Measles Vaccines: A Case Study

Anyone that has not been vaccinated with the MMR vaccine is at risk for contracting measles. Other risk factors are vitamin A deficiency and traveling to third world countries. Coming in contact with someone that has this disease can increase your risk as well.

Wolfson stated in his interview “Measles is not a big deal.” Measles outbreak in the United States has increased tremendously since parents refuse to have their children vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published a report, “Measles Cases and Outbreaks,” that shows how the measles cases have been increase nationwide.

As many are aware, the measles was a huge threat to children before people developed a successful vaccine for this disease. Before vaccines, “an average of 500,000 annual” cases of the measles got reported each year in the United States; since 2000, when vaccines became popular, there have been about “62 cases per year” (Omer). As one can see, the amount of cases of the measles decreased since the measles vaccine. This data shows how vaccinating children decreases the chances of contracting a dangerous disease like the measles.

The new trend of parents not having their children vaccinated for measles is causing harm to the child and contributing to future outbreaks of the disease.

Some anti-vaxxers claim that they don’t need to vaccinate their children because “measles isn’t really that bad” (Ross, np). Measles is a respiratory disease within the lungs and breathing tubes that results in fever and rash, and it is very contagious (CDC, np). Measles causes cough, runny nose, rash, diarrhea, and ear infection (CDC, np).

Measles was a common virus in the U.S. before 1963, when the first vaccine became available and prior to 1963 there were approximately 549,000 cases of measles and 495 deaths

Symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose, and a rash, and can lead to pneumonia, hospitalization, or death. The infection can leave permanent damage to the brain and lungs. There is no antiviral medication for measles so it is easier to prevent it than to treat it. In 2016, the US had 70 confirmed cases of measles, mostly in unvaccinated people, and there were 73 confirmed cases of measles in unvaccinated children in Minnesota June 2017 alone (Howard, 2017, ¶2-3). Kristen Ehresmann, the director of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Prevention, and Control Division at the State Department of Health said, “Many of the cases could have been prevented if people had gotten vaccinated” (Ehresmann,2017, ¶4). At least 8,250 people were exposed to the measles, mostly in schools, daycares, and healthcare facilities. There were a total of 21 hospitalizations (Howard, 2017, ¶6). A situation where vaccines did stop an outbreak was in 2005 when an 18-month-old Amish girl contracted polio and spread the disease to four other children who were too young to be vaccinated, but because the community had their vaccines, the herd immunity prevented a massive outbreak (Vaccine ProCon, 2018,

Before a child is able to attend school they are required to get the measles vaccination, but lately there have been some controversy on the vaccination. In this paper I will be explaining what the measles vaccination is, benefits of the vaccinations, and cons of the vaccination.

Vaccinations are considered to be the greatest health development of the 20th century. Because of advancements in medicine, vaccinations are becoming a widespread medium in the prevention of disease. They have provided the eradication and immunity to many deadly diseases such as smallpox, polio and rubella. Although there is no law that mandates the vaccination of children, they are necessary to prevent the infliction of disease and harm. By making the decision to vaccinate their children, a parent has the potential to save their lives.

Vaccinating your child can help be a preventative measure against serious diseases that are not fully extinct yet. One example of a preventable disease is the increase in whooping cough outbreak that was reported recently. 28,000 cases of whooping cough were reported in 2014 and 2012 was a record year with more than 48,000 cases. Almost all of the deaths were babies younger than 3 months of age, who are too young to be fully protected against whooping cough through vaccines. Another disease that is fully preventable with the help of vaccination are the measles. Measles is still fairly common in many parts of the world, like Europe, Asia, and Africa. Measles is unfortunately

Parents need to realize that the risks of not being vaccinated greatly compensate the minimal risks associated with vaccination. Diseases such as measles and mumps are entirely preventable, and if are not prevented can cause permanent disability and death. A little over a decade ago a measles outbreak amongst unvaccinated children in Philadelphia resulted in seven deaths. It is also known that children who become infected with mumps become permanently deaf. What many parents do not realize is that an outbreak can be totally

The controversial issues of children vaccinations have been an on going dilemma in today’s society. Within the article Anti-Vaccination Movement and Parental Refusals of Immunization of Children in USA by Marian Olpinski the author goes into detail about the definite pros of getting your child vaccinated. The author states that since the anti-vaccination movement has been growing, more and more parents are not getting their children vaccinated. Due to this fear of side effects more children are not only becoming ill but they are also dying due to the diseases they are not being vaccinated from. Between the years 2001 – 2008 an average of 56 cases of people infected with measles were reported annually (Olpinski 2012). Not only were there outbreaks of measles there were also numerous cases of children being infected with mumps, which is known as an invasive HIB disease.

It is transmitted very easily through the air, when the person infected coughs or sneezes (Chang, 2015). Runny nose, fever, and the tell-tale rash are symptoms associated with this disease (Chang, 2015). Those particularly at risk include pregnant women, infants too young to have received immunization and those with a depressed immune system (Chang, 2015). Measles became a nationally recognized disease in 1912, with 6000 measles-related deaths in each year of that first decade (CDC, 2014). According to the CDC (2014) “In the decade before 1963 when a vaccine became available, nearly all children got measles by the time they were 15 years of age. It is estimated 3 to 4 million people in the United States were infected each year. Also each year an estimated 400 to 500 people died, 48,000 were hospitalized, and 4,000 suffered encephalitis (swelling of the brain) from

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

Despite significant progress in the fight against preventable disease, millions still die needlessly each year. According to UNICEF, originally known as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, a vaccine preventable disease is responsible for 2 million fatal infections worldwide each year. About 75% of these deaths occur in children under five years of age. (N) In more vivid terms, UNICEF notes that vaccine-preventable diseases kill a child every 20 seconds. (D) Due to high rates of childhood vaccination, the United States has experienced a dramatic reduction in such deaths. A comparison of the years 1950 and 2010 clearly illustrates the benefits of vaccinations. During this 60-year period, deaths from diphtheria reduced from 410 to 0, tetanus from 336 to 3, pertussis from 1,118 to 26, and polio from 1,904 to 0. Measles deaths dropped from 468 in 1950 to 0 in 2008, the last year a United States death rate was recorded. It’s not surprising that vaccinations have been touted as one of the top ten health achievements of the 20th century by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).