Immunization Study Essay

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

In order to investigate more about Wakefield’s study, Brian Deer, a journalist of British Medical Journal, carefully talked to the parents of all children who were participated in the study. Interestingly enough, he revealed the fraud behind Wakefield’s research. The Lancet, the journal that reported Wakefield’s study, retracted the paper soon afterwards (Deer). However, the real trouble still exists. Though it has been proved by many researchers that the MRR doesn’t cause autism, many people perceive the vaccine as a threat. Dr.Nemeroff once said “it is quite difficult to get the cognitive sewage out of the water even after the real sewage is gone” (Greene).

The controversy over the MMR vaccine started in the late 1990’s when Andrew Wakefield suggested that there was a connection between the MMR vaccine and autism in a scientific paper which he had published with several other co-authors. Although there has not been a proven fact that the MMR vaccine is the causation to autism it has brought concerns to parents and has caused a major drop in immunization rates. For example, Dannetun et al., 2005 states that, “Fear of side effects and beliefs

Andrew Wakefield is a former gastroenterologist and medical researcher who was discharged from his medical register in the UK, because of his dishonest research paper he released back in 1998, that analysed a possible link between measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and the presence of autism and bowel disease (Godlee, F., et al, 2011). Wakefield's research generated a substantial scare for the MMR vaccine and MMR vaccination rates began to drop because parents were concerned about the risk of autism after vaccination (DeStefano, F., Chen, R.T., 1999). After the paper was published by the Lancet medical newspaper, other reviews were trying to repeat Wakefield's conclusions,

Twenty-three people from across the United States were reported to have measles in the month of January 2017. While a measles vaccine exists (MMR-measles mumps rubella), cases of the measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs), are on the rise in the United States. A contributing factor to this rise, is the anti-vaccine movement. Although anti-vaxxers have questioned the safety, effectiveness and necessity of vaccinations since the 19th Century, it was not until Andrew Wakefield’s study, “Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children,” (1998) that the anti-vaccine movement gained momentum.

One such factor helping to manifest these large-scale epidemics is a study from 1998 by Andrew Wakefield, which claimed that there was a direct link between autism and the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine (Smith 1). As a result, many parents refused to vaccinate their children out of fear, and vaccine-preventable diseases like measles began reappearing more in both America and Britain, the place where Wakefield conducted his study (Cohen 2). Although a later investigation by the British Medical Journal discovered that Wakefield had distorted or altered the medical records of all twelve of the study’s participants and that he had been paid $674,000 USD by lawyers attempting to sue vaccine manufacturers, the atmosphere of apprehension surrounding vaccines is still strong among many individuals, and especially parents (Cohen 1-2). But despite all the controversy and the scientifically unsupported arguments of anti-vaccine sympathizers,

Vaccination has been brought up again in recent years even when vaccines have been around for about one thousand years. However, with recent outbreaks of measles, some see as preventable disease through vaccines, the main controversy of vaccination has once again been brought up due to parents concerns of safety of their children. Parents now are wondering if vaccinations are the best thing for their children due to reports that vaccines cause autism and other brain disabilities. Although, the link between vaccines and autism has been discredited, the issue is still a hot topic throughout the safety of kids and refusal of vaccines. The link between autism and vaccines has caused a scare which lead to more parents refusing to vaccinate

Some others may believe that vaccinations can lead to many health problems in the future including Autism. According to an article by Seth Mnookin these allegations started in 1998 by study in The Lancet about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccinations. Andrew Wakefield the lead author claimed there was a connection between the vaccinations and autism but, later Brian Deer discovered Wakefield's falsification of the study resulting in Wakefield losing his license.After being proved false it was already out there and many still believed that vaccines caused autism. There has been countless other studies that proved there were no connections between autism and vaccinations including one from the CDC after these allegations occurred.There

