The Effects Of Vaccinations On Our Health

Vaccinations have been repeatedly demonstrated to be one of the most effective interventions to prevent disease worldwide. It was voted by readers of the British Medical Journal in 2007 as one of the four most important developments in medicine of the past 150 years, alongside sanitation, antibiotics and anaesthesia. However, vaccination currently saves an estimated three million lives per year throughout the world and so topped the list in terms of lives saved, making it one of the most cost-effective health interventions available. Modern vaccines provide high levels of protection against an increasing number of diseases and the symptoms, disability and death that can occur from them.

Vaccination protects the spread of diseases around us. Getting vaccinated doesn’t only mean helping yourself, it means helping other people around you too. “The U.S. has seen 118 cases as of mid-May, compared with the 56 cases a year from 2001-2008” (Ropeik). This is important because it’s saying that the rate of vaccination is decreasing, which disease will be increasing. We shouldn’t let this continue because diseases would be spreading faster than ever. We should be alarmed and need to take action for our future and get vaccinated now. Getting vaccinated means protecting ourselves and our community. That’s the reason why vaccine were there in the first place, to

For one to understand the risk behind each vaccination is a very serious matter, identical to other procedures there are calculated risks involved with each vaccine. For example about one in every 520 thousand people will contract the polio disease 7- 30 days prior to receiving the polio oral vaccine (1). This is because the vaccine contains a very small amount of live attenuated strain of bacteria, and in very rare cases can cause the disease that is in attempt to be prevented to be transmitted to the patient. Other side effects include pallor or erythema in site of injection (which only means pale or redness of skins), also one is at risk for anaphylaxis shortly after receiving certain kinds of vaccines, but the most common side effects include rashes and bumps (1). While a more

There are many arguments that people have developed and built upon that are convincing me of the importance of the vaccinations. The benefits of vaccinations really were shown when “The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimated that 732,000 American children were saved from death and 322 million cases of childhood illnesses were prevented between 1994 and 2014 due to vaccination” (Huffington). This is proof right in front of our eyes that vaccinations are working for some children. Something that saves 732,000 lives is a very important asset. Also, I think that it is critical to take into account the 322 million children that were saved from sickness. These 322 million children were kept from getting an illness that could be life threatening or even just uncomfortable. No matter the severity of the sickness there is an importance in the prevention of these diseases. Another intriguing argument for the continued use and importance of vaccines is that “most childhood vaccines are 90%-99% effective in preventing disease” (AAP). With a 90%-99% success rate it shows that it is so important to receive a vaccination because of the dangers of the diseases. In fact the 90%-99% effectiveness has “save[ed] 2.5 million children from preventable diseases every year” (Shot@Life). This direct correlation between these two arguments makes this side of the topic even more compelling. Another statistic that creates a realization that there may be more to vaccinations than we see on the

Vaccination is widely considered one of the greatest medical achievements of modern civilization (Harvard Law School, 2007). Childhood deaths from infectious diseases were commonplace less than a generation ago; however they’re now increasingly rare due to vaccines. In order to be effective at eliminating communicable diseases, vaccines must be administrated to a sufficient level of people in the community. However, there has been plenty of controversy over the morality, ethics, effectiveness and safety of immunization. It has been argued in the past whether laws should be introduced that render some vaccines obligatory for all children (Singer, 2009). These objections may lead to an unacceptably high number of exemptions, which can compromise vaccination programs and leave the population susceptible to outbreaks. Parents argue that it is they who should have the ultimate decision-making right on whether or not to vaccinate their children. Whereas nurses and health care officials oppose that view on the grounds that by making vaccination rates in children incomplete, we expose all children to contracting the vaccine-preventable diseases. The most recent Australian Childhood Immunization Register coverage report illustrates that 92.1% of children aged 12 to 15 months have been fully immunized in Australia (ACIR, 2014). A survey was conducted for the Mansfield community to analyze and identify the factors which prevents them from vaccinating their children.The

Vaccines prevent dangerous and contagious diseases and sickness from wiping out an entire population. For those who don't believe in vaccines, they see vaccines as an unnecessary pain. Schools in the U.S. already require certain vaccinations completed before starting school; For those who refuse the shots, they often opt for home school. We as a “Free Country” can’t force citizens to go out of their ways to pay shots a couple times a year. In addition to the fact that we are a free country, we cannot force someone to receive something that you would necessarily die without. A vaccine would only prevent a particular disease, but if you didn’t have the vaccine and you were to contract that disease, treatment would still be able to save you; Meaning without vaccines, technically, you’ll survive. In essence, the mandation of vaccinations by law can cause plenty of problems that could

