Vaccine Requirements : Vaccine Requirement Rights

The history of vaccinations begin with Edward Jenner, the country doctor from Gloucestershire who found, growing on cows, a nearly harmless virus the protected people from smallpox. Jenner’s vaccine was safer, more reliable, and more durable than variolation, and it is still the only vaccine to have eliminated its reason for being-in 1980, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease extinct. For nearly a century and a half, smallpox was the only vaccine routinely administered, and it saved millions of lives . But the controversy that marked the return of the vaccine, amid bioterrorism hysteria in 2002, was only the latest twist in the remarkable, mysterious life of vaccines.

Growing up we are always told, “Make sure you get your flu shot!” That leads to the question of where did vaccines come from? As a society we have benefited from vaccines for over two centuries. However, the road to proper vaccines hasn’t been an easy one. In 1796 Edward Jenner, a doctor located in England, performed the first vaccination. The need for this vaccine was because milkmaids from around the country were becoming infected with cowpox. Based on his findings from this vaccine and several others, Jenner published a book that would later become a classic in the art of medicine. This book was, Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccine. According to authors Alexandra Minna Stern and Howard Markel, this text laid the foundation for modern vaccinology (Stern & Markel,

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 change over time as science makes advancements and diseases processes evolve and emerge. Around 400 BC, Hippocrates recognized the now preventable diseases, such as diphtheria and mumps (Immunization Act Coalition, 2015). The first effort to immunize dates back to the 1100’s when children were inoculated with scabs from individuals who recently had small pox, with a technique coined as variolation. Then in 1796, Edward Jenner successfully created the first small pox vaccine (Immunization Act Coalition, 2015).

Mandatory vaccination continues to be a contentious subject in the United States, even though extensive evidence proves inoculation prevents certain diseases. According to A. Plotkin & L. Plotkin (2011), the evolution of the first vaccine commenced in the 1700’s when a physician named Edwards Jenner discovered that cowpox protected individuals from one of the deadliest diseases termed smallpox. The precise virus Jenner used is unclear; however, it was espoused in the extermination of smallpox worldwide. The researchers further explained, the unearthing of the subsequent vaccine known as chicken cholera occurred approximately 80 years later by Louise Pasteur. Ever since, copious vaccines such as rabies, yellow fever, varicella, pneumococcal, mumps and recently HPV have been introduced.

Wakefield published a study on the effects of the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR)-vaccine, specifically the “mercury” based and the vaccine instigating the onset of autism (Wakefield para 3). Wakefield’s study involved 12 individuals whose medical background was altered in order to support his study (Goodlee para 2). After 12 years of Wakefield’s research being published, his findings were found to be inaccurate. Many doctors and scientists alike have proven his theory wrong, causing the magazine that published the article to fully retract it (Goodlee para 2). However, the damage caused by Wakefield’s false findings has yet to be undone. The number in vaccinations dropped and the number of deadly diseases ultimately rose (Goodlee para 8). Despite study after study proving that Wakefield blatantly falsified his findings, many parents including, celebrities like Jenny McCarthy, continue to advocate against vaccinations and blame the MMR-vaccine for her child’s autism diagnosis.

The first vaccinations were made by an Edward Jenner, who made a vaccine for smallpox; The disease was later eradicated because of the precautions of the vaccine. Although it is not mandated by the US, it is still strongly advised. People who are for vaccinations say that, “vaccination is safe and one of the greatest health developments of the 20th century. They point out

In America, the popular belief is that people have complete control over their lives and make their own decisions. But yet, when laws are put into place requiring parents to give their children vaccinations, parents nationwide ignore the fact that they can no longer choose what they think is best for their children. Laws requiring vaccines causes parents to immunize their children with no choice in the matter. Instead of government laws mandating vaccinations for every child, parents should have the choice whether they want to immunize their children. Vaccinations should not be mandatory, as forced vaccines go against religious or personal beliefs, are potentially harmful to young children, and have biased rules and regulations.

Each year, vaccines save between 6 and 9 million lives around the world including the lives of 3 million children (Emily Lee, Lindsay Rosenthal, Gabriel Scheffler, 2013). This statistic has been greatly influenced by the introduction of vaccine mandates in the United States. All 50 states have the requirement that children receive vaccinations to attend public schools. This being said, almost all of them allow parents to not have their children vaccinated for a variety of reasons from religious to philosophical. This number of exemptions is growing at an alarming rate. “Children with exemptions from school immunization requirements are at increased for measles and pertussis and can infect others who are too young to be vaccinated, cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, or were vaccinated but did not have a sufficient immunologic response” (Omer, Salmon, Orenstein, DeHart, & Halsey, 2009, p. 1981). Allowing children that are not vaccinated

Since the invention of the vaccine, countless lives benefit from the protection against serious life-threatening diseases. Despite strong integration in modern medicine, an anti-vaccine movement impinges upon concerned parents throughout our country. Even though, vaccinations protect immunity majority of the time, vaccines should not be mandatory in all aspects, as it invades upon parental right, however, the presence of required vaccines in the public schools with limited nonmedical exemptions is a must.

Until the development of the smallpox vaccine in 1796, inoculation using the live smallpox virus was the only way to protect people from the deadly disease. Those inoculated had a chance of contracting the full virus and potentially dying from the disease. When Edward Jenner discovered that he could use a similar disease found in cattle, he began the modern era of vaccination (The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 2015). Over the next 200 years, smallpox was essentially driven extinct by vaccination programs. Due to vaccines, a disease that killed an estimated 300 million people in the 20th century alone now only exists in a Center for Disease Control laboratory. (Flight, 2011).

In 1796, Edward Jenner created the first vaccine, but his discovery was an accident. Even though his discovery was an accident, Jenner’s discovery had revolutionized the medical world, and since his discovery, many more vaccines have been created. These vaccines can be very beneficial, so people should get vaccinated because it prevents diseases, stops outbreaks, prevents isolation among people, and exceeds the risks associated with vaccines.

Modern day vaccination against disease was developed in 1796 when Edward Jenner inoculated a child for smallpox (Parent 's Guide to Childhood Immunizations 27). Controversy over vaccinations were alive in the early 1800’s also. In 1802 a British satirist made a cartoon depicting humans turning into cows from Mr. Jenner’s cowpox vaccine to prevent smallpox

First, in 1796, a doctor named Edward Jenner performed the very first vaccination. “Taking pus from a cowpox lesion on a milkmaid’s hand, Jenner inoculated an eight-year-old boy, James Phipps. Six weeks later Jenner variolated two sites on Phipps ' arm with smallpox, yet the boy was unaffected by this as well as subsequent exposures” (Minna & Markel, 2005)& (Cave, 2008). The first vaccination allowed people to recognize that it was beneficial for their health. It provided the base for the rest of the variations of vaccinations to come. Vaccinations began with the notion that it is rooted in the science of immunology. Throughout history, there have been many variations of this first vaccine for things such as small pox, mumps, malaria and guinea worm. (The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, n.d.)

According to my research, in 1796 Dr. Edward Jenner developed a vaccine for smallpox disease however during this time only cows were infected. This vaccine came from the cowpox virus. In 1809, the state of Massachusetts became the first to mandate the smallpox vaccinations then in 1879 a group of Anti-Vaccination of America was formed and their belief is that no one should be forced to vaccination. They believed that the vaccine was spreading the disease instead of preventing it. In 1986