Vaccinations : Really Worth The Shot?

Vaccines are important for preventing deadly diseases. If a child is not vaccinated against preventable diseases, not only is the child at risk but also the entire community is at risk. This would include newborns in the community who are too young to have been vaccinated, people who cannot receive vaccines due to medical reasons, and people who may not have responded to a vaccine. With more people opting not to vaccinate their children, there has been a rise in the outbreak of preventable childhood diseases such as measles in certain communities. The reason most parents decide not to vaccinate is due to being misled by the media and the internet (Daley, 2011). Our healthcare professionals must do a better job at communicating the counterarguments. Physicians must begin having a discussion with parents at a much earlier time than what the recent norm has been which is usually at the two-month check-up. If a discussion over

According to the WHO, “Immunization currently prevents between 2-3 million deaths every year”. Parents haven’t been vaccinating their children due to fear of negative effects, thus putting others at risk. Vaccination should be enforced to keep ourselves and the people around us protected, especially now that preventable deadly diseases such as measles have been resurfacing in the U.S. If parents continue to refuse vaccinating their children, we’ll be facing more consequences. Parents should be forced to vaccinate their children because it will decrease the chances of outbreaks in the U.S., it will protect babies and people with impaired immune systems that can’t be vaccinated, and the benefits outweigh the risks.

Pro-vaccine parents and doctors use research conducted on vaccinations to support their reasoning for why vaccines are safe for children and do not cause developmental problems. There needs to be a better response because of the “rise of the anti vaccination movement,reduced incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases, increased consumerism and interest in alternative therapies, public health workers will be increasingly compelled to respond to community concerns about vaccines” (Leask and McInTyre, 4701). They believe the debate against vaccines are “fueled by parents’ fears that vaccines are not safe for every child…Some worry that the measles vaccine causes autism – a theory that has been thoroughly discredited by numerous scientific studies” and that these are not legitimate reasons for the fear and rejection of vaccines (Foxhall, 1). Those who are pro vaccines also note that “Opposition to vaccination occurs through organized lobbying to ups of mainly parents or individual spokespersons who medical or scientific background lends credibility to their claims” (Leask and McIntyre, 1).This side of the argument for vaccines does not have as much media attention because it has been the accepted way of child healthcare for many people. We know that vaccines do help children stay healthy from very deadly diseases. Our rate of these deadly diseases occurring has decreased because the health care field has been able to find ways to keep us all healthy through vaccines. The wonderful thing about having the majority of the population in the United States vaccinated is that it protects young children or very sick children who cannot get vaccinated yet from contracting a disease. Those individuals who are not getting vaccinated can still be kept safe because everyone else is getting vaccinated, which is known as the herd affect.

The discovery of vaccines prevented the spread of infectious diseases around the world. Vaccines control the spread of diseases such as measles, tuberculosis, smallpox, and the flu. In addition, vaccines increase the overall health of not only individuals, but of populations. Although these benefits prove effective on the world wide scale, the requirement of vaccinations of children to enter the public school system remains a current public health concern. Some argue that vaccines are dangerous for children and can lead to adverse effects. Others assert that the enforcement of requiring children to be vaccinated before entering schools protects the health of those attending school. These views create a challenge amongst parents who must

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 problem today with getting kids vaccinated is a study that was conducted by Dr. Andrew Wakefield and 12 other colleagues. In this study that he published, claimed that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine caused behavior regression and pervasive developmental disorder in children. Even though this study was not a controlled one and he chose the results that benefitted his agenda. An example of not being vaccinated comes out of California, Janet D. Stemwedel wrote," . . . it will probably come as no surprise to you that California pertussis is a result of the downturn in vaccination in recent years, nor that this downturn has been driven in large part by parents worried that childhood vaccinations might lead to their kids getting autism, or asthma, or some other chronic diseases"(Stemwedel, 486). Humanity has an obligation to protect oneself and others that can't defend themselves. For example, people that have some sort of reaction to vaccinations and others that have an immune deficiency. Depend on the healthy persons to get vaccinated. In turn, they run less risk of contracting a mutation the virus causing serious health problems even death.