Vaccines can cause serious and sometimes fatal side effects. The most common side effect of vaccines is anaphylaxis, which is a severe allergic reaction. According to Sanjay Gupta you are 100 times more likely to be struck by lightning than have a serious allergic reaction. (Gupta, 2015) Every day you put yourself at more risk of having anaphylactic shock by what you eat and ingest and not knowing if you are allergic to it than a single dose of a vaccination. The fact that needs to be remembered is that vaccines are drugs and no drug is ever 100% safe whether that be cold medicine or even birth

MD Paul Offit says, “Children are exposed to more bacteria, viruses, toxins, and other harmful substances in one day of normal activities than are in vaccines ("What Goes Into a Vaccine?").” One of the main questionable substances was a mercury preservative substance called Thimerosal. This substance was only introduced in small amounts at a time, not enough to build up and create problems. The ingredients in vaccines are in such small doses that the odds of them causing harm are very low.

Since vaccinations have been a commonly debated topic, scientist have discovered that vaccinations have been one of the greatest health discoveries in modern history. A study on the effectiveness of vaccines published in the 2007 Journal of the American Medical Association concluded

In order to reduce the risk of spreading preventable diseases, parents must follow the recommended vaccination schedules suggested by healthcare professionals. When a baby is brought into this world that baby is exposed to a world full of disease and illness. Many of these childhood diseases that were frequent before vaccines are now almost obsolete thanks to the Drs. and scientists that have developed the vaccines. But now the integrity of these vaccines is being questioned and people want to know if vaccinations are truly safe and if they are necessary.

Are the ingredients in vaccines safe for your child? Shane Ellison states that they are not, saying “Formaldehyde is just one of the many chemicals found in vaccines. And according to the FDA ‘excessive exposure to formaldehyde may cause cancer,’” [22]. Other ingredients in vaccines that tend to put people off are [15] mercury, an element that is poisonous to the nervous system and can be toxic at levels above 0.32 microgram a day for newborn babies, and aluminum which in excess can cause neurological harm. Some vaccines also contain chicken egg protein which, for children who are allergic to egg can be potentially harmful. Such chemicals can be cause for concern for parents but are not as dangerous as they first appear.

published a controversial study in British journal Lancet where he linked MMR vaccination to autism. (Should I include what his study was based on and results?) Years later, many other studies proved it wrong but mistrust of science and mistrust of government is still there (2011). For example, Phea Paul study stated that there is no evidence that autism is cause by any vaccine and therefore no reason for parents to deny a child protection in today’s vaccines offered (2009). His study shows that if comparing risks mathematically of death or disability as a result of not vaccination a child which are small, to the risks of causing an autism spectrum disorder by immunizing it increases significantly.

In contrast, a positive aspect of many people having vaccinations is herd immunity. Herd immunity is the occurrence where a large proportion of a specific population is vaccinated to provide them immunity, and as a result, it also gives some protection to the people of the population who have and yet developed immunity. This happens as the a large group of vaccinated individuals are protected from a virus and creates difficulty for the it to spread because there is only a small percentage of the population left that could be infected by the disease. It is a very crucial aspect of immunity for the community as the people who cannot receive vaccinations (i.e. people with weak immune systems, very young children and patients who are too ill)

In these days of modern medicine, most children are vaccinated early in life for diseases such as rubella, measles, and tetanus. Vaccines have been perfected to shield and protect our body from seriously life threatening diseases that could have the potential to wipe out large populations. Most of America and a lot of western countries see vaccines as beneficial and a common necessity for their children and themselves. However, this view has not always been accepted. In fact, vaccines were only first widely considered to be helpful for diseases when a man named Louis Pasteur began experimenting with rabies. We will start our journey of microbiological history with the discovery of anthrax and move forward through the creation of Pasteur’s rabies vaccine.

Vaccinations have been proven safe for consumer use time and time again, yet people are still wary or hesitant to have their children receive vaccinations. Often times, people who argue against vaccinations are undereducated or miseducated about the real advantages and dangers of vaccinations, and many times these concerns are due to widely spread misconceptions. However, these have been proven wrong by a plethora of reputable pharmaceutical companies. Proven by many , vaccinations prevent epidemics, save money for the nation, and protect the future.