Young Adults More Likely to Say Vaccinating Kids Should Be a Parental Choice
Source: Monica Anderson/Pew Research Center/February 2, 2015
As the number of measles cases linked to the California outbreak climbs to over 100, health officials are urging parents to properly immunize their children, citing unvaccinated individuals as a main contributor to the disease’s spread. Some have linked the outbreak to the anti-vaccination movement – a group whose members claim vaccinations are unsafe and ineffective.
A Pew Research Center report released last week shows that a majority of Americans say children should be required to get vaccinated. Further analysis of the survey data reveals significant age differences in views about vaccines. In 2009,
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adults say childhood vaccinations should be required, while 30% say parents should be able to decide. Among all age groups, young adults are more likely to say vaccinating children should be a parental choice. Some 41% of 18- to 29-year-olds say parents should be able to decide whether or not their child gets vaccinated; only 20% of adults 65 or older echo this opinion.
Older Americans are strong supporters of requiring childhood vaccinations – 79% say they hold that view, compared with 59% of those under 30. One possible reason that older groups might be more supportive of mandatory vaccinations is that many among them remember when diseases like measles were common. Prior to the first licensed measles vaccine in 1963, hundreds of thousands of measles cases were reported annually in the U.S. In 1958 alone, there were more than 750,000 cases. A decade later, in 1968, that number fell to about 22,000, according to an analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Today, measles cases are extremely rare, but the CDC reported a spike in 2014, with more than
600 measles cases, the first such jump in more than a decade. The CDC attributed the increase to
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People who regularly take too much acetaminophen are the largest group of people hospitalized for acute liver failure. And, on average, one person in the United States dies every year from H20 intoxication, or drinking too much water. And yet, no armies have formed against aspirin, Tylenol or water.
David Katz, from Yale School of Public Health, wrote that it makes no more sense to rant against vaccines because you heard of someone who might have had an adverse reaction than to stop walking because you heard about a pedestrian struck by a car. In many ways, it is a luxury to be able to have this discussion at all. Having spent time in West Africa covering the Ebola outbreak, I saw how people hoped, wished and prayed for a vaccine -- to no avail. On the other hand, the measles vaccine is readily available, and yet vaccination rates in certain areas of the United States are similar to the refugee camps I have visited in Haiti, Pakistan and Jordan.
Yes, parents have a choice in this country. It is a choice that so many others around the world will never have. Of course I vaccinated my children. Didn't think twice. Not a big fan of the measles or mumps
In early April 2013 a measles outbreak was discovered in North Carolina. By mid-May the outbreak had been identified in Stokes and Orange Counties via 23 active cases. Every case was linked back to a family that had spent 3 months in India and had not been vaccinated. By the 16th of April the state laboratory of Public Health was able to confirm the diagnosis, with the last known case being confirmed on May 7th. The investigation of this outbreak revealed 4 patients with a confirmed diagnosis that had received one of vaccination of the two part series. The other 19 cases had not ever been vaccinated.
Implementing childhood vaccination policy in the United States has sparked controversy among parents and public health officials in determining the ethical implications of immunization mandates. The arguments of parents who refuse vaccinations for their children are multidimensional and tend to include a lack of clear understanding of safety measures and how their decisions affect society. In order to effectively communicate with parents with opposing perspectives while respecting their personal autonomy, it is important to intensify informational sessions that include the dangers of viruses that are preventable.
