The Importance Of Vaccines

Can you imagine life without vaccine? In the reading "Not Being Vaccinated is not Acceptable" by David Ropeik argues that we should all get vaccinated because it’s necessary. Vaccinations are designed to help us go through our daily everyday life. A vaccine is a modern type of medicine that has been added to the world early on in life to prevent us all from diseases. It is called a modern medicine because of how many lives it has saved throughout the world. The earliest documented examples of vaccination are in the 17th century from India and China, people infected with smallpox were used to protect against the diseases. Vaccine have become better, to where they are safer for the human body. Vaccinations protect you and everyone around you, saves public money, protects future generations and it’s reliable.

Many infectious diseases that once quickly spread and easily killed have been controlled or eradicated due to vaccinations. The efficacy of vaccines in reducing morbidity and mortality, particularly in children, is undeniable. Per the World Health Organization, childhood vaccinations prevent approximately 2-3 million deaths per year worldwide (WHO, 2016). In the United States, the value of immunizations is clearly displayed by comparing pre-vaccine era morbidity/mortality rates to post-vaccine era in regards to vaccine-preventable diseases. For example, prior to the diphtheria vaccine in the 1920’s, 206,000 people annually contracted the disease resulting in 15,520 deaths (History of Vaccines, 2009). However, between 2004 and 2014, only

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).

“In 2011 alone, 1.5 million children died [worldwide] from diseases preventable by currently recommended vaccines” (“Immunization” 2). The magnitude of this tragedy is in part caused by the fact that some of those children simply weren’t reached by organizations like UNICEF, which aim to vaccinate children (“Immunization” 2). However, there are other reasons for the recent deaths and epidemics—such as the whooping cough epidemic of 2012, with 48,000 cases nationally in the United States—involving vaccine preventable diseases (McClay 1).

The world has many problems. Society has trouble finding adequate protection against the elements, each other, and many other adversities. We cannot fix every problem. We fail to completely survive natural disasters, catastrophes, and even basic problems. We can’t even feed ourselves. However, there is one major problem that mankind is beginning to solve. Vaccines are changing the world. They are becoming vital to our well-being. Vaccinations should mandatorily be administered to all children, especially those in our school system.

The Global Vaccine Action Plan has two great ambitions. First, to deliver vaccination to everybody. This is because, about 1.5 million children still die every year of diseases that can be prevented by the vaccines that humankind has developed. Secondly, to unleash vaccines’ vast future potential -because their impressive history is just the foundation stone of greater achievements to come. With these two great ambitions, the Global Vaccine Action Plan aims to make 2011-2020 the ‘Decade of Vaccines’ ( WHO, 2014).

Vaccines are one of the safest, convenient and most preventive care measures that is available. Getting vaccinated can mean the difference between life and death. Vaccine preventable diseases can be very dangerous. Every year, there is approximately 50,000 United States adults who die from vaccine preventable diseases (McLaughlin, p265). Vaccines will not give you the disease that it is designed to prevent. Some vaccines contain the killed virus, and it impossible to catch a disease from that. Other vaccines contain live, but weakened viruses that are designed to ensure that a person cannot catch the disease. There is very strong data from many different medical investigators that all point to the safety of the vaccines (Williams, p3176). There is proof that vaccines are among one of the safest products in all medicines used. When one person gets sick, children, grandchildren and parents are at a higher risk. A vaccine-preventable disease that could make a person sick for perhaps a week or two, but could prove to be deadly for a person’s children, grandchildren and parents if it is to spread to them. When a person gets vaccinated, they are not only protecting themselves, but also their children and community. An example is that adults are the most common source of whooping cough infection in infants, which can be extremely deadly to infants. In 2010, there was at least 25 cases in the United States of infants who

Vaccination has revolutionized medicine. It is one of the most significant health development of the 20th century. Vaccination can save lives, protect future generations, and provide economic benefits for society. The American Academy of Pediatrics says “most childhood vaccines are 90% to 99% effective in preronting disease. According to shot@life vaccines save 2.5 million children from preventable diseases every year. UNICEF estimates that $6.2 billion could be saved in treatment costs if vaccines were more prominent in the world’s poorest countries. The CDC estimates that children vaccinated between 1994 and 2014 have yielded net savings of $1.38 trillion in “societal costs.” Vaccinated mothers protect their unborn children from viruses that

In the past few decades, vaccines have eliminated or significantly reduced the incidence of many diseases in the community. High vaccination rates reduce the spread of infection, the research of Bigham & Hoefer (2001, p. 175) shows the significant effectiveness and high degree of safety associated with immunization for diseases including Hib, measles and rubella all sharply reduced by 90% or more and polio eliminated completely .

Now, many once-forgotten diseases are reappearing. TIME Magazine reported that “In 2014, the U.S. experienced a major outbreak of measles that totaled 383 cases and was primarily spreading among an unvaccinated Amish community in Ohio.” (Measles Outbreak) The number of cases of these diseases is going up when it can be easily prevented. Worldwide, “Measles is one of the leading causes of death among young children even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available.” (World Health

The Center for Disease Control describes vaccines as the greatest development in public health since clean drinking water. For several decades, vaccines have saved countless lives and helped eradicate some fatal diseases. The push to do away with vaccines will not only endanger our youth, but our society as a whole. Vaccination is needed to maintain a healthy balance within our country. Vaccines provide the immunity that comes from a natural infection without the consequences of a natural infection. Vaccinations save an ever-growing amount of lives every year. The Center 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 (“Vaccine ProCon”).

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)

Medical advancements have made considerable impacts in the world today, saving and improving the quality of life for many. Vaccines are a solution used to produce antibodies for the body to fight of diseases and infections. Vaccination immunity has been proven to be much more effective than natural immunity. Many poor countries, including Africa, do not have access to these vaccines, and the ones that do, often reject modern medicine, decreasing the size of the African population.

Vaccines have been considered one of the greatest medical achievements, and are instrumental in health promotion. Vaccines play a major role in lowering the risk of exposure to diseases. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends 29 doses of 9 vaccines plus an annual flu vaccine for children ages 0 to six (CDC, 2017). There are twelve diseases that have been considered potentially dangerous that children are routinely vaccinated against. They include: Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, Hepatitis A and B, Pneumococcal disease, Varicella (Chicken Pox), and Haemophilus Influenza Type B (HIB disease). There is much debate about the safety of vaccinations. Those who oppose vaccinations believe that a child can

With immunization, a country’s growth can be boosted, as immunization makes economic sense. Though there are some challenges in being able to vaccinate all target children, UNICEF has made major initiatives and major progress.