Why should we get vaccinated? What are the benefits? Do vaccinations even work? Many people in America are/have been questioning if they even need to get vaccinated. In fact, "Between 2006 and 2013, the percentage of pediatricians who had encountered a parent refusing a vaccine went from about 75 percent to 87 percent." (Greenberg) There are many reasons why people refuse to get vaccinated, three of the major reasons is for religious purposes, they are unnecessary and that they have a negative effect on the human body. A commonly asked question is, "What would happen if I did not have my child immunized?" (Shelov) Well, without getting these immunizations the possibility of ones' child getting the whooping cough, polio, or other diseases

There are 14 vaccine-preventable disease that are essential to the safety of the general public and among infants and children (CDC, 2016). This topic is quite polarized, but with the information available I would continue to support an immunization

This year, CNN posted an article about vaccines being safe. Children should be vaccinated without questions. Vaccines do have caused very few adverse effects but it was only for a tiny fraction of the population. Even though vaccines aren’t 100% risk free, experts are still saying the positive out ways the negative. Thanks to vaccines, most diseases that plagued children for centuries have all but been eliminated. Dr. Carrie Byington states "There were good reasons that these diseases were targeted for vaccine development since they are so life-threatening." (Jen Christensen and Nadia Kounang, CNN) Thanks to vaccines, millions of people are now living longer. In the United States, life expectancy has increased by more than 30 years. Not only that, but infant mortality has decreased from 100 deaths per 1000 to 7

Routine immunization against communicable diseases is one of the greatest accomplishments of modern medicine and our era. However, “the childhood vaccination is declining in some regions of the United States due to vaccine hesitancy, which risks the resurgence of many infectious diseases with public health and economic consequences” (Lo & Hotez, 2017). Due to vaccines and immunizations the human mortality rates have greatly decreased. I believe that protection against diseases should start in infancy according to the recommendation of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Despite of greatest accomplishment of modern medicine “There are ongoing policy debates on the state and national level, including legislation around nonmedical (personal-belief) exemptions for childhood vaccination and possible a special government commission on vaccine safety, which may affect vaccine coverage”(Lo & Hotez, 2017). I believe that as a healthcare provider we need to educate the public about the importance of the vaccination to parents, elders and to immigrant communities. “Nurses and others who advocate for improved health and social policies for children must emphasize children's needs within their families and communities and the importance of coordinated care” (Mason, Gardner, Outlaw, & O’Grady, 2016). The rubeola, mumps and chicken pox diseases are

The United States of America has survived wars, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks, yet we are still assaulted by outbreaks of preventable diseases. These outbreaks of illnesses are the only thing on that list that can be virtually completely avoided. There are vaccines for a plethora of illnesses, and they need to be utilized to keep America disease-free. Some vaccines are already required by law. For example, Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis (whooping cough) are required in nearly every state for children going into kindergarten. Other vaccinations are required at different ages in different states, and some schools and daycare programs require children to be caught up on their vaccines. By requiring vaccines for children, the United

Preventable diseases are experiencing a startling resurgence in America. Just last year, California experienced an outbreak of measles, and 131 Californians were infected. At least 56 of these people had not been vaccinated, and would likely be unaffected if they had been. Measles was supposed to have been eradicated in 2000, but is now making a comeback a mere 15 years later. Why are measles and other such disease resurfacing in the U.S. after years of immunization and protection? Because some people believe that vaccines cause autism, a fallacy based on a flawed 1998 study performed by a doctor who has now lost his license. Parents who don’t immunize their children not only do themselves a disservice, but put the entire global community

People have already devoted their lives to researching ways new ways to protect the public against disease, and as time passes even more people will find that this is their passion as well. It is important that parents take advantage of modern medical technology for their own children so that the general population is as protected as possible. The major healthcare companies that have done research, have tested, and who have advocated for the use of vaccines are on the side of the public, and have dedicated their lives to protecting the lives of other people. One child can cause an infectious outbreak to begin, while at the same time one child becoming vaccinated can also prevent an outbreak from happening. This fact, as well as the possibilities that vaccines hold for the general population in the future are reason enough for why parents must make sure that their children are vaccinated as soon as

Large numbers of people don’t know how preventable children’s illnesses and deaths really are. By using vaccines, children have a much smaller risk of getting sick or even potentially dying. The benefits of vaccines clearly outweigh the risks from any perspective (Bailey). Hundreds of thousands of children can be saved each year by receiving their vaccinations according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. By making vaccines mandatory for children, time, money, and lives will be saved, and also future generations will be protected.

A wise Welsh man once said, “An apple a day, keeps the doctor away.” But, can that also be said about immunizations? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary provides a technical definition of immunizations by defining them as “the creation of immunity usually against a particular disease, treatment (as by vaccination) of an organism for the purpose of making it immune to a particular pathogen.” I feel that immunizations are a very important part of a health care regimen and should be mandatory for the majority of individuals. It is true that some experts feel that immunizations should no longer be mandated for everyone, but I definitely feel that they should be . Immunizations help protect individuals by working with the body’s natural defenses to develop immunity safely to some very serious diseases” (Hales 543-544). Serious diseases are usually harmful, and sometimes deadly. Therefore, those that oppose immunizations for most individuals should consider the potential deadly diseases that can be contracted without vaccinations.