An Epidemic Of Fear : How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All

These articles have spurred a controversy about vaccinations and have discouraged parents from them. Reluctance to vaccinate has increased over the past years and has caused parents to neglect the fact that they need to vaccinate their kids. Under-immunization has caused the resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases like polio and measles to breakout in schools. Concern for recent outbreaks has lead me to pose the question: Should it be mandatory to vaccinate your kids?

Although the negative claims behind anti-immunization stances are deceptive and discredited, some parents find it difficult to accept that vaccines are necessary and safe. Many of these reasons are due to personal or religious beliefs that have persuaded parents to bypass immunizations for their children. Consequently, health officials are seeing disquieting rises of diseases that are easily preventable. The CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) has reported hundreds of measles cases in the United States in 2011, the largest number in 15 years (Ben-Joseph, Elana). Essentially, almost all of these cases were in individuals who had not received a vaccine shot. Also found in the article was that a great amount of the quarrel over the shots comes from a 1998 study that tried to connect autism to a type of vaccine that defends against measles. However, there has been no scientific evidence that a vaccine or a combination of any of the shots induces autism. Undoubtedly, the doctor that wrote the article, calling vaccines a “deliberate fraud” ,lost his license for not submitting any evidence of his claim and causing people to neglect shots for that year. Sadly, due to that article, 1 in 4 parents still believe that vaccines are

Nonetheless, due to the new social media sites spreading and intensifying the already established decades of perceived negative health effects and widespread misinformation, the overall conversation regarding the issue has only continued to grow, and vaccines are still scrutinized greatly within public contention. With these new social media sites, a new kind of panic has grown, as Mark Largent, a professor at Michigan State University, addresses these issues in his novel, “Keep Out of Reach of Children.” He recognizes in his work that a part of the main arguments against vaccines are due to religious or philosophical reasons, or that they are unsafe. Parents argue that vaccines could potentially cause autism, other health defects, and could lead to the harm for their children (Navin). However, he quickly rejects the idea and

[Vaccinations have lowered the death rates of Americans over the years. According to McNeil “in November 2007, death rates for 13 diseases that can be prevented by childhood vaccinations were at all-time lows…nine of the diseases, rates of hospitalization or death had declined more than 90 percent. For three…death rates had dropped by 100 percent” (Paragraph 3). This study shows that vaccinations are beneficial to children. With these vaccinations, children will be less exposed to these diseases, which will prevent them from spending time in the hospital or in some cases dying.

In today’s society, we believe that everything is up for debate, and that every topic can be opinionated. We like to have the power to make our own choices regardless of facts, just because we feel the pressure of being told what to do. We are lazy to learn the truth, but yet we are ready to choose sides and strongly argue about it. We see it every day on the news, in politics, sports, social media, online forums, school, etc. In his article, “Not Up for Debate: The Science Behind Vaccination”, published in September of 2015, Professor Aaron E. Carroll argues that the issue with vaccinations is more than just choosing to do it or not. Carroll jumps right into his discussion of the “Not up for debate” regarding people’s claims tying vaccines to autism, the choice not to, and officials backing them up. He explains how this argument stems from incorrect information, inadequate studies and research, and poor education about the facts and data about the vaccines, which leads to the stubborn belief that vaccinations should be banned.

The topic of childhood vaccinations and the dangers that accompany them has been a topic of controversy in contemporary times. At the near edge of the twenty-first century, a man named Doctor Andrew Wakefield released a study which created a mass uproar in both parents and health professionals alike. Parents were panicked as to whether or not they should have their young child vaccinated (in fear of their acquiring autism), and health professionals fearful that the population percentage of people acquiring measles, mumps, or rubella (for it was the M.M.R. vaccination that the parents feared in particular) would rise to a number which would lead to a mass risk of disease. Despite Wakefields’ study, the truth persists in all types of experiments related to vaccination. Whether being tested in a replication of Wakefields’ study or in any other, vaccines have been proven to work at preventing disease and display no causation of autism.

