Anti Vaccination Research Papers

Daily we make decisions that impact our overall health and safety. We brush our teeth, we eat organic, go to the gym, wear our seat belts, and use sidewalks. Doesn’t it make sense that we’re also pro-vaccination? There are a multitude of benefits that come with immunizations. Vaccinating protects you, the people you care about, and future generations.

I, like citizen three, am undecided on government imposed vaccination. I don't personally agree with citizen I, point of view; but I do agree that people who do not get vaccinated are putting other people in danger. The same goes with citizen II, as a person who strongly believes in freedom of will, I can see why she opposes this issue. But at what price? At the price of others health? I think with an issue like this, it would be extremely selfish to oppose the vaccination.

The renowned Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin, once recalled a time when his four-year-old son perished untimely due to smallpox, “I long regretted bitterly, and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation…” Although vaccines now replace inoculation practices, Franklin’s repentance is a cautionary tale to those who believe there is an repressed hazard within vaccines and therefore, refuse them. Termed as “Anti-Vaxxers,” there lies a community that declines the preventative medicine for their families on account wariness of ingredients, danger, or risk of developing an adverse reaction caused by the vaccination. Sadly, Anti-Vaxxers often form excuses for avoiding vaccines, which the CDC or Center for Disease Control incessantly

Society has benefited from vaccines for more than two hundred years. Yet the path to whether or not to vaccinate has not been an easy decision for all. Vaccines against diphtheria, polio, pertussis, measles, mumps and rubella, and more recent accompaniments of hepatitis B and chicken pox, have given humans potent immune protectors to zone off unwanted sickness. Through this research, I will explore the following questions: What are the reasons for this new law? Who should decide whether or not children should get vaccinated? What are the possible side-effects from vaccines? And what are the risks of not vaccinating? I chose these inquiries because as a mother of a 6-year old, these were significant questions that I too wanted answers; to maintain

The debate around vaccination has been raging on for many years now and it’s a strongly polarizing one at that. With many parents (and even some quack doctors) taking a stance against vaccinations, it has once again become a heated topic in light of the recent outbreaks (the major one being that at Disneyland, California). Herd immunity is becoming a lesser option as fewer and fewer children are being vaccinated. While there have been laws proposed to counter this problem, it is not the solution. Proponents of the anti-vaccine movements over the years have come up with various concerns about vaccinations. The biggest one being autism. Sensationalist and rumour-driven journalism has created a false-positive correlation in the minds of parents between the increased amounts of required childhood vaccinations and recent increase in cases of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Andrew Wakefield was the first to draw a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism in 1998. But it soon became evident that he had falsified his evidence, and his “research” was retracted. Wakefield was subsequently banned from practicing medicine in the United Kingdom (his home country), for “serious professional misconduct”, but the damage had already been done. The vaccine-autism hypothesis became the forerunner in the anti-vaccine argument and has been for years now. To add fuel to the fire, it gained main stream attention when celebrity Jenny McCarthy publically blamed vaccination for the cause of her son’s

Within the last couple of years’ rumors spread that immunizations cause autism. It all started when The Lancet, a United Kingdom medical journal, published a work that vaccines may cause an onset of autism. This rumor was spread like a wildfire and made hundreds of parents in the United Kingdom and the United States not want their children to receive immunizations. This is a major problem in the United States because children are not being vaccinated for diseases that have been eliminated or close to extinction. Since the publication of how immunizations may cause autism many vaccine-preventable diseases have resurfaced and are now on a steady raise in the United States. thesis

In the 1990s, an article was released in The Lancet by Andrew Wakefield. He composed a study of the effects of the Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccines on children. The study suggested that the MMR vaccine can be linked to causing autism or personality disorders. The published study sparked controversy, and stopped families from taking their children to get vaccinated out of fear. Scientists and doctors quickly disproved Wakefield’s findings, claiming his work was inaccurate and fraudulent (Mnookin, 2011). However, parents continue to distrust vaccines and spread the inaccurate information about autism around to other parents who are unsure what to think about vaccines.

Americans are on fire over a hot topic controversy regarding vaccinations – “to vaccinate, or not to vaccinate?” More specifically, people are vividly debating whether or not children should receive the MMR vaccine. The injection itself was created in order to prevent infection of measles, mumps, and rubella - all of which are viruses that cause serious illnesses, and even death. Several thousand people in the United States, commonly referred to as “anti-vaxxers,” are choosing to defer the vaccination of their children because they believe it causes more harm than good. Two main speculations sparking the MMR debate are the accusation that it causes autism and has side effects that are far more negative than the benefit of immunity. Despite these accusations, the MMR vaccine is, without a doubt, providing resistance to illnesses that can lead to death. Therefore, Americans should continue to vaccinate their children with the MMR.

