The Resistance To Vaccination

“Vaccines save lives; fear endangers them. It's an unpretentious message parents need to keep hearing.” –Jeffery Kluger. The change in seasons can be intense for some people. It triggers them to become ill and get sick if they do not take care of themselves. Children, among these people, are more prone to becoming ill because their immune systems are not yet fully developed. A great number of parents do not know that getting their children vaccinated when recommended by doctors is a simple solution to childhood illnesses. Therefore, there should be stricter legal regulations that encourage parents to ensure that their children receive vaccinations. This will raise the awareness of vaccinations which will help more people receive them so

While supporting the voluntary immunization for children and defending the right to have information regarding the risk involved with vaccines, the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) oppose the elimination of or possible barriers of entry to obtain Non-Medical Exemptions. In an effort to reduce vaccine related injuries and/or death and support those who do not want to receive vaccines due to personal, spiritual, or religious beliefs, the NVIC supports the right to Non-Medical Exemptions. The primary purpose of this paper is to analyze the safety, efficacy, and economic burden of vaccines, as well as the right to choice in regards to Non-Medical Exemptions.

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

Although some people believe that vaccinations are not the best choice for them or their children, many negative effects can be seen when people choose against vaccines. Paul A. Offit in Deadly Choices: How the Anti-vaccine Movement Threatens Us All, saying “We’ve reached a tipping point. Children are suffering and dying because some parents are more frightened by vaccines than by the disease they prevent” (191). Since the anti-vaccination movement began people have been believing that vaccines are unhealthy, when in reality vaccines are protecting people from the unhealthy diseases. This movement has lead to an increase in outbreaks of preventable diseases throughout the United States. Figure 3 is a list of the “notifiable diseases”, which are diseases that must be reported to the government authorities. This figure shows how diseases such as measles and tuberculosis had a high number of cases before the introduction of vaccinations. Although it is good that the number of

In the past few years there has renewed interest in the whether all states should mandate mandatory childhood vaccinations for all children, except for those who qualify for a medical exemption. It brings forth the major issue of autonomy; of the parents right to choose versus the government right to protect its citizens. In recent years there have been reports about the rise in the number of new cases of vaccine preventable diseases e.g. Measles, Mumps, Pertussis, Pneumococcus. The major factor regarding parents refusing to have their children vaccinated is the belief or notation that vaccines cause autism and are harmful to children (Daum, 2014) (GBD 2013 Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators, 2014)

Vaccines have decreased the mortality and suffering caused by infectious diseases. People who refuse to vaccinate take advantage of the large majority of people who do vaccinate, free-riding off of their immunity. As more people refuse vaccination, herd immunity starts to fail and this puts everyone at risk.” A great amount of people in the world who accept refusal of vaccinations as a right. Believing vaccinations pose danger and seem unsafe, some parents choose not to vaccinate their children. They do not realize if their children do not get vaccinated they may acquire an infectious disease that may not only make them sick, but could potentially kill them; also, it could infect other family members or other people in the community, and consequently produce an outbreak of the

Vaccines are helpful. They heal sick people, prevent diseases, and strengthen immune systems. In the words of Bartoszewska, Patel, and Carter-Blanks, “Since their discovery, some of the world’s deadliest diseases have been eradicated, countless others have been prevented, and hope continues to be found as new and improved vaccinations are being developed” (283). Yet as the efficiency of vaccines keeps growing, so does the number of people opposed to them. The anti-vaccination movement, or AVM for short, is the term used to describe the growing wave of hesitancy or outright refusal to vaccinate. This normally would not be so controversial; however, some parents who are anti-vax also refuse to vaccinate their children, which is incredibly serious. It is important for us to understand the anti-vaccination movement because we as people do not make decisions in a vacuum, we make decisions in an environment with other people and those decisions usually tend to affect those other people. This issue is largely a psychological issue, and just as psychology can help people understand other people, it can also help us understand anti-vaccinators.

In the United States, all fifty states have some form of immunization requirements in order for children to attend school. All fifty states allow for medical exemptions and require evidence for such. However, there are currently forty-seven states that allow exemptions for religious views and eighteen states that allow exemptions for philosophical reasons or “personal beliefs.” This lack of consistency from state to state is a contemporary issue facing public education and this discrepancy needs to be addressed. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in non-medical exemptions. Whatever the reasoning may be, parents have been choosing not to vaccinate their children and as a result, the well-being of the general public has been put at risk. In order to insure public health across the nation, the Center for Disease Control needs to enforce that all fifty states in the U.S. implement strict and synonymous immunization requirements, making all vaccines mandatory (unless proven to be medically or religiously exempt).

