Vaccinating Children Is Safe And Effective Against Dangerous Diseases

Vaccinations have been actively used for over 200 years now and have been effective for over 200 years as well. Western medicine’s introduction to the practice is said to have occurred within the eighteenth century, when a traveling British aristocrat, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, reported her observations of Turkish children being injected with pus from smallpox victims. Although this practice seemed quite harsh, most of these children would contract only a mild version of the illness. In return, these recipients would retain a lifelong immunity to this terrible disease (World of Microbiology & Immunology). Similarly, in the United States, a Puritan minister by the name of Cotton Mather learned about inoculation from his African slave, Onesimus. Onesimus claimed that he was inoculated with smallpox pus and never caught the tragic disease (Williams). This type of medicinal treatment was initially rejected by most Western practitioners. They felt it was a dangerous and barbarous practice, but vaccination gained a tremendous amount of support at the turn of the nineteenth century when English physician Edward Jenner created a new smallpox vaccine derived from the relatively mild cowpox virus (Riedel). There’s no doubt that history has shown the positive outcomes of immunization and continued to show them as technology and medicine progressed.

There is much debate and controversy about child vaccinations being safe or not. Parents wonder should they get

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

To Vaccinate or not to vaccinate, has been a question many parents in America have been asking themselves for years. Some parents believe that it is their right to decide if their children will be vaccinated; while some states believe that all children should be vaccinated. There are logical and illogical reasons for this argument. There should be a federal law that requires parents to vaccinate their children because it will lower the number of deaths, benefit those children who have lower immune systems, and it can get rid of some diseases all together in the future.

Vaccines have been used to prevent diseases for centuries, and have saved countless lives of children and adults. The smallpox vaccine was invented as early as 1796, and since then the use of vaccines has continued to protect us from countless life threatening diseases such as polio, measles, and pertussis. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2010) assures that vaccines are extensively tested by scientist to make sure they are effective and safe, and must receive the approval of the Food and Drug Administration before being used. “Perhaps the greatest success story in public health is the reduction of infectious diseases due to the use of vaccines” (CDC, 2010). Routine immunization has eliminated smallpox from the globe and

Would you ever take away a prime defense from your child? Some parents are doing so without even knowing it. Per Glanz and Daley, “Last year 10 children died in California in the worst whooping cough outbreak to sweep the state since 1947.” (Daley, Glanz, N.p.) These are illnesses that are preventable with vaccinations. Childhood vaccinations are key for the protection of children, the people around them and the prevention of widespread disease.

Jenner’s vaccine was so successful that the World Health Organization declared the word “entirely eradicated” of human smallpox on December 9, 1979 (Spier, 2015). As a consequence of this monumental success and other successes like it, people forget how deadly diseases like this can be and fail to attribute their lack of a crippling disease to vaccinations. Other diseases that have been considered eliminated in a similar manner to smallpox are: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis A & B, yellow fever (Spier, 2015).

Exposing a child to a virus or disease strand, no matter how small the dosage, is frightening. There are multiple complications that come with it but I believe that the benefits outweigh the costs. Vaccines have saved the world billions of dollars and have been the reason behind the decline of deadly diseases such as smallpox and measles. Some parents are against vaccinations because they feel as if the outcomes are unreliable. Parents should get their children vaccinated because it helps lower the infections and diseases related to mortality rates, is a smart financial investment, and is considerate to the lives of those around them.

“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).

Smallpox is a disease that has been eradicated, due to mass immunisation has already lowered 5 million annual deaths per year; further vaccination of the other preventable diseases will save a greater amount of lives. Further seen in how between the year 2 000 to2014, measles immunisations have prevented a probable 17.1 million deaths.

1. Are vaccinations safe and effective for children to receive in the first few years of life, in order to live a healthier and longer life?

In India, when smallpox broke out, the blood from a survivor of the disease was rubbed in a cut on the skin of an uninfected person. An individual got infected with the disease but healed soon after. Throughout time, vaccinations have evolved through the work of scientists and doctors. In the 1700’s, Edward Jenner created the “vaccine” when he eliminated smallpox with cowpox. People were frightened of becoming a cow since the vaccination being inserted into their body contained a disease from a cow (Nova 1). Even though cowpox was completely harmless to the human body, people with strong religious views did not seem to think so. However, vaccinations have extremely improved from Jenner’s discovery. Vaccines now are safer with better

Vaccination saves lives. The parent or guardian has complete control in safeguarding their child from effects of illnesses such as measles. Parenting a child is an enormous responsibility as the parent must learn the facts about the possible diseases that can affect their children (Romm, 2001). However, in the public health sector, the importance of vaccination seems to be underestimated. Some of these public health practices not utilized to their maximum capacity hence disease that can be prevented by vaccines primarily remain a threat to the child’s health. Suggestions were drawn that the gap remains because, within the health sector, the process done on a vaccine by vaccine basis. This paper will clearly define the importance of vaccinating children and bring to light the critical importance of vaccination to child development.

Vaccinations played a substantial role in the eradication of smallpox. Before its eradication in 1980, smallpox was a terror that effected many people. Of those who contracted the disease, 30% died. Most of the people who survived had deep, pit-like scars for the rest of their lives (“Smallpox Disease Overview”). In 1751, London alone reported 3,538 deaths due to smallpox (“All Timelines Overview”). Edward Jenner, an English country doctor, developed a vaccine for smallpox in 1796. Jenner used the pus from cowpox sores to build up immunity to smallpox. Cowpox is a relatively harmless disease that was common among milkmaids of Jenner’s day. Following Jenner’s success, use of the vaccination quickly spread across the world. In the late 1960’s, the World Health Organization (WHO) began to push for eradication using mass vaccination of individuals in epidemic countries. Due to the plans used by WHO and other organizations smallpox was eradicated. The only samples that exist are kept in high security labs in Atlanta, Georgia and Novosibirsk, Siberia. Had eradication

Parents all across the United States have an issue with vaccinations for their children. Parents as of today do not have the option whether or not to immunize their children. These vaccinations are potentially harmful for children, but they also help and prevent life threatening illnesses. Parents should be allowed to choose to vaccinate their children because at times, the vaccine might harm the child, and because the parents simply just have right.