Negative Side Effects Of Vaccination

Over time a paradigm shift as occurred in the way people think about vaccinations in relation to the differences by race, poverty status and type of vaccines. When it comes to vaccination, there are a lot of unanswered questions and misconceptions. “Present day fears focus on metaphysical debates between vaccines, autism and…preventability of diseases for which vaccines has been developed, some parents have grown more fearful of the vaccines than the disease it was developed to protect against” (Matus, 2015). Parents should have the right to opt out of having their children vaccinated and still send their children to public school. However parents must understand there are consequences of their decision, such as putting healthy children at

Whether or not to vaccinate yourself/ your child has become a very important question to ask yourself. With recent news of vaccinations having a possible link to autism and many other negative side effects, it has become increasingly more important to weigh the risks and the rewards of vaccinations. While this may be a risk, the risk of zero vaccinations worldwide would have an exponentially larger and more negative effect on the majority of the world. Vacinations are the key to achieving longevity in life not only for one person but for the whole of the human species. This leads one to ask “if everyone is vaccinated, what is the difference if I decide not to vaccinate due to inherit risks?”

“Why should I get vaccinated? It is just a waste of time and money. I never got vaccinated before and never will.” That’s what one of my colleagues said when he was asked to get vaccinated during the outbreak of SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, few years ago in Mongolia. Then, I had reasoned him that disease comes all of a sudden and it is more serious than he thinks. As reported on CDC, Centers for Disease Control, 40 percent of all American parents were refusing one or more vaccines for their children (Willrich 3). So it is clearly one of the most significant public health issues today. There are lots of people who hold the belief against vaccination because of several reasons. Even though there is a public notion that vaccine

Some believe immunization can cause autism, brain damage, multiple sclerosis, seizures, or life-threatening anaphylaxis. While it’s best to show respect for these opinions, I simply disagree and am guided by evidenced-based data that illustrates no link between the dangers listed above and immunizations (Vaccines & Immunizations, 2010). According to CDC, there are several different types of studies pertaining to, maintaining and ensuring the safety vaccines including clinical trials, laboratory tests, and animal studies. There is constant monitoring of the safety of vaccines from scientist, along with federal government, state, and local health departments, other partners, and the public. CDC also monitors the safety of vaccines through a series of activities such as: VAERS (vaccine adverse event reporting system), clinical immunization safety assessment project, vaccine safety datalink, and emergency preparedness for vaccine safety (Vaccines & Immunizations, 2010). High-quality research, broad understanding, constant monitoring, evolving knowledge and understanding, and public health surveillance approach coupled with the many major medical organizations such as CDC, IOM, AAP, AMA, and FDA to a name a few contribute to the validity of the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines and immunizations. In a controversial topic, when one side has sufficient and manifested scientific facts followed and supported by world-renowned sources, and the other side simply strong opinions and beliefs, swayed views lacking data and evidence-based research, and uncreditable sources linking a cause to conditions without regard to scientific

According to the CDC (2014) vaccinations are one of the best ways to put an end to the serious effects of certain diseases, some that can be deadly. Parents who choose not to vaccinate their children are not just gambling with their child’s life, they are also gambling with the lives of others. It is always better to prevent a disease than to have to treat it after it occurs. People with weakened immune systems are not as strong such as pregnant women, newborns, cancer patients, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive people, transplant recipients, and the elderly are also affected by the choice not to vaccinate.

Many people in countries like the United States take vaccines for granted and do not appreciate the benefits that come with their country-wide, mandated use. Similarly, each year about “three million children die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases,” therefore the vaccines that people would love to have access to could be going to children in need (Greenwood). In less developed countries, people are lucky to get vaccinated for common diseases, and jump at the opportunity to get a vaccine. Due to the many who die because vaccines are not available, people need to accept the vaccines are a luxury. Vaccines are safe to give to children and prevent children from becoming part of the one in three million who die because they did not get

While a majority of people receive vaccines an increasing number of people are making the decision for themselves or children to reject a vaccine, this is compromising the concept of herd immunity. Herd immunity occurs when a large number of a community are vaccinated, which in case of an outbreak isolates the spread of the disease. As the majority of a community are unable to contract a disease, it prevents the disease from spreading which in turn protects people such as infants, pregnant women and those with weaker immune systems from contracting the disease. Considering the increasing number of people rejecting vaccines, the herd immunity principle could be threatened resulting in an increase of outbreaks; only those who have received

