Alfredsson, R., Svensson, E., Trollfors, B., & Borres, M. (2004). Why do parents hesitate to vaccinate their children against measles, mumps and rubella? Acta Pædiatrica, 93(9), 1232-1237.
In this article, Alfredsson et al. (2004) outline growing parental concerns regarding how safe the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is. The study explored why parents are hesitant to vaccinate their children, thus conducted a quantitative study by using postal questionnaires to 277 parents of vaccinated and unvaccinated children. The authors focused their research on five main subjects: (1) the child’s current vaccination status; (2) reasons behind the decision to vaccinate or not; (3) prior knowledge of or experience with MMR vaccination; (4) parental
“Sustaining high vaccination coverage among school-age children is vital to prevent outbreaks and avoid reestablishment of diseases that have been eliminated in the United States” (Zangger, 2017). Most of the articles found, stated a variety of issues involved with noncompliant parental decisions made about not vaccinating their children. Of these issues, to my attention, the main problem with compliance of vaccines comes from the lack of knowledge about adverse effects and contraindications. What parents are missing is the fact that these childhood diseases are totally preventable diseases. We also are seeing a lot of parents choose to use an alternative vaccination schedule (AVS) instead of what is recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that leads to the same kind of issue (Committee on Practice and Ambulatory Medicine and council on the community, 2011). The studies show that parents have an increased likelihood of refusing to vaccinate due to the lack of education provided on the subject itself.
Throughout the article, Hendrix evaluates the possible arguments of parents who turn down opportunities to vaccinate their children and later discusses methods to evoke better communication. For example, Hendrix states, “Some parents do invoke the herd immunity argument as a reason not to vaccinate, suggesting that it is unnecessary that they expose their child to the risk of side effects from vaccination if everyone else is vaccinated to a level that prevents the spread of illnesses” (2). While her stance calls for policymakers and health officials to consider the reasoning behind parental opposition to vaccinations, she also refutes
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? Parents with infants and young children have been tussling with this proverbial question for several decades now. With the advent of the internet and the World Wide Web, parents have been bombarded with a plethora of information about pros and cons of vaccines from all kinds of sources, some creditable, and some are not. To the non-scientific community, these conflicting information can create problems in the decision making process; thus, forcing parents to make the wrong choices and putting their offspring and others at risk. However, this article will attempt to address the importance of vaccinations, how vaccines work, why we should vaccinate, and why parents should not be afraid to vaccinate their offspring.
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
Since the outbreak of measles in 2000, an increasing number of parents have refuse to get their child vaccinated. The majority of parents refuse to follow the vaccination schedule and requesting to receive a schedule differ than that of the American Academy of Pediatric. Only a small number of parents refuse to allow their children to receive all vaccinations. Some even want their children to only receive a certain number of vaccination (Hendrix, 2015).
It is apparent that most parents feel safer vaccinating their children than they do not vaccinating which is reflected by the high vaccination rate in the U.S. (Largent, 2012)
Being a child of today means not having to suffer many diseases that once left many kids with deformities or facing death. Due to modern medicine and the development of vaccines children, today no longer have to worry about diseases like polio or smallpox, or other illnesses that killed many children. Clinics that offer pediatric medical services will also keep kids on schedule with Children Vaccinations in San Antonio Texas. Following the recommended vaccination schedule ensures that children do not suffer debilitating diseases.
Outbreaks of preventable diseases happen when parents choose not to vaccinate their children. Vaccines are not only safe, but they are effective as well. Before being introduced to the public, vaccines are carefully reviewed by doctors, scientist and the federal government to make sure they are as safe as they can be. By vaccinating your children and yourself you are protecting everyone else around you love and care about
Almost all American citizens had previously contracted Measles before a vaccination was available for the general public; these days, doctors rarely see any cases of Measles due to the vaccine. Before vaccines, many died from the disease they had been infected with. It is important to vaccinate children, otherwise they could contract an illness and suffer the terrible consequences, even death. With vaccines, fewer and fewer people get diseases that could essentially kill them. Without vaccination, many more would be afflicted. Hundreds of thousands of children are saved by harmless vaccines each year, hence it is crucial to vaccinate all children to protect whole communities.
Daley and Glanz (2011) talk about how parents should be spoken regarding vaccinations prior to giving birth, if possible. Dannetun, Tegnell, Hermansson, and Giesecke (2005) attempt to add to the literature regarding why parents choose to not vaccinate their children for MMR. Using the four criteria stated above, I will evaluate how credible each of these three sources are. The author of an article should be knowledgeable in the subject they are writing about.
Children come into the world defenseless and vulnerable. The lifelong health of a child begins with what type of defense can be built up. Childhood vaccine schedules are the first step in healthcare for children. A vaccine schedule is a calendar with a combination of vaccines at set intervals and ages for children to receive from birth to six years old *******. The recommended combination of vaccines on the schedule minimizes the amount of times a child needs to get vaccines. Maximizing the number of vaccines a child receives at a time guarantees by school age, the child will meet requirements for enrolling in school. The childhood vaccination schedule was created to be beneficial for children.
Millions of lives have been saved thanks to a global effort to vaccinate for deadly diseases. Peter Yeo reports “Immunizations have saved more children than any other medical intervention in the last 50 years” (Reforming the U.N. 118). Yet, a new trend for parents is opting out of vaccinating their children for personal beliefs or religious exemptions. Although, the majority of Americans believe vaccines protect children, and conclusive evidence has proven vaccines can prevent the spread of deadly diseases. Still, a few parents believe vaccinating children is not essential for their health, additionally, they believe an increase in mandatory vaccines has insufficient scientific research to prevent serious medical side effects.
1A vaccination is used to stimulate ones immune system and provide resistance from infections.2Many people believe that vaccinations need to be mandatory to prevent mass outbreaks and pandemonium much like the measles outbreak of December 2014. 3In spite of preventable outbreaks, many others deflect the idea of vaccinations because they believe that they are “unsafe”. 4Accoring to the Editorial Board for USA Today, mandatory vaccinations, such as the measles vaccination, are positively affective and only .5% of its recipients have experienced major and crucial side effects. 5Although it is understandable to opt out of a vaccination for religious reasons, we must analyze the impact that unvaccinated children have on the entire community. 6The
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).
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).