Childhood Vaccines In The United States

Children come into the world defenseless and vulnerable. The lifelong health of a child begins with what type of defense can be built up. Childhood vaccine schedules are the first step in healthcare for children. A vaccine schedule is a calendar with a combination of vaccines at set intervals and ages for children to receive from birth to six years old *******. The recommended combination of vaccines on the schedule minimizes the amount of times a child needs to get vaccines. Maximizing the number of vaccines a child receives at a time guarantees by school age, the child will meet requirements for enrolling in school. The childhood vaccination schedule was created to be beneficial for children.

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

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

In America, people have the right to practice any religion. Sometimes there are religious beliefs that interfere with what the government wants people to do. If parents do not want their children to have shots because it is against their religion or philosophical reason, there are many states in the U.S. that excuse them from having to get their children vaccinated. “All 50 states issue medical exemptions, 48 states

People in the United States are urged from day one that vaccinations are important for the well being of their children and for everyone that your child may come in contact with. Recently, childhood vaccinations have been stigmatized as a negative process. Parents have become increasingly concerned about the effects and side effects of vaccinations. The problem being, that the infectious diseases that are being prevented for, are being forgotten about. Vaccinations have been doing their job in protecting us for so long that the infectious diseases are less scary than vaccination process itself (Austvoll-Dahlgren & Helseth, 2012, p. 271). Vaccinations are a preventative measure and one that will continue to be implemented in children for their individual safety and for the safety of the public. However, it is still the families’ choice whether or not they want to proceed with the vaccination process or not. Most vaccinations are going to be administered by a registered nurse, therefore, it is the role of the nurse to supply information, and answer questions when counseling families through this process. The goal is to make people feel as comfortable and as informed as possible so that they can make a decision on whether to submit to the vaccination process or not.

The vaccinations of children are a cornerstone of the United States public health measures to protect people from a host of infectious diseases and possible death. Vaccines are beneficial to the greater good of the public health including your own as well as being a cost effective way to manage infectious diseases. Diseases that used to be common throughout this country and around the world can now be prevented by vaccination. These diseases include polio, measles, diphtheria, pertussis, rubella, mumps, tetanus, rotavirus, and haemophilus influenza type b (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014).

The challenges with this policy issues is that many parents disagree with the mandated vaccination laws for children. Parent’s want to make their own decisions about whether to vaccinate their children. Many parents have concerns about the safety of the vaccines or religious reasons for choosing not to vaccinate.

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.

Even though vaccines can save lives it can also be life threatening. Vaccines can have many harmful side effects. If a person is allergic to an ingredient in the vaccines it can lead to other complication and maybe soon enough kill them! Some side effects if a person has a allergic reaction to a vaccine it can lead to brain damage, seizures, comas, and lead to more complications. Vaccines are also highly unnatural to the human body. Natural immunity is much more effective than a vaccine. Vaccines contain artificial and poisonous ingredients to your body.

Hendrix, Kristin S., et al. "Ethics and Childhood Vaccination Policy in the United States." American Journal of Public Health, vol. 106, no. 2, Feb. 2016, pp. 273-278. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2105/AJPH.2015.302952.

Vaccinations were once part of every childhood in America, helping to drastically reduce our risk of acquiring diseases like diphtheria, measles, polio and whooping cough, though organizations like the Vaccine Resistance Movement are working hard to change this reality.

Proponents will argue that vaccines can save the lives of children. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics states that, "most childhood vaccines are 90%-99% effective in preventing disease." (3) If a child does get a disease, the symptoms are less severe if they have been vaccinated vs a child that has not. When there is a medical condition preventing the child from being vaccinated, like cancer, it is due to the child having little to no immune system. Vaccinating children, protects them from being infected with a disease that can result in death.

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

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”).

Vaccines have been considered one of the greatest medical achievements, and are instrumental in health promotion. Vaccines play a major role in lowering the risk of exposure to diseases. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends 29 doses of 9 vaccines plus an annual flu vaccine for children ages 0 to six (CDC, 2017). There are twelve diseases that have been considered potentially dangerous that children are routinely vaccinated against. They include: Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, Hepatitis A and B, Pneumococcal disease, Varicella (Chicken Pox), and Haemophilus Influenza Type B (HIB disease). There is much debate about the safety of vaccinations. Those who oppose vaccinations believe that a child can