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Vaccines Argumentative Essay

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Vaccines are one of the most important medical achievements in the history of mankind. Their importance cannot be downplayed; previously, entire civilizations fell to diseases that the populace had no immunity to. However, fears among the general public about vaccines can lead to reduced immunization rates. Declining or deferring on these inoculations can lead to resurgences in sicknesses that we think of as well managed or even eradicated.
The modern history of vaccines starts with Edward Jenner, an English doctor who developed the vaccine for smallpox. He did this by way of inoculating a young boy with fluid from a woman who had cowpox, a similar disease. When the boy was later exposed to smallpox, the antibodies that his system produced …show more content…

Soon after Edward Jenner’s experiments with inoculating against smallpox, there were newspaper pictorials of patients “degenerating into beasts” (Fulford). Some parents are afraid that the vaccine will affect their child adversely, making them even sicker than the illness it was meant to prevent. However, having this kind of negative reaction is very rare. According to the CDC, the DTaP vaccine, which protects against the illnesses Diphtheria, Tetanus, and acellular Pertussis, has a rate of serious allergic reactions of about 1 in a million. This rate is so low that “it is hard to tell if they are caused by the vaccine.” (NCIRD) There is also a fear by some that there may be a risk of developing autism after vaccinating children with the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine or those containing thimerosal, even though studies have found no link between either of these types of vaccine and developing autism. These fears are simply unfounded and based on assumptions and flawed understandings of the science behind these …show more content…

In Nigeria, politicians and religious leaders campaigned against the polio vaccine with claims that it could cause HIV, sterilize patients, and cause cancer. In only one year, the number of reported cases of polio jumped from 355 to 782. Similar fears about the supposed autism link are spread by some high profile celebrities and news networks in the US. Scientists talk about a concept called “community immunity”, more commonly known as herd immunity. This is where so much of the population is immunized, that even those who have not been inoculated, or whose immunity is not as strong as others get some protection by way of the whole of the population having such strong resistance to the contagion. This limits the amount of people that the disease can spread to. However, if immunization rates drop then it jeopardizes this system by creating weak links in this chain, creating a public health problem for the community at large. This is part of why mandatory vaccinations are so important; our society is dependent on most people being vaccinated for this kind of protection to

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