An Intrinsic Investigation Into A Biological Issue Regarding Immunisation Essay

Throughout history, vaccinations have been used to help the prevention of infectious diseases; some of which can produce serious illnesses, crippling disabilities, and ultimately be the cause of death. There is evidence of ancient culture’s attempting to treat transmittable diseases with various forms of inoculations. Developments in the research of vaccinations increased during the mid-twentieth century because of the established of more advanced laboratories, improved equipment, and new innovations. The progression of medicine during history has helped further the development of research into vaccinations. Several cultural, ethical, and religious issues have resulted from the development and use of vaccinations in our society. The topic of vaccinations has caused a strong debate amongst our culture about the safety and danger of treating infectious diseases with such methods.

To begin I wanted to research articles that explored the question. In “Ethics and Childhood Vaccination Policy in the United States” Kristin S. Hendrix discusses the flaws childhood vaccination policies have on ethical principles. Hendrix begins by addressing the resurgence of disease due to lack of immunization, and attributes it to differing vaccine attitudes and behaviors, and their influence on child immunization decisions. Hendrix argues that, “…vaccine-hesitant attitudes… may be driven by religious reasons, skepticism about science, or the influence of personalities she trusts on other matters” (Hendrix 273). She also acknowledges

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.

Thesis: Vaccinations have many benefits including the prevention of certain diseases but they also can cause issues and be very riskful in using them to treat or prevent a disease. Some of these issues include the ethic dilemma behind the subject.

Vaccination is widely considered one of the greatest medical achievements of modern civilization (Harvard Law School, 2007). Childhood deaths from infectious diseases were commonplace less than a generation ago; however they’re now increasingly rare due to vaccines. In order to be effective at eliminating communicable diseases, vaccines must be administrated to a sufficient level of people in the community. However, there has been plenty of controversy over the morality, ethics, effectiveness and safety of immunization. It has been argued in the past whether laws should be introduced that render some vaccines obligatory for all children (Singer, 2009). These objections may lead to an unacceptably high number of exemptions, which can compromise vaccination programs and leave the population susceptible to outbreaks. Parents argue that it is they who should have the ultimate decision-making right on whether or not to vaccinate their children. Whereas nurses and health care officials oppose that view on the grounds that by making vaccination rates in children incomplete, we expose all children to contracting the vaccine-preventable diseases. The most recent Australian Childhood Immunization Register coverage report illustrates that 92.1% of children aged 12 to 15 months have been fully immunized in Australia (ACIR, 2014). A survey was conducted for the Mansfield community to analyze and identify the factors which prevents them from vaccinating their children.The

For years, universal childhood vaccinations have been a deliberated and debated topic among much of the population. Those who are in support of vaccination, including healthcare providers, believe that vaccinations are not only in the best interest of each child’s health, but also in the best interest of the public’s health as a whole. Many vaccine supporters also believe that the benefit of vaccinations outweigh the risks associated with them (Song, 2014, p. 542). Those who are not in support of vaccinations, or display hesitancy regarding them, may not perceive the continuing need for them or may decline them for various other reasons. Anti-vaccinators are also typically concerned with the safety of vaccinations and believe that the risks associated with them may be greater than their benefit (Song, 2014, p. 542). This paper will focus on discussing some of the ethical issues arising from childhood vaccinations, it will apply ethical principles such as autonomy and beneficence to the issue, and it will explore the role of the nursing profession and ethical standards by which they abide.

"In the United States, the childhood immunization schedule recommends that children receive approximately 15 vaccinations by 19 months of age, and it specifies ages for administration of each vaccination dose" (Luman, Barker, McCauley, & Drews-Botsch, 2005, p. 1367). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a vaccine is "a product that produces immunity therefore protecting the body from the disease" (Vaccines and Immunizations, 2015). Currently, there are many individuals advocating for and opposing the effects of the administration of vaccinations and immunizations in the United States. There are both legal and ethical issues surrounding the controversy, which include both deliberate and exogenous reasons not to vaccinate, and the mandatory nature that is required by many schooling districts and places of employment. Within this paper, I will discuss some legal implications surrounding vaccination, ethical debates that are current in the topic, as well as my point of view regarding immunizations and vaccinations.

