Is Vaccination A Preventable Disease?

​Over the past decade, the concern among parents regarding the safety and effectiveness of childhood vaccinations has become a concern in the United States and other countries around the world. A survey of physicians showed that 89% of the physicians who were surveyed reported at least one refusal of childhood vaccinations by parents each month (Gowda & Dempsey, 2013). Other researchers have noted that as many as 77% of parents have concerned about one or more of the childhood vaccinations that are recommended for children (McKee & Bohannon, 2016). However, organizations such as the World Health Organization (2017) note that not only are childhood vaccinations safe, the reduction in children receiving childhood vaccinations has brought back diseases such as measles that had been completely wiped out in the United States. It is clear that there are opposing viewpoints about childhood vaccinations that need to be understood and examined to determine which side has a better argument.

Controversy concerning the risks of vaccinations will always exist. As is the nature of a preventative intervention, it is difficult to rationalize giving a completely healthy child an injection that is known to have varying degrees of sides affects5. Additionally, these injections are to provide immunity to children for diseases that have an extremely low risk of circulating within a population. Since these vaccines have been able to protect so many individuals from experiencing these dangerous infections, most parents do not even have personal experiences regarding the impact of these diseases. As such, many parents do not see the vaccine-preventable disease as a threat to their child. This often causes parents to not fully understand the risk their child has for contracting a disease and the subsequent danger of a vaccine-preventable disease infection verses the potential side effect of a vaccine which is normally only mild to moderate discomfort for their child15.

Vaccinations are safe and they work. There are many parents who choose for their own reasons to ignore Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations to vaccinate and exercise their right to not do so. They run the risk of having their child suffer or even possibly die when they opt-out to having their child vaccinated. Today in the United States, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease are often traced to susceptible children whose parents have claimed an exemption from school or child care immunization regulations (CDC, 2014).

“Sustaining high vaccination coverage among school-age children is vital to prevent outbreaks and avoid reestablishment of diseases that have been eliminated in the United States” (Zangger, 2017). Most of the articles found, stated a variety of issues involved with noncompliant parental decisions made about not vaccinating their children. Of these issues, to my attention, the main problem with compliance of vaccines comes from the lack of knowledge about adverse effects and contraindications. What parents are missing is the fact that these childhood diseases are totally preventable diseases. We also are seeing a lot of parents choose to use an alternative vaccination schedule (AVS) instead of what is recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that leads to the same kind of issue (Committee on Practice and Ambulatory Medicine and council on the community, 2011). The studies show that parents have an increased likelihood of refusing to vaccinate due to the lack of education provided on the subject itself.

There is a culture among us, in life and in healthcare, that seems to be growing rapidly. Many parents are choosing to not vaccinate their kids against potentially fatal or life-altering illnesses. But, why? What is the reasoning for something that could be so detrimental to the well-being of their child(ren)?

There are a huge number of vaccines that most children receive before they turn the age of four. A variety of those vaccines are: three doses of DTAP, Hepatitis B, and two doses of Hepatitis A. If children do not take these vaccinations it could be life threatening for the youngling, and could also be fatal. These are just a few of the diseases that vaccinations protect against, and the health of our community. So if vaccinations are hugely beneficial, why would parents not want their children to take the vaccinations?

Any caring parent would want to protect their child from any harm. Vaccinations are and easy way to protect them from disease and other viruses. They will protect a child from polio, Hepatitis, and cancer. When provided with a safe and beneficial way to preserve our health, why wouldn’t we take advantage of that? People in the United States are taking advantage of the vaccination exemption status which increases out chances of an outbreak. We need to keep America safe, by vaccinating the future generation.

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

Some people believe that vaccinations should be the choice of parents and that opting out should be an option. Although these beliefs have not been thought out thoroughly. “The Science is Not Settled”, by Sandy Reider incorrectly suggests that vaccinations aren’t beneficial and that they are almost useless. Jeffrey A. Singer also implies in “Vaccinations and Free Will” that people should not be forced to get a vaccine. Singer states, “Forcibly injecting substances… into someone else’s body cannot be justified as an act of self-defense..” (text 3). This quote is completely wrong. People get vaccinations to protect themselves and others. They were made for the protection of people, not to hurt them. It is self-defense, but not just for one person, for a large quantity of people. A vaccination is a mechanism of defense and people need to get them in order to stay healthy. Reider remarks, “We know that the young child’s nervous and immune systems are actively developing and uniquely vulnerable…” (text 4). A child’s nervous system is weak. At young ages, children cannot get vaccinated. Meaning, its an adult’s

