Millions of Americans get vaccinated every year to protect themselves from the flu and other communicable diseases. Most of these vaccinations are totally safe or cause very mild side effects, but in some circumstances, they can cause serious side effects or even death. When serious or fatal side effects occur, the national Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) allows victims to file a personal injury suit and claim damages.
However, this does not necessarily place fault, or mean that the vaccine caused injury. Over 80% of compensation is the result of a negotiated settlement wherein the Department of Health and Human Services has not concluded that the vaccine was responsible for injury. Still, individuals who feel they were injured because of a vaccination should not hesitate to
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Because the awarding body is federally funded, there are several eligibility requirements, which are as follows:
• The injury must have lasted more than six months after the vaccination, or…
• The injury required hospitalization and/or surgery, or…
• The vaccination resulted in death.
There is also a statute of limitations on vaccine injury cases. Claimants must file within three years of the onset of symptoms. If the claimant is a family member of a victim, he or she must file within two years after the death of the victim, or four years after the first symptoms surface.
In addition to eligibility and statute of limitations, victims are only allowed to file claims for a specific set of injuries under a specific set of guidelines. Claimants must prove the following:
• The injury must be listed on the VICP's Vaccine Injury table, and…
• The symptoms surfaced within the designated time frame, or…
• One of the covered vaccines is found to have caused the injury, or…
• The vaccine exacerbated an existing
We know that vaccines can have many fatal side effects they all carry a life treating allergic reaction called (anaphylaxis). And in 1 in million baby's it can cause insusceptible a type of bowel blockage that may require hospitalization, it can also cause comas seizure and brain failers do we really
Vaccinations are not without controversy. Some parents worry about the possible side effects of vaccines can potentially harm their children.
There is approximately 1,000 infants die each year as a direct result of the DTP vaccine. Approximately 35,000 acute neurological reactions occur within 48 hours of the shot. (www.tuberose.com). Doctors, FDA, and CDC are all telling us the vaccines are safe, but are they really. I visited a site called the Tragedy of Vaccinations and in this site it had pictures and a list of names of children who had a severe reaction to vaccinations, first on the list was a boy name Chris- Christopher died 21 hours after receiving his first DPT and OPV vaccination at two months of age. Second, Ashley- 72 hours after receiving her 4th DPT and OPV and HIB, she was hospitalized with encephalitis and kidney failure, she is severely mentally and physically handicapped. Third Richell- 10 hours after her 3rd DPT and OPV she suffered a grand mal seizure, she is now mentally and physically handicapped (www.yourlifesource.com) and the list went on. These are only a few of the thousands of children who suffer from mental and physical handicaps and who have died from these so called routine vaccinations. I would guarantee you that the parents of these children would argue that vaccinations are not safe by any means.
Which makes some people accuse the same vaccine that is the main cause of injury. It seems that the medical bodies to explain this to them. Also, these vaccines do not affect significantly in adults and have a better effect when given to younger ages.
They saying what is good for you can also be bad for you also applies to vaccinations. Vaccination tend to cause serious side effects depending on the recipient. Some individuals
Looking at the childhood vaccination controversy gives one an in-depth view into one of the more obvious conflict between the society and the vaccine manufacturers. The controversy is whether the government can require parents to vaccinate their children. Many families do not wish to do so based on religious and other reasons. Some believe the risk of catastrophic side effects is too high. Several childhood diseases have been nearly eradicated in the United States because of the required immunizations such as polio, whooping cough, diphtheria, etc. Some mild side effects include fever and local inflammation at the site of the injection. Some children can have severe reactions, which include seizures, autistic type reactions, and death. Parents
Since the 1970s, cost benefit analyses have been performed on the use, subsidization, and compulsory action of vaccines (Willems 1982, 978). These vaccine cost-benefit analyses follow the same general format. The objectives are defined, the possible alternatives including the costs and benefits are determined, the effects of discounting future effects are derived, the uncertainties in key variables are discussed, the key ethical issues are addressed, and general conclusions
Some believe immunization can cause autism, brain damage, multiple sclerosis, seizures, or life-threatening anaphylaxis. While it’s best to show respect for these opinions, I simply disagree and am guided by evidenced-based data that illustrates no link between the dangers listed above and immunizations (Vaccines & Immunizations, 2010). According to CDC, there are several different types of studies pertaining to, maintaining and ensuring the safety vaccines including clinical trials, laboratory tests, and animal studies. There is constant monitoring of the safety of vaccines from scientist, along with federal government, state, and local health departments, other partners, and the public. CDC also monitors the safety of vaccines through a series of activities such as: VAERS (vaccine adverse event reporting system), clinical immunization safety assessment project, vaccine safety datalink, and emergency preparedness for vaccine safety (Vaccines & Immunizations, 2010). High-quality research, broad understanding, constant monitoring, evolving knowledge and understanding, and public health surveillance approach coupled with the many major medical organizations such as CDC, IOM, AAP, AMA, and FDA to a name a few contribute to the validity of the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines and immunizations. In a controversial topic, when one side has sufficient and manifested scientific facts followed and supported by world-renowned sources, and the other side simply strong opinions and beliefs, swayed views lacking data and evidence-based research, and uncreditable sources linking a cause to conditions without regard to scientific