The big issue is, does the government have the right to mandate immunization? We mandate that a child has to be in a car seat, that they can’t use alcohol, tobacco or drugs so should we mandate preventative protections. This is the ethical question, does the medical field, or the government have the “right” to force a parent to give their child immunizations for disease that can be prevented? This will be discussed for years and no matter what the decision is there will be people on both sides of the issue. Some will say that the government needs to “force” parents that will not take proper “care” of their child to immunize them or penalize them. Then the other side of the issue will say, we have rights and it is not the governments concern to force immunization. Whether you agree or disagree, the child is the major concern in the discussion. They have really no say in what happens, and they are forced to follow whatever their parents feel is the correct direction to follow, an infant cannot say “I want the immunization” or “I do not want the immunization” and the parent that feels that the immunization causes autism or some other type of disease or their religion is against immunization or other medical care have their rights and they are allowed to express what they believe is

While this paper will mainly focus on the pros of vaccinations, they are some cons or arguments against children being immunized against vaccine preventable diseases. One of the arguments

Vaccinations go through rigorous testing and research to ensure its safety before being distributed to the public. Each step of creating, research, and distribution of treatments are surveyed. Each prevention, policy, and prevention display ethical principles of beneficence, justice, and non-maleficence.

The early Chinese practiced a preventive vaccination method called variolation; wherein an individual was exposed to a small amount of material taken from the pustule of an infected person. This allowed for a less severe case of smallpox and made an individual immune to future infections (Link 11). It wasn’t until much later that the process would be streamlined. Edward Jenner, the Father of Immunology, began his experiments in the late eighteenth century. Acting on the stories surrounding milk maids immunity to smallpox due to exposure to cowpox. Jenner developed and tested inoculations on healthy children to prove their effectiveness. He published his findings and expected the general public to line up for the opportunity to prevent the fatal illness. However, after months without patients, he found that the sway of public opinion was against him. Because his vaccine was developed from cowpox pustules scraped from the udder of an infected animal, there was a fear that those who chose to be inoculated would degenerate into beasts. Benjamin Moseley encouraged this theory by falsely printing commentaries describing children who began to sprout hair down their backs. He linked vaccines to bestiality and the inevitable degradation of the human

More than ever vaccines are met with a high suspicions and very little education on the realities of vaccination success.

Throughout history, it has been shown that vaccines make a significant impact on the health of our communities and “administration of these vaccines led to dramatic reduction in the number of cases of, as well as deaths from smallpox, polio, diphtheria, pertussis, measles, mumps and preventable diseases” (Jacobson, 2012, p.36). Generally, those involved in campaigns for and research in these preventable diseases attribute vaccines for children as the main contributing factor to the overall decline in diseases such as measles, mumps, smallpox and pertussis (Jacobson, 2012). In the public health setting, there are many issues that threaten the health and safety of the public, not just in the local community but the nation and world-wide. One such issue, surfacing in public health, is the issue of vaccinations; those who choose to vaccinate, those who choose not to vaccinate and those who do not

First, in 1796, a doctor named Edward Jenner performed the very first vaccination. “Taking pus from a cowpox lesion on a milkmaid’s hand, Jenner inoculated an eight-year-old boy, James Phipps. Six weeks later Jenner variolated two sites on Phipps ' arm with smallpox, yet the boy was unaffected by this as well as subsequent exposures” (Minna & Markel, 2005)& (Cave, 2008). The first vaccination allowed people to recognize that it was beneficial for their health. It provided the base for the rest of the variations of vaccinations to come. Vaccinations began with the notion that it is rooted in the science of immunology. Throughout history, there have been many variations of this first vaccine for things such as small pox, mumps, malaria and guinea worm. (The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, n.d.)

According to my research, in 1796 Dr. Edward Jenner developed a vaccine for smallpox disease however during this time only cows were infected. This vaccine came from the cowpox virus. In 1809, the state of Massachusetts became the first to mandate the smallpox vaccinations then in 1879 a group of Anti-Vaccination of America was formed and their belief is that no one should be forced to vaccination. They believed that the vaccine was spreading the disease instead of preventing it. In 1986