Vaccine Nation Summary

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.

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,

Despite significant progress in the fight against preventable disease, millions still die needlessly each year. According to UNICEF, originally known as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, a vaccine preventable disease is responsible for 2 million fatal infections worldwide each year. About 75% of these deaths occur in children under five years of age. (N) In more vivid terms, UNICEF notes that vaccine-preventable diseases kill a child every 20 seconds. (D) Due to high rates of childhood vaccination, the United States has experienced a dramatic reduction in such deaths. A comparison of the years 1950 and 2010 clearly illustrates the benefits of vaccinations. During this 60-year period, deaths from diphtheria reduced from 410 to 0, tetanus from 336 to 3, pertussis from 1,118 to 26, and polio from 1,904 to 0. Measles deaths dropped from 468 in 1950 to 0 in 2008, the last year a United States death rate was recorded. It’s not surprising that vaccinations have been touted as one of the top ten health achievements of the 20th century by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

People choose to vaccinate for many reasons but one major reason is to prevent themselves and their children from contracting vaccine-preventable diseases. These parents and/ or individuals may feel that getting vaccinated is an important part of overall health. There are still many vaccine-preventable diseases that exist in the world today and some people still think that getting vaccinated is unnecessary. “In 2000, the United States announced that it had eradicated measles from the country. Fifteen years later, the disease was back.”

On April 19, 1982, a televised documentary titled Vaccine Roulette aired showing the world the severe side effects DTP was causing on children and scientists opinions against the vaccine. What Vaccine Roulette purposely forgot to mention to nations of concerned, watchful parents was that the DTP vaccine nearly extinct the pertussis virus and that they had taken the answers of scientists and cropped their answers to best fit their case. As a British epidemiologist previously stated, “Once again the media have succeeded in denting parents confidence in childhood immunization” (Conis 209). Shortly after this documentary aired, vaccine compensation programs were established to protect those who unfortunately had a severe reaction to a vaccine and new and improved vaccines were formulated, tested, and released for administration to the

Parents should be forced to vaccinate their children no matter what the circumstance. There are multiple reasons why parents should vaccinate their children. If a person does not want their child getting diagnosed with a viral disease, than why would they not want to vaccinate them? This seems like an issue that should not even need to be discussed because of the extremity of the consequences of not getting a child vaccinated. Without vaccines, epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases would return (What Happens When You Don’t Vaccinate). This research paper will discuss many upsides and downsides of vaccinating children.

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

One is not likely to remember being vaccinated as a child, but those who have been vaccinated are able to benefit from their parents’ choice. Prior to the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine there were hundreds of thousands of incidents of these diseases, but now there are barely any (Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition [CCIC], n.d. para 3). It is necessary to vaccinate children against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) in order to protect against these serious diseases, and to prevent the possibility of an outbreak. Furthermore, the benefits of being vaccinated outweigh the risks.

Vaccines will prevent about 322 million illnesses, 21 million hospitalizations, and 732,000 deaths among U.S. children born over the last 20 years, according to a recent report by the University of Washington in Seattle. Here, the numbers suggest how critical vaccines are for well-being in society. Thus, the federal government needs to take a powerful stance to require vaccines for all children as vaccines are safe and effective, a preventive measure against diseases and can help protect the health of others in one’s community. People may argue that the human immune system is strong enough to fight diseases without vaccines or vaccines could have unhealthy side effects. However, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

The controversial issues of children vaccinations have been an on going dilemma in today’s society. Within the article Anti-Vaccination Movement and Parental Refusals of Immunization of Children in USA by Marian Olpinski the author goes into detail about the definite pros of getting your child vaccinated. The author states that since the anti-vaccination movement has been growing, more and more parents are not getting their children vaccinated. Due to this fear of side effects more children are not only becoming ill but they are also dying due to the diseases they are not being vaccinated from. Between the years 2001 – 2008 an average of 56 cases of people infected with measles were reported annually (Olpinski 2012). Not only were there outbreaks of measles there were also numerous cases of children being infected with mumps, which is known as an invasive HIB disease.

Worldwide, 1 in 10 infants do not receive any vaccinations; this equates to 12.9 million unprotected, vulnerable, new born babies. To put this into perspective the population of Illinois is approximately 12.8 million. The controversy of governments requiring vaccinations has led to misconceptions about vaccines and their potential risks. Although parents argue that it is their right to choose whether their child should receive vaccinations, they need to be a requirement for all children to ensure safety of the child and the public. Some parents decide not to vaccinate their child due to them believing that they are unsafe and that the side effects of vaccines are worse than the actual disease; however, vaccines are crucial to the safety and well-being of their child's life. Life-saving vaccines have been around for several years, and many major medical organizations deem them safe; vaccines not only protect individuals, but protect “herds;” and as a result of vaccinations many diseases have been nearly or fully eradicated. Some opponents may argue that vaccines can cause life-threatening allergic reactions; however, these reactions are extremely rare and vaccines save exponentially more children than they harm.

Unfortunately, many diseases kill millions of children every year. These pathogens, whether bacteria or viruses can invade the body, increase rapidly, and deny the body vital resources to function properly. Consequently, children are more susceptible to becoming ill because of their developing immune system. In what capacity would children be able to be protected by the repulsions of these pathogens? The answer is by vaccinations. After much research and findings, it has been proven that vaccines help to prevent diseases, saves lives, and kept the spread of diseases at an all-time low. However, in recent years, there has been a rise in parents against vaccines and vaccine hesitancy. Thus, the term vaccine hesitancy is gaining recognition. According to Professor Elizabeth Miller (2015), there is an interrelationship between those who are accepting of vaccines and the ones who refuse them and it is not beneficial to characterize either as “anti-vaxxers” (p. 2). If the risks of a child receiving vaccines do not outweigh the benefits of being vaccinated and therefore vaccines should be made mandatory.

To begin, it’s vital to understand why the vaccine became a public awareness and necessity from the complications that the viruses, measles, mumps, and rubella, caused. The American Journal of Public Health lists a few details about each of these viruses with both fatality rates and monetary costs towards these diseases. Between the three diseases, before the introduction of the vaccine in 1963 there were over three million of the measles, one million cases of rubella, and two million of mumps (White et al, 1985). From these estimates, the Center of Disease Control and Prevention–the CDC¬–listed their own documents of how measles affected the country. Between the estimate four hundred and five hundred deaths were calculated in a

To no one's surprise it was a fast seller, in fact, satisfying the demand for it was the problem, not many people were refusing to vaccinate their children. Dr. David Gorski, a surgical oncologist at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute claims that,“since then, more and more vaccines have been developed to protect more and more children from more and more diseases.” This has brought us to the point where the incidences of most vaccine-preventable diseases is so low that most parents today have never seen a case of polio.

A common thought for many parents throughout their child’s life is, “Is my child safe?” Recently, the topic of childhood vaccinations has become a concern for parents across the globe, and a large number of them have given up vaccinating their children. The question of safety comes in when the parents think, “Should I really vaccinate my child? What is in these vaccinations? Is it worth endangering my child to expose them to vaccines?” The harsh truth is that the only way to endanger your child is by denying them their childhood vaccinations. Childhood vaccinations should be encouraged, if not mandatory, because they provide numerous health benefits and eliminate health risks that will last throughout the child’s lifetime.