However, vaccinations do not always ensure safety; rather, they can cause many dangerous health issues. As more vaccinations become mandatory, the potential side effects grow drastically. An article by Mary Holland analyzes the dangerous side-effects and limited regulations regarding vaccine injury, “Some children are permanently disabled or die from their vaccine exposures. A broad spectrum of suspected and confirmed adverse vaccine events has grown in the decades from the beginning of mass vaccination. In total, over 600,000 people in the United States have filed vaccine adverse event reports since 1990. Furthermore, people receive little warning of the risks of vaccination because of minimal information requirements under the Vaccine Act” (Holland 420). As time goes on, more dangerous events regarding vaccinations occur. Consequently, children can be disabled or killed from vaccination exposure. Additionally, no information regarding the dangers of vaccines reaches parents; therefore, they believe they are making the right choice by vaccinating their children. Doctors, drug companies, government agencies, and the Center for Disease Control tell parents that vaccinations protect children and keep them safe from dangerous diseases and without them their child could grow severely sick, or worse, die. In reality, the vaccinations themselves can severely harm and kill young children. Therefore, laws should not mandate vaccines, as this gives companies power to place fear on parents and put more money in their own
The issue regarding vaccinations and their accompanying side effects has been a prevalent debate throughout society and medicine for a number of years. Some continue to believe that vaccinations are harmful and actually promote disease, but the truth is that the concept of immunization is one of the most significant advances in scientific history that has led to the prevention of countless diseases and epidemics throughout the world. Still, despite the overall improvement of public health, the usage of vaccinations remains a controversial concern that is constantly challenged. Vaccination critics argue that the serious side effects associated with vaccines have been underreported, underfunded, and rarely researched. This, however, is
Utilitarianism would argue that the effects from adverse reactions fail to compare to the consequences a child would experience from disease if not vaccinated. To put into perspective, 1 in 14,000 children vaccinated with DTaP will experience seizures. As well, 11 in 1 million will have acute encephalitis (brain swelling); however for children who contract the diseases that this vaccine prevents (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis), 1 in 20, 1 in 10, and 1 in 500, respectively, will die ("Vaccines: The Reality Behind the Debate", 2016). In this instance, the consequence of not vaccinating includes the risk of death. In terms of pain under the utilitarian view, death would be viewed as a higher rate of pain than the other health risks associated with vaccinating. Even though both choices, vaccinating or not, have risks, utilitarianism sees that the consequences of vaccinating maximizes pleasure and minimizes pain for the
Health officials caution that no vaccine is 100% safe, but they sponsor studies that conclude the benefits of vaccines far outweigh the risks. Vaccines are approved after just a few short years and the research is sponsored by vaccine manufacturers and public health bodies, who have financial and bureaucratic interests that could impede the objective study of vaccine safety (Delong 55).
Parents should be allowed to choose whether or not to immunize their children because of health concerns. Every vaccine has the potential to cause side effects such as, a low fever, irritation or swelling of the injection site, and headaches. These side effects are temporary and can usually last up to twenty-four hours, but sometime minor side effects are sometimes confused for the beginnings of severe adverse reactions. Adverse reactions occur because of genetics, environment, and acute sensitivity. When a person suffers from an adverse reaction they can temporary if treated properly and quickly, but tend to be permanent in most cases. Dr. Ran Paul believes that parents should have the right to choose because he has “heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines” (Con 1). He is not against vaccines, but believes that the parents have a right to be more involved. Vaccines can also cause a weakened immune system in children, which lowers their ability to
Vaccines are administered primarily to fabricate immunity against diseases like rubella, polio, whooping cough, diphtheria, and small pox ("Should Any Vaccines..."). Even though the majority of parents authorize their children to receive immunization, the minority of parents argue that the side effects and relations of these injections include seizures, paralysis, diabetes, and autism instead of immunity ("Should Any Vaccines..."). On August 27 2010 the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit put an end to these theories by stating that there is no significant relation between immunization and
On April 19, 1982, a televised documentary titled Vaccine Roulette aired showing the world the severe side effects DTP was causing on children and scientists opinions against the vaccine. What Vaccine Roulette purposely forgot to mention to nations of concerned, watchful parents was that the DTP vaccine nearly extinct the pertussis virus and that they had taken the answers of scientists and cropped their answers to best fit their case. As a British epidemiologist previously stated, “Once again the media have succeeded in denting parents confidence in childhood immunization” (Conis 209). Shortly after this documentary aired, vaccine compensation programs were established to protect those who unfortunately had a severe reaction to a vaccine and new and improved vaccines were formulated, tested, and released for administration to the