Babies Vaccines

Many infectious diseases that once quickly spread and easily killed have been controlled or eradicated due to vaccinations. The efficacy of vaccines in reducing morbidity and mortality, particularly in children, is undeniable. Per the World Health Organization, childhood vaccinations prevent approximately 2-3 million deaths per year worldwide (WHO, 2016). In the United States, the value of immunizations is clearly displayed by comparing pre-vaccine era morbidity/mortality rates to post-vaccine era in regards to vaccine-preventable diseases. For example, prior to the diphtheria vaccine in the 1920’s, 206,000 people annually contracted the disease resulting in 15,520 deaths (History of Vaccines, 2009). However, between 2004 and 2014, only

There is much debate and controversy about child vaccinations being safe or not. Parents wonder should they get

Poliomyelitis was a highly infectious disease that spread through many Americans in the early 20th century. As a matter of fact, over 3,000 Americans died of the disease each year. Families were overwhelmingly desperate for doctors to find a cure. When one suffered from polio, they generally experienced painful symptoms which included not only fatigue and muscle weakness, but even death. Therefore, when the polio vaccine was introduced by scientist Jonas Salk in 1953, it greatly contributed to Americans in numerous positive ways. Environmentally, the vaccine saved countless young American lives affected by the disease thus decreasing American mortality rates. Socially, the polio vaccine convenienced families who were either directly afflicted

On October 22nd, 2007 The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention posted a web article which admitted that polio vaccines contained a cancer-causing virus. The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention also known as the CDC, deleted the post within the week it was posted. The National Center for Biotech Information Center confirms that Micro biologist Maurice Hilleman discovered Simian Virus 40 was contained in polio vaccines administrated from 1995. (Hilleman) The CDC stated that the virus was removed from the vaccine in 1961. Records show that contaminated vaccines were used until 1963 and were used in different parts of the world until the 1980’s. (Varmus) As a result of the 98 million people given a polio vaccine; 30 million received the contaminated dose. (Hilleman) On May 10th, 2002 a Pathologist by the name of Dr. Michelle Cabone tested the

Unvaccinated people can cause outbreaks of viruses that have been eradicated. In late 2014 a measles outbreak occurred when an unvaccinated child who was a carrier of the disease visited Disneyland. This caused 173 people from seventeen different states to contract the virus that was eradicated from the United States in 2002. In order for measles to be under control 94-99% of the population must be vaccinated. With the recent trend of not vaccinating, measles, along with other once eradicated, or nearly eradicated diseases are making a come-back.

Roosevelt became president with infantile paralysis (polio), which was diagnosed in 1921, and the public found out.9 Having the American people's president seem weakened by such a disease but push on through expectations showed that little to nothing was going to get in his way and stop him.10 Including FDR's case, close to 25% of those age 21 and older had paralytic cases by the early 1950s.11 Before the vaccine, there was a peak of about 50,000 cases of polio in 1953.12 Concern of the people was also around it's highest point due to the increasing risk of the horrid disease most feared at this time. Hopes for a solution were still going strong. Friends, family, and even strangers kept prayers for those in need. Anything that could be done was done until the vaccine was established. There were even several hundred thousand children placed in a control study and out of the 749,000, only 33 from the vaccinated group developed paralytic polio.13 In addition to this trial and other performed, and conclusion was drawn stating that the vaccine was 80-90% effective against the paralytic branch of polio.14 Chances for a new beginning were showing up all over with this vaccine, even if it only helped those who haven't been diagnosed

With the last outbreak of Polio in the US being in 1979, many today have no recollection of the terror of this disease. The disease primarily infected children, and there seemed to be no pattern to who succumbed to it. No one could feel safe. Polio as a disease presents such horrors that even those who overcome it once can be plagued by its aftereffects in later life. Before vaccines, single outbreaks could devastate entire communities. One outbreak

The article in the textbook concerning child vaccinations touches on the importance of vaccines and some of the reasons why children aren’t vaccinated. Vaccinations are very important to prevent diseases; the injection is a small dose of inactive virus to allow the body to guard itself against the disease. Some common beliefs are that children who are vaccinated are at risk of chronic illnesses which the textbook reveals that these illnesses have no correlation to the vaccinations. Another reason why children aren’t vaccinated is due to income, poverty levels affect the children who are not vaccinated because the families cannot afford them.

