Vaccination Programs And Its Impact On Public Health

Between 1924 and 2013, vaccinations prevented 103 million cases of polio, measles, rubella, mumps, hepatitis A, diphtheria, and pertussis (Bailey). Vaccinating is “the process by which pathogenic cells are injected into a healthy person in an attempt to cause the body to develop antibodies to a particular virus or bacterium—successful creation of antibodies is referred to as immunity to the disease caused by the particular pathogen” (Introduction to Should Vaccinations be Mandatory). Popular conflicts regarding vaccination include the worry that this form of immunization isn’t natural, the idea that vaccination schedule for children in the U.S. takes away parents’ rights to make decisions for their children, and the concern that vaccinations aren’t safe for all children. Most doctors and scientists advocate for vaccinations in the name of herd immunity, protection against foreign diseases and prevention against pockets of disease outbreaks. Vaccinations should be mandatory for all children in the United States for who they are deemed safe and effective.

Vaccination was first introduced globally for small pox and later on extended to other communicable diseases which are now known as vaccine preventable disease. Vaccination is beneficial both for individuals and community. This bring us to the ethical dilemma - Vaccination of a healthy child with the intention of protecting both the individual child and the community at the same time exposing the child to the theoretical risk of exposure to disease products whether live, attenuated or killed. There was a time when people never questioned the government or their physicians. Now because of more public awareness and accessibility to medical information, they are questioning the safety aspects of vaccines.

“Why should I get vaccinated? It is just a waste of time and money. I never got vaccinated before and never will.” That’s what one of my colleagues said when he was asked to get vaccinated during the outbreak of SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, few years ago in Mongolia. Then, I had reasoned him that disease comes all of a sudden and it is more serious than he thinks. As reported on CDC, Centers for Disease Control, 40 percent of all American parents were refusing one or more vaccines for their children (Willrich 3). So it is clearly one of the most significant public health issues today. There are lots of people who hold the belief against vaccination because of several reasons. Even though there is a public notion that vaccine

Recently an anti-vaccination movement has sparked a worldwide discussion about both the safety of vaccines and the responsibility of people to vaccinate. Recent outbreaks of preventable diseases have caused both fear and anger from people on both sides of the issue. These same outbreaks have also served to cause significant political tension between those against vaccines, who do not want their right to choose compromised, and many proponents of vaccines, who are calling for mandatory vaccinations.

Sufficient data shows that vaccines has made a major improvement in decreasing suffering and death of infectious diseases and syndrome. And yet, despite the mounting evidence that reassure the safety and value of vaccination, public health continuous faces the dilemma over individual choice, autonomy and protection of the entire population at risk. Children in developing countries now have more access to vaccines, yet, the debate continue over the requirement, including mandates immunization during public health emergency and school-aged. This paper addresses the framework for policy and laws that are associated with immunization that protect our children from infectious diseases.

In healthcare, we are seeing an influx of children with diseases that were once eradicated by vaccinations. It does not help that in recent years many public figures, be it actors or politicians, have begun speaking out about the effects vaccinations potentially have on children. Whether they have done the proper research or not, their fame and notoriety brings about attention that most would not. So, what does the increase in non-vaccinated children mean to the rest of those that accepted the vaccinations. A closer look at immunizations for adults and children, the herd immunity that is in jeopardy, and the culture and reasoning of the anti-vaccination group may shed some light on the culture of anti-vaccination.

The means of dealing with infectious diseases that endanger individual and public health have evolved over the years. In 1789, however, the most protective technology used to prevent epidemics was introduced by physician Edward Jenner; vaccination. Vaccine efficiency continues to develop and become more advanced, producing immunity to infectious diseases from 90 to 100 percent of the time today. Because of inoculation, millions of people worldwide are immunized from fatal epidemics. However, because of unsubstantiated fears, many parents have been withholding vaccines from their children. Despite this, parents should not have the right to withhold vaccines from their children for philosophical reasons. Vaccines are the best way to prevent disease, vaccine exemptions endanger individual and public health, and without widespread inoculation, controlled diseases will rebound.

Since their first introduction in the late 1700s, vaccinations have been a controversial topic of discussion. Vaccines are a safe and effective way to prevent the spread of disease. Although we can attribute the eradication and control of many diseases to vaccinations, there are still many Americans who are refusing to vaccinate their children based on their belief in a few unfounded fears. Most of these fears that the anti vaccine community believes are centered around the health risks involved with the practice of vaccinating. The majority of these fears have been disproven through extensive research. With the continued research and innovations of the

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.

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.

More than ever vaccines are met with a high suspicions and very little education on the realities of vaccination success.

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

To the average individual, the word ‘vaccination’ means to prevent illness. Vaccinations have many advantages; they allow us to be less susceptible to a variety of illnesses and diseases. Many individuals believe that vaccinations should not be mandatory. However, the benefits from vaccinations greatly outweigh the risks from side effects. The judgments are factual and ethical and are supported by testing and research findings from multiple sources.

In these days of modern medicine, most children are vaccinated early in life for diseases such as rubella, measles, and tetanus. Vaccines have been perfected to shield and protect our body from seriously life threatening diseases that could have the potential to wipe out large populations. Most of America and a lot of western countries see vaccines as beneficial and a common necessity for their children and themselves. However, this view has not always been accepted. In fact, vaccines were only first widely considered to be helpful for diseases when a man named Louis Pasteur began experimenting with rabies. We will start our journey of microbiological history with the discovery of anthrax and move forward through the creation of Pasteur’s rabies vaccine.

During the 20th century, the infectious disease death rate decreased from 800/1000 deaths to less than 100/1000 deaths. This is mainly due to the introduction of immunisation. Vaccination has clearly prevented millions of deaths over the last century; nevertheless, the anti-vaccination movement has grown significantly in recent years. Some of the reasons why people join this movement include the belief that vaccines don’t actually work, the belief that vaccines are unnatural and therefore unhealthy and the belief that vaccines contain toxins that cause bodily damage and neuropsychiatric problems (eg. Autism). This essay will discredit the beliefs associated with the anti vaccination movement through infectious disease statistics,