In similar fashion to government employees lobbying against climate change, there are special interest groups which promote the belief that vaccine’s cause Autism or are generally unnecessary. Despite all evidence to the contrary, in recent years support for the anti vaccine campaign has grown. Statistics from the last year indicate that one in ten United States citizens consider vaccines to be dangerous. However, it is this unfounded fear which may prove to be dangerous to the population. In recent years’ diseases which were once though to be rare in the United States have started infecting young children and other vulnerable individuals. While uncommon infectious diseases continue to emerge with greater frequency, more parents are opting not to vaccinate their children. Families choosing against vaccination may cite personal or religious reason and still enroll their children in public school while failing to meet state requirements. Up until now, this has not had a significant effect on public health due to herd immunity. Since majority of citizens being vaccinated, those who are not are still protected. However, as the public’s opinion on vaccination becomes increasingly negative, the percent of the population receiving vaccines may drop. If this were to occur,
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
A growing number of parents in the United States are wavering in the thought of the idea of vaccinating their children. Increasing numbers of unvaccinated children can be observed in the last eight years due to the knowledge that may be provided to the parent and explained by a healthcare provider. Vaccinations have been studied and regulated for the protection of society and data can be shown
Yet, with the help of the vaccine, less than five percent of the population in 2000 contracted the measles which in 2000 measles were nearly eliminated (Soloway). Sadly, this was around the Wakefield’s paper was released, so fewer parents were willing to vaccinate their children with the MMR which protects against measles. So the immunity past generations built up against the measles In 2014, the United States saw the greatest number of recorded cases of measles since before 2000 (“Measles Cases and Outbreaks.”). Six hundred sixty-seven cases of measles took place in twenty-seven states. The majority of the people affected were unvaccinated causing them to not have an immunity built up for the measle (“Measles Cases and Outbreaks.”). Although the United States of America almost eliminated the measles, measles is still common in areas of other countries, including England (“Measles Cases and Outbreaks.”). So many travelers bring the virus from the countries back to the United States to spread. According to the Center for Disease Control, measles spreads quicker when a group of unvaccinated people comes in contact with the virus (“Measles Cases and Outbreaks.”) As of the thirtieth of March, the United States has seen thirty four cases of the measles in eleven states, including Kansas (“Measles Cases and Outbreaks.”). The recent outbreak of
Vaccinating a child has been an on going debate for a long time. Some people will say that it should be mandatory for children to be vaccinated to help protect them and other people around them. While on the other hand you have parents that strongly believe that they should have the choice to either vaccinate their child or not. We will take a look at both sides point of view and their reasoning behind their choices.
The current measles epidemic began in early 2015, and has gone through the end of the year. By late December, the number of new cases was declining and the situation seems to be improving. The government does not appear to have done much to solve the issue, but there are several organizations in the area that are involved in the crisis. They have been working to vaccinate children and treat those who have been infected. Many people and institutions around the world have also donated money in response to the situation.
Eradication of Problem : Key measles-endemic countries are conflict-affected, the highly infectious nature of measles, combined with increasing
Throughout the century, diseases have claimed many lives. Trying to fight those diseases, medical professionals have tried to find methods to prevent the circulation of those diseases. One of the methods they used to fight those diseases are vaccines. Vaccine is defined by dictionary.com (n.d.) as “any preparation used as a preventive inoculation to confer immunity against a specific disease, usually employing an innocuous form of the disease agent, as killed or weakened bacteria or viruses, to stimulate antibody production.” With the help of vaccination, many diseases have been eradicated and the threat of diseases have been severely reduced. However, it is precisely due to this shortage of disease that some people currently
Most parent’s major concerns would be the health and safety of their children. Some parents believe that vaccines were to prevent the spread of dangerous transmittable diseases, also are under the impression that vaccines present high risk factors for their children. Vaccination’s allow provide protection to children and adults against many varieties of disease, and when kids are vaccinated in the earlier stage immunity is created. This form of immunity protects the population from the risks of a virus spread, as the virus cannot be spread though vaccinated people. Not only does it protect the
As a parent, there are many tough decisions to make. Parents are responsible for their child’s well-being, which is a lot of pressure. They have to make decisions that they think are in the best interest of their own child. There is also pressure from the media, and other parents, on how people should raise their children and what decisions are actually in the child’s best interest. One of the tough decisions that parents must make is whether to get their child vaccinated or not. There is a lot of disagreement about whether vaccinating children is beneficial or detrimental. There are also restrictions put in place by the government that encourage vaccines, such as children must have vaccinations to attend public school. However, if these
Significance: The topic is very significant to my audience because unvaccinated children are becoming a rising problem and old diseases thought to have been eradicated have resurfaced and new and soon to become parents need to be educated.
During the last ten years or so, there has been a debate on childhood vaccinations. This debate all started from the acquisition that vaccines cause autism. Since the debate, many parents have been skeptical on whether or not they will get their children vaccinated. From the negative comments that are going around from highly respected people new parents doubt vaccines importance to the world. Parents are concerned, which they should be, about if vaccines are beneficial or harmful to their kid’s health? Some claim that vaccinations are needless and unsafe. With the misleading information in parent’s ears they are stuck with the big question. Should I vaccinate my child?