The vaccination of children is a common practice in the United States. It has helped prevent the spread of infectious diseases that has plagued our society since the dawn of time. Since the decline of those infectious diseases, the United States and other countries have gone to what is called “herd immunity,” which is a mandatory vaccination of a majority of children to protect the mass population from contracting those easily communicable diseases (Orenstein & Yang, 2015). However, as of late the numbers of unvaccinated children are going up. Why is this happening? Why are so many parents choosing not to vaccinate their children? To answer those questions one must look at the reason why childhood vaccinations are required and why people choose to have their children vaccinated. Many parents believe some vaccinations help build their children’s immune system, but for other parents vaccinations are looked at as a risk to their children’s health and well-being. Many studies have been conducted to compile information to quantify the need for mass vaccinations, but childhood vaccinations have become so common in today’s society, that it’s hard to find a large percentage of unvaccinated children to gather a significant amount of data from. This is because the groups of unvaccinated children are too small and wide spread to consistently provide relevant data. This has led to a very controversial debate between parents, medical professionals and government officials about

Can a simple vaccination, something thought to keep people in good health, cause autism and possibly have other worse side effects? There has been quite a number of quarrels about vaccines and their part in causing autism. Some people believe that vaccines are absolutely harmless and that it’s your parental responsibility to keep your kid vaccinated, others believe that vaccines are extremely detrimental to children and cause autism. Because of this controversy there has been people who will not get their children vaccinated causing even more controversy. I believe at this time, given our information collected by scientists, it’s clear that thimerosal is a harmful preservative and may onset autism in those whom are already predisposed to it.

My heart breaks in pieces when I witness my aunt taking care of her autistic child. I can only imagine how difficult it is for her to see her child like that every day that can’t communicate with others, that doesn’t socialize with his peers, can’t eat by himself, still plays with toys ages 0 to 5 when he is 15 years of age. It is more difficult to explain to her second son, why is his older brother acting certain ways. Her first child started to develop serious symptoms of autism right after MMR vaccine and that put her second child at very high risk. Is children vaccination even necessary? Do children really need vaccines? Is autism linked to vaccination? Question regardless vaccination of a child has been controversy for centuries. The role of childhood vaccination in prevention of diseases in the population is still very open subject of debate. In addition, the prospect of expanding vaccination programs to include healthy children has received increased attention in the past few years. Based on the researched studies I formed an opinion that children vaccination save lives, protect against serious disabilities, reduce suffering for children and their families who deal with low immune system and are sick a lot. Studies also show that vaccination does not cause autism.

Is it fair to not vaccinate children because we don’t want to? Because they do not need to and they will not get sick? No. It is not fair to not vaccinate children because they won’t get sick. By not vaccinating children you are doing others harm. Every child has a different immune system and reacts to illnesses differently. Imagine having a child with disabilities and having them around children that have not been vaccinated. With the poor immune system autistic kids have they would be catching every disease possible.

These vaccinations have exterminated and eliminated diseases that once ravaged thousands of people. For example, the World Health Organization found that poliomyelitis, or polio, cases have decreased by over ninety-nine percent because of vaccinations. Between 1988 and 2015, polio cases dropped from three hundred fifty thousand cases per year to seventy-four cases (“Poliomyelitis”). However, if people choose to ignore necessary immunizations, cases of polio could increase throughout the United States and the world. Dr. Karie Youngdahl, the author of the novel The History of Vaccines, discusses this

There is an extensive list of all the vaccines, what diseases they prevent and the symptoms and complications that are associated with these diseases. By receiving this information alone can convince a person to have their child vaccinated.  Below is listed the vaccines and what the disease can cause according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website for Vaccines and Immunizations:

In modern times with the rapid pace of vaccine development in recent decades, the historic origins of immunization are often forgotten, leading people to underestimate the severity of the harm that vaccinations prevent. The resistance to vaccinations is a well-known occurrence, due to the positive effects vaccinations have had we forget the tragic consequences of the past's fearsome infectious disease such as smallpox. “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” George Santayana. Studying history is necessary to avoid repeating past mistakes. Despite overwhelming evidence supporting the safety and benefits of vaccination, this fear has proven resistant to information. Parents are increasingly questioning the safety of and need for vaccines as a result, vaccination rates have fallen to dangerously low levels in certain communities.