The Expansion Of The Anti-Vaccine Movement

Between 1924 and 2013, vaccinations prevented 103 million cases of polio, measles, rubella, mumps, hepatitis A, diphtheria, and pertussis (Bailey). Vaccinating is “the process by which pathogenic cells are injected into a healthy person in an attempt to cause the body to develop antibodies to a particular virus or bacterium—successful creation of antibodies is referred to as immunity to the disease caused by the particular pathogen” (Introduction to Should Vaccinations be Mandatory). Popular conflicts regarding vaccination include the worry that this form of immunization isn’t natural, the idea that vaccination schedule for children in the U.S. takes away parents’ rights to make decisions for their children, and the concern that vaccinations aren’t safe for all children. Most doctors and scientists advocate for vaccinations in the name of herd immunity, protection against foreign diseases and prevention against pockets of disease outbreaks. Vaccinations should be mandatory for all children in the United States for who they are deemed safe and effective.

“As healthy as my lifestyle seemed, I contracted measles, mumps, rubella, a type of viral meningitis, scarlatina, whooping cough, yearly tonsillitis, and chickenpox, some of which are vaccine preventable” (Parker 1). This quote by vaccine advocate Amy Parker, a woman who was not vaccinated as a child, shows just a glimpse into the life of an unvaccinated individual. Parents who do not vaccinate their children claim many different reasons for their decision. Three of the most popular reasons are: religious grounds, health problems as a result from vaccines, and the belief that the illnesses are rare. Each of these reasons can be proven as nonessential in the anti-vaccine argument.

In the 1850s the first school vaccination requirement were enacted to prevent smallpox. Federal and state efforts to eradicate measles in the 1960s and 1970s motivated many to mandate policies. By the 1990s, all 50 states requirement for children to be enrolled in school must receive certain immunizations and if these requirements were not met than children were not allowed to be enrolled in school (Center for Disease Control Prevention, 2010). For example, in the state of California, private public school or daycare cannot admit children unless vaccinations were received for all ten of the diseases. If the California Department of Public Health implements a requirement for vaccination parent can be allowed to obtain personal belief exemptions that would allow parents to opt out of vaccination for their children if form is filled out by healthcare professional that states vaccinations were countered to personal beliefs. This law has not been implemented as of yet but should be in 2016. The healthcare of policy decision in laws can have an influence on individuals based on the decision that are made. Health care policy and issues can affect providers and patients in many different ways. Stakeholders’ in the policymakers for vaccination main concern is the safety and health of children so the implement exemptions of laws from concern about vaccine

Through the rise of technological advances in medicine, the vaccine has changed the world for the greater good of the human race. Making a great triumph and virtually eliminating an array of life-threatening diseases, from smallpox to diphtheria, thus adding approximately thirty years to many humans’ life spans. Although, a new complication has arisen, possibly linking neurological digression with this rise of new vaccines. Such a digression has forced parents to exempt their children from receiving vaccinations and brought forth mental anguish affecting the minds of many.

originate from a medical professionals mishandling of a study. This impacts the reputation of the whole medical community. Discovering

disease to occur with numerous antigens entering the body at once and that their child will not be able to properly metabolize and excrete the mercury from their body.

Jenner. His experiments were extremely primal, however, and from that point on the vaccine production rate and quality rose exponentially. In 1809 the first United States law requiring vaccinations for smallpox was written after frequent outbreaks created great health and economic consequences.(Omer, 2011, 169-182). Before vaccines for children were created children died by the thousands from disease like in the 1920’s when diphtheria used to take on average 10,000 lives of children every year. The first vaccine as we have come to know them today emerged in 1914 with the first pertussis or whooping cough vaccine. This was followed by several Supreme Court decisions cementing a states right to create vaccination and school immunization laws regarding unvaccinated children and their ability to attend public and private schools. These decisions included the Jacobson v. Massachusetts decision of 1905 and a 1922 decision on a San Antonio, Texas case about a girl excluded from both public and private schools due to her lack of vaccination. Social call for change in the 1970’s called for the exclusion of unvaccinated children from schools to create quick improvement and controlled outbreak of a measles virus running rampant in the country. Thus after much legislative and social change on the subject of unvaccinated children’s exposure to

Taking a child to the pediatrician to get shots used to be fairly simple. In 1922, children would receive the smallpox vaccine and that was it according to the National Vaccine Information Center. There was no other vaccine mandated by the United States at that time. In the early 1980’s however, that changed drastically. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended 23 doses of seven vaccines to children attending kindergarten. In 2014, states mandated 29 doses of nine vaccines to the same age group. With these requirements, children would receive 69 doses of 16 vaccines before they turned 18. With all these new vaccines being mandated, controversy flared up over the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines. Parents heard the rumors about side effects and decided against vaccines that have saved millions of lives. Despite the controversy, vaccines should be mandated for children in the United States based on the safety of the vaccines and the immense amount of lives saved because of them.