In 1998 a study was published by Andrew Wakefield theorizing that there was a link between autism symptoms and receiving a MMR vaccination. However, his findings are to be inconclusive considering he did not take the proper procedures to conduct a controlled study. First, he did not include control subjects in his study, so the results cannot be compared properly if there were any changes in the subjects. Second, the endoscopic or neuropsychological assessments were not done blind and the data was not collected systematically or completely. Third, the symptoms found between the children with autism and gastrointestinal problems were inconsistent. In reality, many health groups are theorizing that a vaccination does not cause autism by any

Have you ever thought about how much a single lie could affect humanity for decades? That is exactly what was started in 1998 by Dr. Andrew Wakefield. He and a panel of a dozen other scientists conducted a study to test for a connection between the Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccine and a predisposition to behavioral regression and pervasive developmental disorders, including autism. Published on the 28th of February 1998 in The Lancet (Lancet1), their study showed there was a direct correlation between administration of the MMR vaccine and onset of symptoms of autism or regression of previously learned skills (NCBI).

Live Science Contributor, Stephanie Pappas tell us that, “Wakefield was getting money from lawyers planning on suing vaccine makers, and he owned a patent on an alternative to the MMR (measles) vaccines,” [2] this statement is clear evidence of fraudulent activity and proves that Wakefield had corrupt reasons for undergoing this study in the first place. The second flaw to Wakefield's paper was the questionable practises of his study, for starters he based his study on twelve children that he “cherry picked,” and “although the paper claimed that cognitive problems developed a few days after the MMR vaccine, a simple investigation of hospital records revealed that wasnt so; and in several cases parents reported problems before the vaccine,” [2]. In summary, the investigation was sloppy and provided no tangible evidence that links autism to the MMR vaccine. Furthermore, it should be noted that the the link between autism and vaccines is purely coincidental, the symptoms of autism typically appear at around the age that vaccines are administered, in fact director of the Vaccine Education Centre at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr Paul Offit confirms this says, “Children get their first dose of the MMR vaccine at 12 to 15 months, the age at which autism symptoms typically

The fear that vaccines caused autism began in a 1988 study published in the Lancet by Andrew Wakefield and his colleagues. The study suggested that measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine may put children at risk for behavioral regression and persuasive development. Wakefield had a sample size of 12 children (11 boys), ages 3-10. These children when through numerous testing which included: gastrointestinal, neurological, and developmental assessments. The findings were that “In eight children, the onset of behavioral problems had been linked, either by the parents or by the child's physician, with measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination. Five had had an early adverse reaction to immunization (rash, fever, delirium; and, in three cases, convulsions).

The article alleged the vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella could be the cause of autism. However, it was later established that Wakefield had manipulated the research to come up with a wrong conclusion. Consequently, his medical license was annulled in 2010. After Wakefield’s article, extensive research was carried out by medical researchers all over the world. None of them was able to even come close to the same findings as Wakefield. When the news of the alleged connection between vaccines and autism, many parents took them seriously and would not allow their children to be vaccinated. Which led to many children who were never vaccinated ended up ill and some even

Measles represent another dreadful disease that impacts the health of children. “Measles is one of the leading causes of death among young children even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available. In 2016, there were 89,780 measles deaths globally - marking the first year measles deaths have fallen below 100,000 per year. Measles vaccination resulted in a 84% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2016 worldwide… During 2000 to 2016, measles vaccination prevented an estimated 20.4 million deaths making measles vaccine one of the best buys in public health” (“Measles” par. 1). The measles vaccination helped immensely drop the number of fatalities per year. This vaccine significantly benefits children. The vaccine aided in preventing

Now, many once-forgotten diseases are reappearing. TIME Magazine reported that “In 2014, the U.S. experienced a major outbreak of measles that totaled 383 cases and was primarily spreading among an unvaccinated Amish community in Ohio.” (Measles Outbreak) The number of cases of these diseases is going up when it can be easily prevented. Worldwide, “Measles is one of the leading causes of death among young children even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available.” (World Health