Vaccinations In The 21st Century

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.

This new vaccine would drastically change the way people battle against infections and reduce the number of people that get sick. Even in the 1950’s vaccines were already making an impact on society.

Protecting a child’s health is very important to parents! That is why they should vaccinate them as young children. All children should be required to have vaccinations in order to start school in every state. Each year, about 85% of the world’s youth receive vaccines that protect them against several diseases such as tuberculosis, pneumococcus, and many more. Even with great success and improvements with vaccinations, more than 3 million people die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases. An estimate of about 1.5 million of these deaths are in children less than five years old. Of the top ten reported cases of those deaths, several are infectious. (Global Immunizations: Worldwide Disease Incidence, 2017). However, some parents feel vaccines are not safe because they are convinced vaccines are the cause of autism. Nevertheless, Vaccinations are very much necessary. There are many benefits to vaccinating children early. Immunizations should be mandatory because they can save a child’s life, save families time and money, and eliminate diseases forever.

In studies of the four vaccines used for hepatitis A, nearly 100% of all adults who receive one develop protective levels of antibodies within one month of receiving a single dose. In addition, eight years after receiving two or more doses, 99% to 100% of vaccinated individuals were still fully protected. Results are similar for the hepatitis B vaccine, and experts estimate that both vaccines will give immunity for up to 20 or 30 years and possibly for life (Children 's Vaccines Health Center). Because of the risk of hepatitis B in infants becoming chronic, the CDC recommends that all infants be vaccinated, starting with the first dose at birth.

"In the United States, the childhood immunization schedule recommends that children receive approximately 15 vaccinations by 19 months of age, and it specifies ages for administration of each vaccination dose" (Luman, Barker, McCauley, & Drews-Botsch, 2005, p. 1367). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a vaccine is "a product that produces immunity therefore protecting the body from the disease" (Vaccines and Immunizations, 2015). Currently, there are many individuals advocating for and opposing the effects of the administration of vaccinations and immunizations in the United States. There are both legal and ethical issues surrounding the controversy, which include both deliberate and exogenous reasons not to vaccinate, and the mandatory nature that is required by many schooling districts and places of employment. Within this paper, I will discuss some legal implications surrounding vaccination, ethical debates that are current in the topic, as well as my point of view regarding immunizations and vaccinations.

When one is given a vaccine, the body’s immune system fights the disease or virus causing the body to become immune to the disease. Before vaccines, the only way to become immune to a disease was too simply contract the disease and hopefully live with no serious side effects or passing on the potentially deadly illness or dangers in a wide-spread epidemic. Vaccinations have been saving lives for over 200 years now. Below is a chart showing the successful impact vaccinations have had in the United States.

The world has many problems. Society has trouble finding adequate protection against the elements, each other, and many other adversities. We cannot fix every problem. We fail to completely survive natural disasters, catastrophes, and even basic problems. We can’t even feed ourselves. However, there is one major problem that mankind is beginning to solve. Vaccines are changing the world. They are becoming vital to our well-being. Vaccinations should mandatorily be administered to all children, especially those in our school system.

Vaccines have allowed humans to avoid contracting terrible diseases for over 200 years now, but are these same vaccines that are meant to help actually hurting us? Influenza kills more people in the United States than any other vaccine-preventable disease (Immunization Partnership), 1.5 million children die from vaccine-preventable diseases every year (Children’s Hospital) and 3,000 to 6,000 people develop Guillain Barre Syndrome each year on average (CDC). There are billions of people in this world who need to be protected from everyday viruses. Scientists have come up with a way to avoid contracting many diseases, but many of these vaccines lead to more problems that threaten our health. Scientists and doctors need to ensure that enough is being done to prevent vaccinations from causing unintended health issues.

It’s hard to imagine a world without vaccines—a world where “getting sick” had the potential to be fatal (or at least cause irreparable damage to one’s body). In this world, diseases robbed millions of bright-eyed children of their lives. Thankfully, though, with the development of vaccines, populations have grown larger and healthier over the past century. Sadly, despite the improved longevity of our species, many people are still undecided about—or vehemently against—childhood vaccination. They claim that vaccinations are dangerous and responsible for autism and other conditions. Medical experts, however, refute these claims by citing both the safety and effectiveness of vaccinations. In fact, according to Centers for Disease Control and

Immunizations were created to keep children and adults healthy and safe. Edward Jenner administered the world’s first vaccination known as the smallpox vaccine, which had killed millions of people over the centuries (). Jenner administered the vaccine on an eight year old boy who he exposed to the fluid of a cowpox blisters, the boy developed a blister which eventually went away. Jenner then exposed the boy to the smallpox disease and the boy did not get sick, this led to the smallpox vaccine and the drastic decline in the smallpox disease. Fast-forward three centuries later and the small pox diseases is eradicated do to people receiving the vaccine. Immunizations are extremely important to the world’s overall health. Babies and children are most vulnerable to disease because they are son young and their organs and bodies are growing at a rapid rate. It is important for children to be immunized against vaccine preventable diseases such as: rubella, diphtheria, and pertussis (whooping cough), and a host of other diseases. High vaccination coverage has significantly reduced vaccine-preventable disease morbidity and mortality worldwide, especially among children (Baggs et. al., 2011). While some people focus on the cons of vaccinations, there are many pros to children receiving vaccinations.

More and more in today’s generation you hear the debates about whether or not vaccines are actually doing good for our children. Many people believe that vaccinations lead to greater health risks, such as ADD, autism, and diabetes. They also believe that the diseases that vaccinations prevent are just not around anymore, such as polio and small pox. They also believe that a child’s immune system can fight off any disease that vaccinations prevent. Despite what these people believe, they are wrong. ("Vaccines", 2016)

While considered one of the greatest medical achievements, vaccinations are detrimental to our health. As researched, they have negative effects on our health and have

The Center for Disease Control describes vaccines as the greatest development in public health since clean drinking water. For several decades, vaccines have saved countless lives and helped eradicate some fatal diseases. The push to do away with vaccines will not only endanger our youth, but our society as a whole. Vaccination is needed to maintain a healthy balance within our country. Vaccines provide the immunity that comes from a natural infection without the consequences of a natural infection. Vaccinations save an ever-growing amount of lives every year. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimated that 732,000 American children were saved from death and 322 million cases of childhood illnesses were prevented between 1994 and 2014 due to vaccination (“Vaccine ProCon”).

The concept of vaccination is considered one of the best medical accomplishments of the modern world. Many fatal diseases have been reduced or eradicated due to vaccination. According to the National Academics Press, “Next to clean water, no single intervention has had so profound an effect on reducing mortality from diseases as has the widespread introduction of vaccines”(Adverse Effects of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines). Vaccines improve the quality of life for humans. The immense success of immunization may lead people to disregard the advantages of inoculation and center their attention more on the risky side effects. Furthermore, some have blamed vaccines to be unnecessary and dangerous to the human body. Due to the success and the concept of vaccination, most people do not feel the need to think that vaccination is a discretionary technique for medical treatment.

There are several deadly diseases that could cause outbreaks and death of many individuals. For example, Hepatitis B causes severe damage to the liver and could cause death to a young child who is not vaccinated. Children who are vaccinated do not spend as much time being ill and at the doctor’s office as an unvaccinated