Should children’s health be at risk for the greater good of community health? The news today is full of tragic stories about complications of vaccine use and there have been injuries from the beginning of vaccine use due to incomplete data on the side effects. The injuries have also brought about changes in the way vaccines are manufactured. The Georgia State Government requires citizens to receive vaccines in order to attend day care, go to school, and work at certain jobs and each state has its own mandates as well. The only way to get around the vaccine is to claim religious or medical exception. For either of these exceptions, one has to have a notarized affidavit for religious exception or a

During the course of this paper, I hope to demonstrate my grasp on applied anthropology (changing human behavior through the usage and understanding of anthropological concepts and ideas)(textbook pg 38), and value free philosophy (the aversion of personal viewpoints interjected)(page 44) to argue in the favor of criminal charges for citizens that do not choose to vaccinate, a subject of medical anthropology as it concerns culture and its effect on health, (page 12). I will be operating from the specialized role of an impact assessor, who measures the effect of a particular policy or program on people and the consequences of that policy as it affects those people and those around them, (page 40). As the impact assessor, I will be

Vaccinations have been around for many years, preventing many generations from encountering harmful diseases that at one time lead to death. Recently, there has been an anti-vaccine movement composed of parents debating over whether or not their child’s safety is in the best interest due to harmful side effects that have been identified when it comes to specific vaccines. The CDC recommends each child have a set of sixteen different vaccinations by the age of 6 years old, of those being the MMR which comes in 2 separate doses. By giving children vaccines there is an opportunity to minimize the risk of spreading the virus to other children and gives the whole society the chance to build immunity against an outbreak. Even though the incidence of many diseases has fallen drastically due to the result of these vaccination programs, individuals who are apart of the anti-vaccine movement continue to forgo their children from receiving the vaccinations, like the MMR vaccine because of the fear of possible side effects, including autism. Scientists and doctors are using their voices to show that science has found no link that the MMR vaccine causes autism, while most anti-vaccine movement members have chosen to use the false information as their explanation for not vaccinating their children. Parents should always be given the right to choose what they think is best for the children, but given the health benefits, safety precautions and scientific evidence of low incidence rates

The first argument that I found compelling – in the manner that someone with little formal training in science might be susceptible to – was the claim that there are unnatural and dangerous chemicals and poisons in vaccines. Through looking at a short list provided by the Healthy Home Economist, you can see things that would make any parent nervous: formaldehyde, aluminum, mercury, antifreeze, and many more. These are dangerous chemicals, and the anti-vaccine movement argues that they should not be injected into the bloodstreams of children, which sounds absolutely reasonable. However, the key here is dosage. A large dose of anything can be dangerous; you can drown in water, or have your kidneys fail incurring hyponatremia if you drink too much water without replenishing sodium lost through sweat during intense exercise. The same principle occurs here. Formaldehyde is ever present in day to day life. It is found in car exhaust, household products such as carpets, upholstery, and paint, and even in cough drops and mouthwash. In low doses, it is not harmful. Aluminum is also consumed on a daily basis, with the average adult consuming 30 to 50 mg per day through food, drinking water, and medicines. Vaccines that contain aluminum typically contain .125 to .625mg, which is only 1% of what is consumed daily regardless of vaccination. Mercury is perhaps the easiest to dismiss, as it naturally exists in breast milk and

While the arguments in support of compulsory immunization in the 19th century present the intention of community health protection, evidence suggests that methods to educate and bring about appropriate risk awareness with incentives for vaccination will allow for high uptake rates. When state authority acts as protector of society, curbing individual freedom of choice, it is my opinion that the following must be addressed without which the state ethical conduct may be questionable: 1) What are the risks associated with a health behavior such as vaccine refusal at the individual and population level 2) Of what magnitude are these risks 3) What is the strength and basis of resistance from individuals towards adopting a certain behavior 4) Based

Ever since the invention of the first smallpox vaccine more than two centuries ago, there has been plenty of discussion over the morality, ethics, effectiveness, and safety of vaccination and immunization. It has recently been argued whether laws should be introduced that make some or all vaccines mandatory for all children (Salmon 47). Parents, health care specialists, nurses, teachers and children all have an important stake in this issue. Parents argue that it is they who should have the ultimate decision-making right on whether or not to vaccinate their children. 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. If this is a risk some parents are willing to take, but others face unwillingly, there is obviously a complication.

There are two types of individuals that look at vaccinations as either dangerous and unnecessary or as effective and beneficial to society. However, the majority of vaccinations are vital in keeping children and individuals within society healthy and are able to continue thriving in a safe and healthy environment. Vaccines have increased the lifespan of human beings by 30 years and have largely eradicated certain diseases, like smallpox and polio that once took lives. History can show effectiveness of vaccines and the improvements over the years, however many in the United States feel that vaccinating children should be a choice and not a requirement. Some individuals believe that children’s immune systems can deal with infections naturally, and that injecting children with a vaccine may cause side effects or may speculate that vaccinations can trigger autism. There have been multiple research studies that denies that vaccinations have caused autism which will be discussed further in the paper, and will discuss different ways of how parents are trying to find a reason to avoid vaccinations. Individuals over the years have found ways to eliminate vaccinations from their children’s day to day lives through documented religious, philosophical, or health reasons. The US federal laws mandates vaccinations however, there is no written law that states vaccinations are required before children are enrolled into public schools. Yet, it is vital to ensure that vaccination become