Some people are unable to be vaccinated for health reasons, but herd immunity can protect them. Herd immunity can be classified as the resistance to the spread of a contagious disease due to a high enough percentage of the population being immune or immunized against the disease (Carroll). A great example of this comes from varicella (chickenpox) vaccine. Unfortunately, the varicella vaccine is not certified to be given to an infant under the age of one, but while the infants cannot be protected by the vaccine directly, young babies can be protected by herd immunity. Since the development of the varicella vaccine, there have been minimal deaths of children from chickenpox because of the protection against it from herd immunity (Carroll). Another example of people that are protected by herd immunity are people who are immune deficient. People whose immune systems are compromised are unable to receive some vaccines. Typically, people who fall under this spectrum include those who are receiving chemotherapy, the elderly, and others who are immunocompromised. Would people knowingly refuse vaccinations if they knew it could kill their grandparents? Or their friends? Or even their newborn baby? It is questionable whether or not people think through all the risks before becoming contentious objectors against vaccinations. People protecting themselves also is able to protect those who cannot protect themselves

For many years, there has been a controversy about whether or not vaccinations should be mandated for everyone. In the United States, many diseases such as polio, diphtheria, measles, and whooping cough used to be extremely common, until vaccinations came around and started preventing these diseases. The main point for vaccines is to prepare a person’s immune system for any possible attack of a disease that comes in the future; a person’s body will be prepared to fight off the disease with the vaccine (“Basics”). Vaccines have the ability to prevent many cases of these diseases in advanced, but there are people who think vaccines are unnatural and should not be required for their children. It is said that immunity in child vaccines are about 90%-100%, which is an increase over the past few years (“Childhood”). Although many Americans believe that vaccines are unsafe and cause autism in children, vaccinations for children should be mandatory because they can save a child’s life, create herd immunity in a community, and they have been proven safe/cost-effective.

By not getting your child vaccinated, they are left to be different while others are changing. I don’t mean that in in an offensive way. I simply mean that in the ‘we’re actually mutating our genes’ way. By each injection, each shot, we are putting anti-bodies in us. Ultimately, we are injecting the viruses at low dosage to strengthen our cells. That changes the structures of our cells to be able to fight off diseases. In 2010, there were over 50,000 cases of whooping cough. Without changing the cell structure, we could have been facing another epidemic like the

There are good social implications of vaccinating that have been noted throughout the world. This includes the worldwide spread of diseases that vaccines prevent (Herper, 2013). However if a parent chooses not to vaccinate, they are making a potential high risk for everyone around them. Society needs protection from these disease, children need to be vaccinated to keep them safe (Herper,

Vaccinations are designed to strengthen the well being of a person's life. Vaccines have been proven to make people immune to serious diseases. However there are some parents around the world who are against their children getting vaccinated. Their reasons for not wanting their child to be vaccinated are because they claim that vaccines cause autism, believe vaccines are snake oils, and believe it won’t affect anyone around them. By being vaccinated the person is not only helping themselves but others around them too. Vaccines are an important tool for preventing disease and should be mandatory for all people.

When children who have been vaccinated do contract a disease, despite being vaccinated against it, they usually have milder symptoms with less serious complications than an un-vaccinated child that gets the same disease. It is true that some children who receive vaccinations may still become ill when exposed to other disease-ridden children. Research shows that 70-90% of the entire population must be vaccinated to attain “herd immunity”, “the resistance of a group to attack by a disease to which a large proportion of the members are immune.” (Farlex, 2012) When herd immunity is accomplished the spread of the disease can be averted throughout. If all parents were to take proper responsibilities and keep their children’s immunizations up-to-date, herd immunity would be achieved against all 16 of the major life threatening diseases.

Opel and Diekema (2012) are still on the offence about mandating vaccines because they believe that it disrespects parental autonomy and their ability to make a decision for their child. However, the vaccine is there to protect children from developing these serious conditions and has been shown to be beneficial when all children are immunized to stop the spread of disease from circulating in a community, which is known as herd immunity (Lantos, Jackson and Harrison, 2012). Therefore although it may be said to be true that it disrespects parental autonomy it also violates other parent’s autonomy to choose to vaccinate and keep their children safe from disease. The choices of those parents not vaccinating are putting the ones that do at risk. On the other hand, Dare (1998) talks about parents not vaccinating

“Proponents argue that vaccination is safe and one of the greatest health developments of the 20th century. They point out that illnesses, including rubella, diphtheria, and whooping cough, which once killed thousands of infants annually are now prevented by vaccination” (“Vaccines”). Many deaths occur simply because children, along with adults, do not get the required shots needed. Medical treatments are not given to do a person any harm, but to keep a person and environment safe. Kids being vaccinated will give them less of a possibility to obtain a disease that could lead to death. Benefits outweigh any possibility of risking accumulating a disease. When people say that vaccinations are harmful, does not necessarily mean to develop a deadly disease, simply means some small risks. “Vaccines are not entirely harmless, but the small risks are outweighed by the benefits of a disease prevention” (Offit). Indeed flu shots must be tested in order to be able to give anyone the shot. Receiving vaccinations is only meant to help people prevent many illnesses and deaths. Although some small risks could be accumulated, those small risks are very small possibilities of anything happening to anyone. Getting immunized is not a one-time thing; people must follow up on required dates to receive them.