“You have to follow your own heart when it comes to medical decision-making,” stated author and mother Emily Matchar when voicing her opinion on childhood vaccines. When it comes to vaccine parents are given the privilege to exempt their child based on medical, religious, or philosophical values, varying by state. This has allowed many to deviate from the original meaning of these exemptions and manipulate them as they see fit. This has helped to fuel the anti-vaccine movement that pushes for parents to fully decide which vaccines their child will receive without government regulations. Since 1998, the movement has harassed the public health community. With the introduction of incomplete, faulty research that “proved” Autism Spectrum Disorder

However, these parents are underestimating how many other parents have the same idea. An increasing problem is that people assume that everyone else vaccinated their children. In reality, a minority large enough to start an epidemic are not vaccinating their children. Park estimates if all children received the recommended vaccinations from the time they were born to adolescence $10 billion in medical bills would be saved, 14 million infections would be avoided, and 33,000 lives would be saved (Park). The issue is, critics believe these numbers do not apply to them. Critics believe their child’s infection could not have been avoided, and, potentially, life could not have been saved if they did vaccinate their child.

Conflicting reports about the safety of vaccinations is causing confusion and fear among parents. There has been tremendous hesitation in choosing whether or not to vaccinate children. The Federal Government has remedied this hesitation by creating a law. New legislation, effective at the start of the 2016 school year, requires parents to vaccinate their children in order to attend public or private schools. Parents that rely on school or day care systems to care for their child care while they work, are left without a choice. If these parents wanted to postponed or possibly not vaccinate, it is no longer of consequence, they are now obligated to take the leap. This law should be repealed until further research is done and more effective versions are created. Doctors need to understand why some children have adverse reactions and how to test for possible predispositions before vaccines become mandatory. Vaccinations should be an option for prevention, with parents in full awareness of the risks.

In the article “How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endanger Us All” written by Amy Wallace she discussed how some people opt out of giving their kids vaccines. This is due to the false impression that vaccines give children autisms. Now do to so many people opting out many diseases/sicknesses are making a comeback. What once have been called a third world country problem is now becoming a first world problem. Scientist are now spending all their research money on proving that vaccines don’t give children autism instead of finding what really causes autism, to prevent an outbreak of disease. The miss conception of vaccines giving kids autism is due to Neurological conditions don’t begin to show till 18 to 24 months which is when many vaccines

For years the topic of vaccination and its link to Autism has been a very controversial topic. In America, it has been an intense debate for decades. Many parents feel as though they shouldn’t have to vaccinate or be required to vaccinate their children because vaccinations can cause diseases like autism and even death. Others feel that their children shouldn’t have to risk getting infected by a child that hasn’t been vaccinated. Many people feel as if those who don’t get vaccinated are a danger to society. The government has put protocols in place for children when it comes to vaccinations. The parents who disagree with those protocols make special arrangements for their children, so that they are not exposed to the potential risks of

The current issue I have selected to discuss is vaccinations. In particular, I will be addressing the anti-vaccination movement that has gained popularity in recent years and the contributing biases that influenced its emergence. One event stands out at as a major contributing factor to the growth of the anti-vaccination movement, the 1998 study by Andrew Wakefield that was published by the English medical journal, Lancet. This study claimed to show a connection between the MMR vaccine and autism. Even though it was just one small study, the media picked it up and it became hugely publicized.

This paper examines the controversy surrounding the public health issue of vaccinations in children. Following a careful review of the literature surrounding this issue, the possible reasons for and implications of having a large percentage of the population who remains unvaccinated are discussed. Possible interventions and purposed interventions for resolution of this problem are discussed and conclusions are drawn based on what it learned from the literature.

The Center for Disease Control describes vaccines as the greatest development in public health since clean drinking water. For several decades, vaccines have saved countless lives and helped eradicate some fatal diseases. The push to do away with vaccines will not only endanger our youth, but our society as a whole. Vaccination is needed to maintain a healthy balance within our country. Vaccines provide the immunity that comes from a natural infection without the consequences of a natural infection. Vaccinations save an ever-growing amount of lives every year. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimated that 732,000 American children were saved from death and 322 million cases of childhood illnesses were prevented between 1994 and 2014 due to vaccination (“Vaccine ProCon”).

Since this vaccine debate, “about 40 percent of American parents today has chosen to delay certain vaccines or outright refuse to allow their children’s physicians to vaccinate their children with one or more of the recommended or mandated vaccines” (Largent). As the rates of being vaccinated go down, it is putting not only that child in danger but also the whole community. Diseases that were once gone are on the rise.” A 2013 study published in the journal Pediatrics reports that California’s worst whooping-cough outbreak, which infected more than 9,000 people (Rothstein)”. Also “the CDC reports that from Jan. 1 to Feb. 28, 2014, 54 people in the U.S. have reported being infected with measles” (Sifferlin).