In 1998, British medical journal The Lancet, published a research paper written by Dr. Andrew Wakefield and his research partners. This particular paper stated that there was a direct link between autism, Gastrointestinal Decease and the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine. It concluded that a specific mercury based preservative found in the vaccine caused neurological damage to some children (Wakefield).

Parents believe the MMR vaccine causes autism because it is first seen in young toddlers, which is around the time the MMR vaccine is given (MMR Safety Studies). Experts in the safety of vaccines, including specialists from the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics all agree that even though there has been a recent rise in the number of autistic children, the MMR vaccine is not the cause. Andrew Wakefield performed a study in 1998 that showed a link with the MMR vaccine and twelve children (The Autism- Vaccine Story). Many high quality studies have been performed worldwide after the Wakefield study that has failed to prove scientifically a relation between autism and the MMR vaccine. One of these includes a study with 500,000 children which failed to show a relation over a time period of four years. Andrew Wakefield chose his test subjects with great care. “The twelve children included in the Wakefield study were carefully selected, and many of their parents already believed that the MMR vaccination was the cause of their child’s autism.” Also, Wakefield was previously caught for lying and being irresponsible by the Britian’s General Medical Council. Studies of true quality have been conducted worldwide pertaining the link with the MMR vaccine and autism and have proved this vaccine is safe and has no link with autism (Vaccinations, 57). Not immunizing can make

The fear that vaccines caused autism began in a 1988 study published in the Lancet by Andrew Wakefield and his colleagues. The study suggested that measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine may put children at risk for behavioral regression and persuasive development. Wakefield had a sample size of 12 children (11 boys), ages 3-10. These children when through numerous testing which included: gastrointestinal, neurological, and developmental assessments. The findings were that “In eight children, the onset of behavioral problems had been linked, either by the parents or by the child's physician, with measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination. Five had had an early adverse reaction to immunization (rash, fever, delirium; and, in three cases, convulsions).

In the year 1998, Dr. Andrew Wakefield published a scientific article that would eventually weaken the human species in both Europe and the United States and sow distrust in the idea of getting children properly vaccinated (Kolodziejski). In his article, Dr. Wakefield falsely claimed that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine could be linked to the development of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (Kolodziejski). Unfortunately, even though Dr. Wakefield’s study was discredited the “damage was already done” (McLeod 8). The article caused a decline of vaccinations of children by their parents for fear of unintentionally inflicting ASD upon them. Years later, Celebrities Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey also reinforced his ideas reflected in the article in the United States that caused a similar effect as well (McLeod 8). It is not surprising that outbreaks of diseases that were previously regulated by vaccinations began to occur once again following these events. It should be a requirement for children to get vaccinated because it saves the lives of children, it is safe, it benefits more than just the child and it is still a necessary precaution.

Even though we and made great strides in medical advancements and the way we treat infectious diseases, we have yet to scratch the surface. Over the past decades we have been able to treat childhood preventable diseases with vaccines, which had a profound reduction in the incidence of infectious diseases. Furthermore, disease prevention by way of immunizations is much cheaper than treatment for a full-blown vaccine-preventable disease.5 However, due to the growing incidence in autism among infants and young children, parents are opting not to vaccinate their children because of misinformation and fear about vaccines. Several studies, including this problem statement, have shown there are no significant association or causation between MMR vaccines

Since the start of the post-elimination era, incidence of Measles has been on the rise due to a growing concern over a proposed link between the MMR vaccine and autism spectrum disorder. This controversy began in 1998, with the publication of “MMR Vaccine and autism” by now-discredited author Andrew Wakefield. Despite retraction of the article by The Lancet journal, growing civic concern led to many children not receiving the vaccine and outbreaks occurring. In totality, Measles continues to be an integral part of the human experience and the need to understand it has not diminished with time.

In 1963 the Noble Peace Prize winning virologist John F. Enders finally licensed his vaccine for measles. Prior to this vaccine the United States alone reported 4 million cases of the measles each year. With more scientific discoveries the measles vaccine today has evolved to include immunity against rubella and mumps along with protecting millions against illness each year. However, vaccination is a word surrounded by controversy in today’s parenting world and the Measles Mumps and Rubella vaccine (MMR) can be distinguished as possibly the most controversial vaccine of our time. Controversial because of the fear that many have that it causes autism along with other hazards. This fear has clouded