Although organizations are working hard to decrease a lack of childhood vaccines, there are still major barriers to their solutions. Along with a lack of funding and resources, parental beliefs are a dramatic barrier to solving the problem of vaccination disparity. Many parents distrust the vaccine information they are given or fear that their child will develop the illness through receiving immunizations (Niederhauser & Markowitz, 2007). In western society, some parents believe that the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccinations cause autism due to a very unscientific study that gained ground with some outspoken celebrities and was thus unable to be stamped out by actual scientists and doctors (Downs, 2008). Another barrier is religious beliefs of some individuals. Some people believe that the healing of illness and prevention is solely up to God and they reject receiving vaccines (Haider & Bassa, 2014).

Vaccines save lives; fear endangers them. Vaccinations have been used since the 18th century to cure various deadly diseases, from smallpox to the influenza virus. On a global level, vaccination is one of the few cost-effective medical measures that result in universal benefit. Yet there have always been those opposed to vaccinations because of possible side effects. With the increase in technology and the ability to share ideas in modern society the anti vaccine movement has flourished making the eradication of disease and safety of the public a difficult task. The anti-vaccine movement in the United States is one which brings about a very serious issue of safety. Vaccinations are put in place to protect people; they are administered by trained professionals who weigh the costs and benefits of vaccines. Yet there are still people out there who refuse to be vaccinated out of fear and therefore decide for themselves the effectiveness of vaccines. In order to ensure a safe society the public needs to be educated about vaccine in order to make a truly informed decision.

Vaccination has and is continuing to have a huge impact on public health in society today. Programmes implemented around the world have led to a decline in mortality and morbidity of infectious diseases, and are foreseen to eliminate yet more (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). Beginning from the eradication of smallpox in 1980, there has been significant reductions in the occurrences of other debilitating diseases such as poliomyelitis and measles worldwide (World Health Organisation, 2011). Despite the upward trend towards immunisation, there still remains much debate about the use of vaccines (Larson et al, 2013; Dubé et al, 2014), with many concerned largely by their safety and effectiveness, brought about by the confluence of various sociocultural factors. There have also been arguments centred upon economic, ethical and religious grounds. All these have served to delay and derail global immunisation efforts considerably. In this essay, I will explore the reasons as to why people object to vaccination programmes and evaluate future measures that can be put in place to ameliorate the problem.

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

Unfortunately, many diseases kill millions of children every year. These pathogens, whether bacteria or viruses can invade the body, increase rapidly, and deny the body vital resources to function properly. Consequently, children are more susceptible to becoming ill because of their developing immune system. In what capacity would children be able to be protected by the repulsions of these pathogens? The answer is by vaccinations. After much research and findings, it has been proven that vaccines help to prevent diseases, saves lives, and kept the spread of diseases at an all-time low. However, in recent years, there has been a rise in parents against vaccines and vaccine hesitancy. Thus, the term vaccine hesitancy is gaining recognition. According to Professor Elizabeth Miller (2015), there is an interrelationship between those who are accepting of vaccines and the ones who refuse them and it is not beneficial to characterize either as “anti-vaxxers” (p. 2). If the risks of a child receiving vaccines do not outweigh the benefits of being vaccinated and therefore vaccines should be made mandatory.

We all remember as kids going to the doctor’s office and dreading getting shots. I remember thinking that if I take this shot I won’t get really sick and that was that. Now in this decade parents and families are coming forward and sharing their complaints of the vaccines that are supposed to be helping their kids’ but instead are hurting them. Parents are saying that they have decided to not give their children vaccines and that is now raising the question should parents be legally obligated to have their child vaccinated? If the parents aren’t willing to get their child vaccinated, they are putting other lives in danger. Health officials and the government should get involved in this ongoing issue. A solution to this problem is to have a law stating that parents should always have their children vaccinated unless medically unable to do so.

Today, it seems as if more and more parents are choosing to not vaccinate their children. Instead, these parents seem to be circumventing the mandate by utilizing, sometimes arbitrarily, the exemptions carved out by the states. But the growing number of unvaccinated children and the amount of outbreaks of preventable infectious diseases present some legal issues. One of which is the continued tension between the rights of parents and the government’s interest in the welfare of children.