines save lives?
The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear written by Seth Mnookin offers something for all potential readers. For those who are anti-vaccine, Mnookin offers valid science, testimony, history, and excerpts that demonstrate that vaccinating a child can be more beneficial than not. Instead of simply dismissing those who do not vaccinate their children, Mnookin offers valid points to counter argue in this debate. Mnookin offers thought, logic, reasoning, and research into his arguments, showing that his opinion is rooted in fact, rather than opinion or belief. Those who are on the fence about vaccination may find this book useful in that Mnookin not only offers plenty valid points about pro-vaccination, however, he also provides
Vaccine safety is one of the most controversial topics in today’s public discourse. Everyone has heard of them, but few know why they are so encouraged. A vaccine contains a weak or dead version of a microbe. This creates a small scale invasion of the immune system, which activates cells to destroy the microbe. Once these cells have been made they are always there to provide protection. This protection is immunity, for those cells are then able to recognize any live version of the same microbe and attack it immediately. This can save lives but also be dangerous, vaccines carry many other components which can cause side effects. These could be simple adverse effects such as a small cold or, in the rare case,
“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.
I attended the IPE Film and Book Experience on Thursday July 18, 2016 and we watched a NOVA PBS documentary titled “Vaccines: Calling the Shots.” The members of my team and the college/profession they represent are listed below:
(Jane C Finlay, Noni E MacDonald, 2001). Working with Vaccine -hesitant parents. Canadian Paediatric Society. Retrieved May 3, 2013, from http://www.cps.ca
Offit, P. (2011). Deadly choices: how the anti-vaccine movement threatens us all. New York, NY: Basic Books.
In the Frontline episode The Vaccine War, a progressively distressful debate ensues among many scientists and doctors within the public health system and an unnerving alliance of parents, politicians, and celebrities. The topic of debate is the overwhelming pressure parents feel to vaccinate their children and their right to decline such vaccinations. In several American neighborhoods, groups of parents have been exercising their right to refuse vaccinations, which has elevated anxiety on the return of vaccine-preventable diseases such as pertussis and measles. The reason such parents are denying their children various vaccines such as the MMR “triple shot” for measles, mumps, and rubella is because they are convinced that it is linked to autism, a link that has yet to be proven. Many of these parents are focused solely on their children, not taking into account that their decision may put the American populace at risk for disease. Such parents are not thinking about other members of society that vaccines don’t work for, and in certain adolescents the effects deteriorate, thus only when every person is immunized the “heard immunity” is successful.
Autism is a life changing experience for a person. With all of the research and studies that are being done, the theory that vaccines are the cause of autism has not yet been determined. Autism can be caused by many different things and shouldn’t blame one individual reason. The exact causes of autism may never be discovered, but with all of the studies being done scientists should find out every little detail about this disability, including a cure. The day autism is cured will be the day every child struggling with this defect will be able to start a normal life, and that day will make history.
In Michael Snyder’s essay “Vaccines Cause Autism” the author explains his opposing viewpoint against children being vaccinated. Warning the reader about the harmful ingredients in vaccines, such as mercury, that can impair an infant for life by causing them to become autistic. Snyder blames the greedy pharmaceutical companies, political establishment, and news media coverage that brainwash Americans to allow their kids getting injected with harmful chemicals that other nations have banned. He leaves the reader by proposing that parents should determine if their child gets vaccinated as the increasing rates of autism will only get worse amongst Americans. Snyder’s misinformed claims reveals that he lacks the knowledge of what autism is, since
In recent years, the correlation between vaccines and autism has become the subject of much debate. On one side, there are the anti-vaccinators, or anti-vaccers. On the other, there’s pretty much everyone else. Despite the fact that the anti-vaccination movement has little base in scientific fact, their campaign to end early infanthood vaccinations rages on. While doctors and scientists try desperately to make parents look at the research studies, vaccination rates continue to fall. But, even in these dark times, there is still hope that scientific fact will prevail and defeat the anti-vaccination fear mongers who have caused many children to fall ill and even die because their parents did not properly vaccinate them. This is one of the most saddening scientific failures of the twenty-first century. A failure to educate the public properly has resulted in child, even infant, fatalities. The anti-vaccination movement was started based on falsified data and continues only because of a lack of knowledge and proper education of the general public.
Vaccines against diphtheria, polio, pertussis, measles, mumps and rubella, and more recent additions of hepatitis B and chicken pox, have given humans powerful immune guards to ward off unwelcome sickness. And thanks to state laws that require vaccinations for kids enrolling in kindergarten, the U.S. presently enjoys the highest immunization rate ever at 77%. Yet bubbling beneath these national numbers is the question about vaccine safety. Driven by claims that vaccinations can be associated with autism, increasing number of parents are raising questions about whether vaccines are in fact harmful to children, instead of helpful (Park, 2008).
Because of vaccines, the prevalence of diseases that used to kill hundreds of thousands every year is extremely low. Because these diseases have been all but eradicated, the majority of parents have seen neither these diseases, nor their devastating symptoms. As stated by William Schaffner, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University, “We’ve become prisoners of our own success. Nobody knows what measles is (Parker).” In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a group of 315 people were surveyed on their attitudes toward vaccines. After the survey, the subjects were divided into three groups. One group was given the most recent research showing no link between vaccines and autism; another was read a paragraph written in a mother’s voice, describing her child’s contraction of measles, shown three pictures of children with measles, mumps, rubella, and read warnings about the dangers of not vaccinating. The third group, as a control, was given an unrelated science article to read. After the experiment, the subjects were tested again on their attitudes toward vaccines. The group who was shown the diseases’ approval rates jumped five times higher than the
Recently the number of parents who are intentionally delaying their children’s general vaccinations is increasing. The controversy that is causing the number of delayed vaccinations to go up is based on the fact that there are negative articles connecting them to autism and other similar diseases. When parents are researching vaccinations and they read those negative articles, those articles make them believe that vaccines cause autism. Vaccines are important because they protect humans from preventable diseases and getting them could save human lives. Vaccines are important throughout life no matter what some research suggests. Parents are now more likely to intentionally delay vaccines because of negative press, even though vaccines
For innumerable centuries, unrelenting strains of disease have ravaged society. From the polio epidemic in the twentieth century to the measles cases in the latter half of the century, such an adverse component of nature has taken the lives of many. In 1796, Edward Jenner discovered that exposure to cowpox could foster immunity against smallpox; through injecting the cowpox into another person’s arm, he founded the revolutionary concept known as a vaccination. While many attribute the eradication of various diseases to vaccines, many United States citizens are progressively beginning to oppose them. Many deludedly thought that Measles had been completely terminated throughout the United States; however, many children have been patronized by