Essay On Anti Vaccination

Although the negative claims behind anti-immunization stances are deceptive and discredited, some parents find it difficult to accept that vaccines are necessary and safe. Many of these reasons are due to personal or religious beliefs that have persuaded parents to bypass immunizations for their children. Consequently, health officials are seeing disquieting rises of diseases that are easily preventable. The CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) has reported hundreds of measles cases in the United States in 2011, the largest number in 15 years (Ben-Joseph, Elana). Essentially, almost all of these cases were in individuals who had not received a vaccine shot. Also found in the article was that a great amount of the quarrel over the shots comes from a 1998 study that tried to connect autism to a type of vaccine that defends against measles. However, there has been no scientific evidence that a vaccine or a combination of any of the shots induces autism. Undoubtedly, the doctor that wrote the article, calling vaccines a “deliberate fraud” ,lost his license for not submitting any evidence of his claim and causing people to neglect shots for that year. Sadly, due to that article, 1 in 4 parents still believe that vaccines are

This explains the theory of why parents choose the non-vaccinated route for their children’s lives and explains it why it’s a social issue and not just a personal choice.

The most commonly cited reason why parents decide to not vaccinate their children is due to their belief that vaccines cause harm11. In a survey that looked at risk perception with vaccines, researches found that while 94% of individuals surveyed had vaccinated or plan on vaccinating their children, only 23% of participants had no concerns about the vaccines16. This reiterates the point that even though there are high rates of vaccination in the United States,

“As healthy as my lifestyle seemed, I contracted measles, mumps, rubella, a type of viral meningitis, scarlatina, whooping cough, yearly tonsillitis, and chickenpox, some of which are vaccine preventable” (Parker 1). This quote by vaccine advocate Amy Parker, a woman who was not vaccinated as a child, shows just a glimpse into the life of an unvaccinated individual. Parents who do not vaccinate their children claim many different reasons for their decision. Three of the most popular reasons are: religious grounds, health problems as a result from vaccines, and the belief that the illnesses are rare. Each of these reasons can be proven as nonessential in the anti-vaccine argument.

Throughout the article, Hendrix evaluates the possible arguments of parents who turn down opportunities to vaccinate their children and later discusses methods to evoke better communication. For example, Hendrix states, “Some parents do invoke the herd immunity argument as a reason not to vaccinate, suggesting that it is unnecessary that they expose their child to the risk of side effects from vaccination if everyone else is vaccinated to a level that prevents the spread of illnesses” (2). While her stance calls for policymakers and health officials to consider the reasoning behind parental opposition to vaccinations, she also refutes

Due to the attention the anti-vaccination movement has received, many researchers have attempted to determine who is participating in the anti-vaccination movement. I am not the first to call for distinctions in children who were not fully-up-to-date (FUTD) on vaccines from those who are. Previous research on vaccination status has considered the children of “non vaccinators” as two distinct groups: undervaccinated and unvaccinated. Unlike selectively-vaccinated children, who intentionally were spared a particular vaccine, in much of this research undervaccinated children are identified as those who have inconsistent access to medical care (Reich 2014). Undervaccinated children are more likely to share particular demographic characteristics such as being below the poverty line, having a mother who is younger, unmarried, and has not attended college (Reich 2014; Smith 2004). This group is perceived to be unable, in most circumstances, to obtain the recommended vaccinations due to a wide variety of external factors. Undervaccinated children, in this sense, have been of particular interest to public health officials as they have attempted to implement programs to remove the cost of vaccines to increase availability (Smith et al. 2008). Undervaccination, like discussed earlier, has been reduced with the enactment of the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program by the United States government (Whitney et al. 2014).

A person’s health can be one of the most important aspects in their life. When thinking about what can help one to remain healthy, vaccinations come to mind. Vaccinations, to many people, are a necessity to remain healthy. I know when I was younger I hated to get a shot, but when I think about it today I am glad my parents made me get them. My mother was a nurse, so she knew the importance of vaccinations. Unfortunately, in todays’ society some parents think vaccinations can be more harmful then helpful, therefore refusing to vaccinate their children. The articles “How Vaccines Protect Us All” by Harrison Wein and “Beliefs About Childhood Vaccinations is the United States: Political Ideology, False Consensus, and the Illusion of Uniqueness” by Mitchell Rabinowitz, Lauren Latella, Chadly Stern, and John Jost both talk about vaccinations as the main point. While both of the articles talk about the importance of vaccinations and how they should be required, the first article by Harrison Wein talks more about how vaccinations protect the community and the second article by Rabinowitz et al. talks about how parents have the control of their children’s vaccinations. However, both articles prove readers to believe vaccinations can help keep children safe and healthy.

