Essay On Vaccination

The history of vaccinations begin with Edward Jenner, the country doctor from Gloucestershire who found, growing on cows, a nearly harmless virus the protected people from smallpox. Jenner’s vaccine was safer, more reliable, and more durable than variolation, and it is still the only vaccine to have eliminated its reason for being-in 1980, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease extinct. For nearly a century and a half, smallpox was the only vaccine routinely administered, and it saved millions of lives . But the controversy that marked the return of the vaccine, amid bioterrorism hysteria in 2002, was only the latest twist in the remarkable, mysterious life of vaccines.

Vaccinations have been actively used for over 200 years now and have been effective for over 200 years as well. Western medicine’s introduction to the practice is said to have occurred within the eighteenth century, when a traveling British aristocrat, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, reported her observations of Turkish children being injected with pus from smallpox victims. Although this practice seemed quite harsh, most of these children would contract only a mild version of the illness. In return, these recipients would retain a lifelong immunity to this terrible disease (World of Microbiology & Immunology). Similarly, in the United States, a Puritan minister by the name of Cotton Mather learned about inoculation from his African slave, Onesimus. Onesimus claimed that he was inoculated with smallpox pus and never caught the tragic disease (Williams). This type of medicinal treatment was initially rejected by most Western practitioners. They felt it was a dangerous and barbarous practice, but vaccination gained a tremendous amount of support at the turn of the nineteenth century when English physician Edward Jenner created a new smallpox vaccine derived from the relatively mild cowpox virus (Riedel). There’s no doubt that history has shown the positive outcomes of immunization and continued to show them as technology and medicine progressed.

All around the world, human lives are being lost due to preventable diseases whose spread could be slowed through immunization. As such, I am proud to, as Pro, support legislation that would make immunization mandatory.

The world has many problems. Society has trouble finding adequate protection against the elements, each other, and many other adversities. We cannot fix every problem. We fail to completely survive natural disasters, catastrophes, and even basic problems. We can’t even feed ourselves. However, there is one major problem that mankind is beginning to solve. Vaccines are changing the world. They are becoming vital to our well-being. Vaccinations should mandatorily be administered to all children, especially those in our school system.

Smallpox and measles and mumps, oh my. These diseases we thought we had terminated when vaccines were invented are making a comeback due to parents not vaccinating their young children. Vaccination started as early as the 1800s with smallpox, and as the disease began to decline, the government’s vaccination policies declined as well. As that series of events occurred, parents have decided vaccinating their children is not necessary, leading to the deadly return of these diseases. The government mandating childhood vaccinations is vital to the Nation’s well-being to ensure proper health and safety from diseases such as smallpox, influenza, and human papilloma virus.

For approximately three-thousand years, smallpox has ravaged and plagued the four corners of the globe. In fact, in the 17 th and 18 th centuries, it was claimed to be the most infectious disease in the West, with an astounding 90% mortality rate in America. It wasn't until 1796, with English surgeon Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination, that the world saw relief from this devastating virus. However, even with this inoculation in use, the world continued to witness death from both the virus and the vaccine. In the year 1966, it was estimated that 10-15 million infected citizens world wide had passed away from smallpox that year alone ( “History” 12). As a result of these devastating numbers, in the following year, 1967, the World Health

Pennsylvania like many other states have a list of mandatory vaccinations; if students are going to be publicly active in school they need to get vaccinated. However, unlike West Virginia and Mississippi who only allow medical exemptions, Pennsylvania allows medical and religious exemptions. Therefore, Pennsylvania vaccinations laws require some mandates as well as allow some exemptions. First, Pennsylvania laws do not require parents to vaccinate their children; it is the parents decision. “Children need not be immunized if the parent, guardian or emancipated child objects in writing to the immunization on religious grounds or on the basis of a strong moral or ethical conviction similar to a religious belief. Medical exemptions are also

During the 19th century, despite clear evidence of protection against smallpox by immunization with cowpox, there was a strong anti-vaccination movement that resulted in ongoing smallpox outbreaks and unnecessary deaths (Poland & Jacobson, 2011). Between the 1940s and the early 1980s, anti-vaccine thinking was less prevalent. The reason for this was because of a number of trends. There was an increase in vaccine science, discovery, and production. There was also an increase in public awareness of widespread outbreaks of infectious diseases. With

Vaccination is the process of creating immunity to a disease by intentionally infecting an individual with a weakened form of that disease. This triggers the immune system to develop anti-bodies that remain to fight off future attacks. Vaccines hold the same germs that cause disease, but the disease has already

Childhood vaccinations is a part of life that some people are not willing to accept. Especially the MMR vaccine, which stands for measles, mumps, and rubella. There seems to be a lot of attention that comes along with this specific vaccine because some people believe that there is a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Even with these concerns parents should still have their children vaccinated because they could be saving the lives of their children and the lives of their loved ones.

“Prevention is better than cure.” This common statement could not relate any better than it does with the controversy surrounding the morality, effectiveness, and safety of childhood immunizations. The major argument is whether or not laws should be established to declare vaccination mandatory for all children. “The US food and Drug administration (FDA) regulates all vaccines to ensure safety and effectiveness,” (ProCon.org, 2012) therefor there should not be any reason to risk the health of any child. Vaccinating our children not only ensures their safety but also that of their future to come.

“Hug me. I feel very bad.” These were the last intelligible words of Sanjida Sahajahan in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She contracted pneumococcal meningitis when she was eleven because she did not receive the shot. This vaccination and more were too expensive for Bangladesh to afford for all of its citizens at the time of Sahajahan’s birth (Gorney 120, 121, 126, and 127). This heartbreak could become the result of many illness cases around the world if vaccines did not exist to prevent them. Children should be properly vaccinated for all potentially deadly diseases and conditions for their own safety and the world’s.

According to my research, in 1796 Dr. Edward Jenner developed a vaccine for smallpox disease however during this time only cows were infected. This vaccine came from the cowpox virus. In 1809, the state of Massachusetts became the first to mandate the smallpox vaccinations then in 1879 a group of Anti-Vaccination of America was formed and their belief is that no one should be forced to vaccination. They believed that the vaccine was spreading the disease instead of preventing it. In 1986

Vaccines work by having a weakened form of a disease introduced into a patient’s body usually by injection. The immune system of the patient reacts to the vaccine by making antibodies. Then the antibodies destroy the vaccine germs. The antibodies stay in your body and that is what gives you immunity. Antibodies are what protects you from a real disease if it ever came into your body. People think that vaccines are dangerous. Vaccines protect everyone, from the person vaccinated to the people around them, making them a safe choice for parents that should be mandatory.

During the 20th century, the infectious disease death rate decreased from 800/1000 deaths to less than 100/1000 deaths. This is mainly due to the introduction of immunisation. Vaccination has clearly prevented millions of deaths over the last century; nevertheless, the anti-vaccination movement has grown significantly in recent years. Some of the reasons why people join this movement include the belief that vaccines don’t actually work, the belief that vaccines are unnatural and therefore unhealthy and the belief that vaccines contain toxins that cause bodily damage and neuropsychiatric problems (eg. Autism). This essay will discredit the beliefs associated with the anti vaccination movement through infectious disease statistics,