Each year, vaccines save between 6 and 9 million lives around the world including the lives of 3 million children (Emily Lee, Lindsay Rosenthal, Gabriel Scheffler, 2013). This statistic has been greatly influenced by the introduction of vaccine mandates in the United States. All 50 states have the requirement that children receive vaccinations to attend public schools. This being said, almost all of them allow parents to not have their children vaccinated for a variety of reasons from religious to philosophical. This number of exemptions is growing at an alarming rate. “Children with exemptions from school immunization requirements are at increased for measles and pertussis and can infect others who are too young to be vaccinated, cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, or were vaccinated but did not have a sufficient immunologic response” (Omer, Salmon, Orenstein, DeHart, & Halsey, 2009, p. 1981). Allowing children that are not vaccinated

Vaccinating children has become an issue many parents are taking personally and debating on a regular basis. Several parents vaccinate their children, but do they really know what they are vaccinating for? Most vaccines are necessary for children to gain immunity. Immunity from severe diseases that are part of our history, such as: Measles, Polio, Pertussis, and Diphtheria are essential to everyone. Vaccinating for these serious diseases is a must to keep children healthy. However, history of the vaccine issue has been an ongoing topic for many years. But, most parents have not questioned vaccines until recently. The issue has changed over time since people have become more easily persuaded against vaccines. This has parents wondering how effective they really are, and if they are safe enough to distribute to children. Not to mention, the childhood diseases in question have not been around in decades. Parents want to understand the importance of prevention in something thought to be long gone. Above all, the importance of vaccines is significant in this country, and to all who live here. Furthermore, avoiding vaccines will leave the United States vulnerable to serious diseases, in which were once eradicated. Vaccinations are crucial to the regulation and the annihilation of fatal infectious diseases, not to just the child receiving the vaccine, but to all in the community. Thus, vaccinations should be mandated for all children in the U.S.

Today we seem to take in many conversations on whether mandatory vaccinations are good for our kids. With nearly 90 percentage parents in the U.S. understand the risk vs. benefit factor to be in favor too vaccinate, when handed the choice, about a 10 percent of parents delay or cut some shots with 1 percent that don’t vaccinate at all. (Pemberton, 2015) We see viruses from our past, which were heavily infected among our grandparents or parents ' time, such as poliomyelitis and measles, as children, appear in certain parts of the U.S., but have the feeling that these are isolated or have no significance. Many of these diseases have all but been eliminated, do with vaccinations. But the growing concern is that if we continue to choose not to vaccinate, the viruses we are straining to prevent will resurface, and may produce more potent forms of themselves. The part that grows not to vaccinate, fear or have queries on whether the risk is worth the benefit, and are usually comparing this to the narrations of others or some of the few examples that are perceived linked to side effects from receiving a vaccination. This only will lead to serious consequences, more so for infants, or young children, which could lead to be deadly. Mandatory vaccinations should be applied to all children because the importance it bears on our communities, the effect that vaccinations have, and the misplaced fears linked to vaccinations are vital to ensure that we live a healthier

In recent years, there has been a growing number of parents who refuse to get their children vaccinated. It appears this refusal to vaccinate stems from a fear over the safety of vaccines, and the effect that they will have on their child. This fear is perpetuated by opinion, false studies, and conspiracy, spread by bias media outlets as well as scientists who are incentivized to fabricate this misinformation. Unfortunately, this has led to pocketed outbreaks of diseases such as whooping cough and measles. These diseases were previously a thing of the past, that is, until recently. These outbreaks have led to the tragic, and untimely deaths of several children, and has put many other children at risk. Pediatrician, Matthew Daley, and epidemiologist,

Parents all across the United States have an issue with vaccinations for their children. Parents as of today do not have the option whether or not to immunize their children. These vaccinations are potentially harmful for children, but they also help and prevent life threatening illnesses. Parents should be allowed to choose to vaccinate their children because at times, the vaccine might harm the child, and because the parents simply just have right.

Throughout history, it has been shown that vaccines make a significant impact on the health of our communities and “administration of these vaccines led to dramatic reduction in the number of cases of, as well as deaths from smallpox, polio, diphtheria, pertussis, measles, mumps and preventable diseases” (Jacobson, 2012, p.36). Generally, those involved in campaigns for and research in these preventable diseases attribute vaccines for children as the main contributing factor to the overall decline in diseases such as measles, mumps, smallpox and pertussis (Jacobson, 2012). In the public health setting, there are many issues that threaten the health and safety of the public, not just in the local community but the nation and world-wide. One such issue, surfacing in public health, is the issue of vaccinations; those who choose to vaccinate, those who choose not to vaccinate and those who do not