As a parent, there are countless tough decisions to make. Parents are responsible for their child’s well-being, which is intense pressure. They are obligated to decide what they think is in the best interest of their own child. There is also pressure from the media, and other parents, on how people should raise their children and what decisions are actually in the child’s best interest. One of the tough decisions that parents must determine is whether to have their child vaccinated or not. There is excessive disagreement about whether vaccinating children is beneficial or detrimental. There are also restrictions put in place by the government that encourage vaccines, such as children must have vaccinations to attend public school. However,

Thesis Statement: Today, the choice on whether to vaccinate children or not is a thriving topic that many parents are starting to look deeper into. Ultimately, the sole purpose of vaccinations are to promote immunity. When parents decide not to vaccinate they are not only putting their child at risk for contracting diseases, but other children as well. Claim: When parents decide not to vaccinate they are not only putting their child at risk for contracting diseases, but other children as well.

Vaccines have decreased the mortality and suffering caused by infectious diseases. People who refuse to vaccinate take advantage of the large majority of people who do vaccinate, free-riding off of their immunity. As more people refuse vaccination, herd immunity starts to fail and this puts everyone at risk.” A great amount of people in the world who accept refusal of vaccinations as a right. Believing vaccinations pose danger and seem unsafe, some parents choose not to vaccinate their children. They do not realize if their children do not get vaccinated they may acquire an infectious disease that may not only make them sick, but could potentially kill them; also, it could infect other family members or other people in the community, and consequently produce an outbreak of the

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

Vaccines are helpful. They heal sick people, prevent diseases, and strengthen immune systems. In the words of Bartoszewska, Patel, and Carter-Blanks, “Since their discovery, some of the world’s deadliest diseases have been eradicated, countless others have been prevented, and hope continues to be found as new and improved vaccinations are being developed” (283). Yet as the efficiency of vaccines keeps growing, so does the number of people opposed to them. The anti-vaccination movement, or AVM for short, is the term used to describe the growing wave of hesitancy or outright refusal to vaccinate. This normally would not be so controversial; however, some parents who are anti-vax also refuse to vaccinate their children, which is incredibly serious. It is important for us to understand the anti-vaccination movement because we as people do not make decisions in a vacuum, we make decisions in an environment with other people and those decisions usually tend to affect those other people. This issue is largely a psychological issue, and just as psychology can help people understand other people, it can also help us understand anti-vaccinators.

Vaccines are safe and a crucial component of childhood and community health. They do not just protect the children of America, they protect those who cannot receive vaccines, because of severe allergies, and weakened immune systems from other diseases. So, to keep them safe we need to make sure that everyone else is fully immunized. There are a lot of specific groups in America, who cannot receive vaccines, including newborn babies, who are too young to receive vaccines. According to CDC, 10-20 babies die each year, because of contracting a vaccine preventable disease (7). This is from the babies encountering children and adults who have decided to not only risk their own health, but the health of someone else’s child. “As long as the majority of children receive their vaccines, we will be able to maintain our current level of disease control. However, should the level of community protection drop to the point where the viruses and bacteria travel unimpeded from person-to-person, from school-to-school, and from community-to-community, we instantly return to a past era when epidemics were an accepted part of

The issue of vaccines was addressed in an opinion article by Claire Harvey titled Anti-vaxers, you are baby killers published on the 22nd of March 2015. Appealing to parents who are outraged by the anti-vaccine parents, the writer contends, in an angry tone, that parents who don't vaccinate their children are irresponsible and should be labelled as 'baby killers'. Keeping her target audience in mind, Harvey manages to persuade readers about the importance of vaccinating babies and making sure that others do as well by using inclusive language and evidence. Her vocab choice and use of loaded language also helps support her argument.

Despite vaccinations being credited for the control and elimination of several childhood diseases, there are still many critics who raise concerns about the necessity of vaccination. In a national study of parents performed in 2000, 19% indicated they had “concerns about vaccines” whereas in a subsequent survey performed in 2009 this number had risen to 50%. There has also been a rise in non-medical vaccine exemptions that has occurred over the last several years. In a 2010 national survey of physicians, 89% of respondents reported at least one vaccine refusal by a parent each month (Dempsey & Gowda, 2013). Opposers argue that making school vaccination mandatory is against their right to make personal medical decisions. They feel that the government has no place to force parents to vaccinate their children if the parents decide it is not in their child’s best interest. Many parents are disagreeable about the multiple vaccinations received at one time, which results in possible pain and discomfort for the child. Another argument against vaccination is the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Critics are concerned about the unknown risks vaccines pose to children. Some parents noted their child acquiring a “high fever” or beginning to “act different” after the administration of a vaccine. There is a belief that there is a connection between the measles vaccination and autism. Another theory is that the influenza