Rhetorical Analysis Of ' Immunizations : Victims Of Their Own Success ' By Tony Cappello

For years there has been public controversies over the advancements in science and all of the health risks that have been around, but now the use of the media has certainly boosted the amount of confusion throughout the public. Frightening stories regarding the progressions of science have been appearing online and in print. One particular example of this issue was the MMR vaccine debate. The MMR vaccine is an immunization vaccine which fights against rubella, measles, and mumps. During the 1990’s the media played a huge role in the decisions parents made regarding whether or not they allowed their children to get vaccinated. The media portrayed the MMR vaccine as having a possible link between autism. Which left the public worried about the MMR vaccine and having conflicting views and feelings towards the safety of vaccinations. In the MMR vaccine debate scientist and the media played two different roles which helped citizens make decisions regarding vaccination.

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

Unfortunately, little progress has been made since then, as reports from 2015 show only 72.2 percent of U.S. children are fully vaccinated (KFF, 2017). Healthy People 2020 recommends a national goal of 80 percent to maintain herd immunity (Child Trends Databank, 2015). Despite the life-saving importance of immunization, these stagnant rates show that many mothers of U.S. children do not adhere to vaccination recommendations. These critics and skeptics of vaccines are a part of the anti-vaccination movement. Originating upon the discovery of the first vaccine in 1796, this movement has progressed for hundreds of years. Currently, through media and prominent anti-vax social figures, the public can easily be relayed messages of vaccine controversies rather than scientific facts. Falsehoods include perceived low risk of contracting vaccine-preventable diseases, “overloading” the child’s immune system, mercury in vaccines, reports of negative reactions after vaccination, and the infamously popular myth that vaccines cause autism (Mittenzwei, Morrison, & Williams,

“Don’t let any more babies die because of anti-vaccination lobby” is written by Susie O’Brien on 24 March 2015 at 12:00 am on the Herald Sun. Written as an opinion piece, O’Brien approaches her audience in a serious yet informal way. Regarding the issue of how parents are not vaccinating their children, O’Brien contends that action should be taken in order to ensure parents vaccinating their kids. O’Brien voices that anti-vaccinators are putting other kids’ lives at risk as well as their own. Furthermore, the author has provided the reader with a picture of a baby displaying how sweet and calm it looks. Lastly, O’Brien states that due to the low vaccination rates, Australia is sure to have another whooping cough epidemic.

Childhood immunization is an important factor in today’s life, which is why it is important to be aware of the facts. After reading two articles, I came up with the conclusion that Ronald Bailey’s article “Refusing Vaccination Puts Others at Risk” presents a stronger argument than Sandy Reider article “The Science Is Not Settled.” One reason Ronald Bailey’s article is stronger is that Bailey has more authority than Reider. Sandy Reider who is a MD, general practitioner and primary care doctor practiced medicine in Vermont.

According to Jake Johnson in his critically acclaimed essay, Vaccines: Made for the Vulnerable, Given to the Weak-Minded, the key to societal progress is a healthy population. In the midst of a recent trend in boycotting essential vaccinations, Mr. Johnson presents a ridiculous proposal that encapsulates the exaggerated mindset of the Americans who are skeptical of vaccines. With a satirical approach through sarcasm and irony, paired with ridiculous interpretations of facts, Mr. Johnson urges the American population to recognize the benefits of vaccinations, and receive them as responsible citizens.

In “vaccination isn’t a Matter of Private Choice” the author states their claim that individuals who don’t get vaccinated have the potential harm individuals who are unable to be vaccinated. Furthermore, this particular stakeholders belief is the “rise in outbreaks” would be “preventable through vaccinations,” but not all parties are able to be vaccinated due to medical issues (par.1). However, not everyone shares the same opinion, Jenny Mccarthy and her following believe the opposite. Mccarthy is a stakeholder who feels that vaccinations cause more harm than help, due to her child being autistic. She argues this by saying the vaccines given to her son caused his autism.

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,

The current issue I have selected to discuss is vaccinations. In particular, I will be addressing the anti-vaccination movement that has gained popularity in recent years and the contributing biases that influenced its emergence. One event stands out at as a major contributing factor to the growth of the anti-vaccination movement, the 1998 study by Andrew Wakefield that was published by the English medical journal, Lancet. This study claimed to show a connection between the MMR vaccine and autism. Even though it was just one small study, the media picked it up and it became hugely publicized.

Many parents stress over the choice of deciding whether or not to vaccinate their children. The reason why deciding to vaccinate children is so difficult is due to the wide range of myths and side effects that are connected with vaccinations. Myths spread to parents all over the United States that the diseases don’t even exist anymore, rumors of vaccinations weakening a child’s immune system, and the risk of a child becoming autistic due to thimerisol in vaccinations. Side effects also scare parents out of getting their children vaccinated like brain damage, seizures, or allergic reactions, but then parents are pulled back to the thought of the possibility of

Although both writers agree on the dismissal of the mandated HPV vaccines each provides their own logic behind their beliefs. Using a different approach, Allen’s tone and diction in his piece differs of that of Adam’s article. Allen begins with an unbiased opinion on the case and opens his article with a previous case regarding mandated vaccinations, the Hepatitis B vaccine. The case is very similar to that of the HPV Vaccine and Allen uses this as a starting point to build up his reason in his work. Unlike Adams, Allen does not in any way relay to the reader his bias on the government in terms of the vaccines; he remains neutral and refrains from using loaded dialogue to attempt to inform the reader of his point. “It stands to reason that, without a mandatory vaccination, many of the girls who don’t get vaccinated will belong to the same groups that fall through the cracks of the patchy U.S

The first passage points out how effectively vaccines has eliminated diseases that have been a problem for hundreds of years and effected the lives of millions of people . It mentions that polio and small pox have been virtually eliminated in North America when as little as 60 years ago

More than ever vaccines are met with a high suspicions and very little education on the realities of vaccination success.

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

Since this vaccine debate, “about 40 percent of American parents today has chosen to delay certain vaccines or outright refuse to allow their children’s physicians to vaccinate their children with one or more of the recommended or mandated vaccines” (Largent). As the rates of being vaccinated go down, it is putting not only that child in danger but also the whole community. Diseases that were once gone are on the rise.” A 2013 study published in the journal Pediatrics reports that California’s worst whooping-cough outbreak, which infected more than 9,000 people (Rothstein)”. Also “the CDC reports that from Jan. 1 to Feb. 28, 2014, 54 people in the U.S. have reported being infected with measles” (Sifferlin).