Vaccination Of Smallpox And The Elimination Of Various Infectious Diseases

Unfortunately, little progress has been made since then, as reports from 2015 show only 72.2 percent of U.S. children are fully vaccinated (KFF, 2017). Healthy People 2020 recommends a national goal of 80 percent to maintain herd immunity (Child Trends Databank, 2015). Despite the life-saving importance of immunization, these stagnant rates show that many mothers of U.S. children do not adhere to vaccination recommendations. These critics and skeptics of vaccines are a part of the anti-vaccination movement. Originating upon the discovery of the first vaccine in 1796, this movement has progressed for hundreds of years. Currently, through media and prominent anti-vax social figures, the public can easily be relayed messages of vaccine controversies rather than scientific facts. Falsehoods include perceived low risk of contracting vaccine-preventable diseases, “overloading” the child’s immune system, mercury in vaccines, reports of negative reactions after vaccination, and the infamously popular myth that vaccines cause autism (Mittenzwei, Morrison, & Williams,

Vaccines have had an undeniably positive impact on society, and are considered to be one of the most effective ways of protecting oneself and others from harmful diseases. Due to vaccinations, smallpox has been officially eradicated since 1980 and polio has been reduced to scarce singular incidents (Bt.cdc.gov, 2007; Immunise.health.gov.au, 2015). Similarly measles has been eliminated within Australia since 2014, however the

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

produced a net savings of $1.38 trillion in health care costs in the USA alone. Others

Humans eradicated smallpox. Through worldwide vaccination efforts, there has not been a single wild case of smallpox, the disease that killed nearly half those it infected, since 1978. This magnificent public health feat is being replicated worldwide for more than 20 pathogens, in the process protecting humans from a host of debilitating and deadly diseases. However, we cannot rest on our laurels. We still face numerous infectious diseases with effects just as devastating as smallpox. To combat these diseases, we must put new vaccine development and improvement at the forefront of our medical research.

In a world that is continuously evolving, we’ve come a long way from epidemic and rampant diseases. From the Black Plague to the swine flu scare in 2009, diseases have always existed but luckily vaccines were created to mitigate or even eradicate them. A vaccine is a product that produces immunity from a disease and can be administered through needle injections, by mouth, or by aerosol. The first vaccines came out around the late 18th century to early 19th century with the invention of smallpox vaccines. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with vaccines, much less mandating all vaccine. Whether or not the whole population should be vaccinated has sparked recent debates; some people have legitimate reasons and fears of vaccines while others are

One of the most heavily debated medical topics in modern society is Vaccinations, the modern protection against the perils of disease. Vaccines are defined as, according to dictionary.com, “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.”( The American Heritage). Vaccinations over time and history have proven to keep peoples’ immune systems’ healthy of diseases with histories of bringing fatal epidemics. The issues that have arisen occurred from misinformation on the vaccines, the concerns of how much vaccines are needed for the youth, and whether the

The discovery of vaccines is one of the biggest medical achievements of the 20th century. Ever since the experiment performed by Edward Jenner where he inoculated a boy with cowpox to gain immunity from deadly smallpox, the vaccination has greatly reduced the rate of infection and death by vaccine-preventable diseases. However, when receiving the vaccination became a compulsory law in the mid-1800’s in the UK, protestors shot up expressing that the laws go against their civil liberty. This was the beginning of the anti-vaccination movement, a movement which has not ceased to this day, full of people with deeply rooted beliefs that vaccinations aren’t as beneficial as the general public believes they are.

In an article by Salmon, Dudley, Glenz, and Omer (2015), the authors attest to the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy in this country. Vaccine hesitancy includes the individuals who refuse some or all vaccines, those who receive the vaccines on an alternative schedule, or those who receive the vaccines even with concerns about vaccine safety. The authors go over the reasons for hesitancy, how it impacts the communities, and how the situation can be improved.

Wherever there is vaccination there is some number of people who oppose it. The first step to identifying a solution to a problem in understanding how it is caused. Public support for vaccinations had been at an all time high of 95%, before the anti-vaccine movement swept across the United States. The new anti-vaccine movement in the United States can be attributed to the wide use of technology to spread ideas,

In 1796, Edward Jenner made a great leap in preventive medicine. He was the first doctor to administer the world’s first vaccination as a preventive treatment (Staff. 2010). Jenner’s method would so undergo “medical and technological changes over the next 200 years” (Philadelphia. 2015.) Vaccines were not main focus on again until 1885, when Louis Pasteur develop a vaccine for rabies. It seemed that early doctors and scientist were on a role, and people were conforming to the status quo, until Andrew Wakefield came on the scene.

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

Thesis Statement: Recently, the United States has seen a resurgence of many different diseases that we haven 't seen in decades. Much of this problem is caused by failure to get vaccinations, and a key step to solving the issue is education.

Measles. Polio. Smallpox. The flu. Imagine the world when vaccines were yet to be created. There was a time when people lived in fear of dreadful diseases. Thanks to the introduction of vaccines, many of those devastating diseases have been nearly or completely wiped out. Despite these results, for some people, the question remains: should we vaccinate? Today, I will be discussing the development of the first vaccine, global benefits, and the anti-vaccine movement.

Ragan & Duffy (2012, p.23) have also shown high immunization rates have resulted in a substantial decline in vaccine preventable diseases, particularly vaccination has eliminated smallpox worldwide. In addition, in a study by Bawah, Phillips, Adjuik & smith et al (2010, p.95) found that vaccination has resulted in a large and statistically significant reduction child mortality. The risk of dying for children younger than five who are fully immunized is reduced by more than 70% compared with those who are not immunized or partially immunized. Moreover, research by Dawson (2011, p.1032) also suggests that vaccination is a vital intervention in reducing illness and death rates in children and he estimated approximately 2.5 million deaths could be prevented each year by vaccination. In addition to personal immunity Vaccination programs also bring herd immunity which ensures even greater protection for the community from communicable diseases. The level of vaccination required to provide herd immunity varies with virulence and transmissibility as well as vaccine efficacy. While vaccinating