Why Vaccination Is Necessary For Our Public Health And Public Safety ( Plotkin 1-15 )

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? Parents with infants and young children have been tussling with this proverbial question for several decades now. With the advent of the internet and the World Wide Web, parents have been bombarded with a plethora of information about pros and cons of vaccines from all kinds of sources, some creditable, and some are not. To the non-scientific community, these conflicting information can create problems in the decision making process; thus, forcing parents to make the wrong choices and putting their offspring and others at risk. However, this article will attempt to address the importance of vaccinations, how vaccines work, why we should vaccinate, and why parents should not be afraid to vaccinate their offspring.

Controversy concerning the risks of vaccinations will always exist. As is the nature of a preventative intervention, it is difficult to rationalize giving a completely healthy child an injection that is known to have varying degrees of sides affects5. Additionally, these injections are to provide immunity to children for diseases that have an extremely low risk of circulating within a population. Since these vaccines have been able to protect so many individuals from experiencing these dangerous infections, most parents do not even have personal experiences regarding the impact of these diseases. As such, many parents do not see the vaccine-preventable disease as a threat to their child. This often causes parents to not fully understand the risk their child has for contracting a disease and the subsequent danger of a vaccine-preventable disease infection verses the potential side effect of a vaccine which is normally only mild to moderate discomfort for their child15.

For many years, there has been a controversy about whether or not vaccinations should be mandated for everyone. In the United States, many diseases such as polio, diphtheria, measles, and whooping cough used to be extremely common, until vaccinations came around and started preventing these diseases. The main point for vaccines is to prepare a person’s immune system for any possible attack of a disease that comes in the future; a person’s body will be prepared to fight off the disease with the vaccine (“Basics”). Vaccines have the ability to prevent many cases of these diseases in advanced, but there are people who think vaccines are unnatural and should not be required for their children. It is said that immunity in child vaccines are about 90%-100%, which is an increase over the past few years (“Childhood”). Although many Americans believe that vaccines are unsafe and cause autism in children, vaccinations for children should be mandatory because they can save a child’s life, create herd immunity in a community, and they have been proven safe/cost-effective.

In addition, Vaccines have caused a lot of trouble in this world. Innocent parent now getting charged for murder when their baby dies from the effects of their vaccines. “Many parents have endured the nightmare of being falsely accused of their child’s death. Some of them are behind bars today after being falsely accused and convicted of manslaughter after their child suffered fatal vaccine injuries”(Christina). This is wrong. The parents are required to get their child vaccinated and then they get put behind bars for their child dying for the very vaccine the government tells us we have to

This topic is extremely significant to my audience because a growing number of parents do not vaccinate their children due to fear of side effects. Parents today have lost confidence in in the vaccination industry as a consequence of sensationalism brought about by false evidence published and the celebrities that latched onto that claim. Sadly, some people have taken to considering the strong opinions and may not research vaccinations before making decisions

Medical advancements are one of the finest revolutionizing trademarks of the 21st century. From HIV vaccines to cholera vaccines, many strands of fatal diseases can now be prevented. The majority of people would desire themselves and their children vaccinated, right? Surprisingly enough, a 2011 study from Public Health Reports shows about 63% of parents who don’t vaccinate say they believe their children will acquire serious side effects, while only a 31% of parents who do vaccinate believe the same thing. Fear of side effects are the leading cause of lack of vaccination in children. Brain inflammation, seizures, and death are just a few of the devastating and rare possibilities. Even though these terrible circumstances are mostly fatal, people

Vaccination, also known as immunization, is the act of receiving an injection of either prepared killed microorganisms, living attenuated organisms, or living fully virulent organisms that is administered to produce or increase immunity levels to a particular disease (CDC). Vaccines against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), human papillomavirus (HPV), and influenza are three of the most controversial subjects in medicine. Over the last few years, there have been strong opinions concerning these vaccines, stirring up an international debate as to their efficacy, safety and reliability. Consequently, a plethora of parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children due to potential negative side effects. In this paper I investigate both sides of the vaccine debate, including the most popular arguments for and against vaccination. I include context for both sides incorporating the history behind immunization, Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s work and the recent SB 277 Bill.

One of the most controversial topics present in pediatric medicine is the vaccination of children. While many parents and guardians follow the recommended immunization charts, there are quite a few individuals who delay their child's vaccines or forgo them all together. Even though vaccination has proven to be effective in preventing serious effects from illnesses, controversy remains over whether the risk of side effects from the immunizations outweigh the danger of contracting the disease. Although the downside from vaccines contain harmful materials and the possibility of unpleasant reactions, vaccines have countless advantages to ensure the health of the children and community.

Vaccinations can protect children from serious illnesses and life threatening diseases, and some of these diseases can lead to complications such as amputations of arms or legs, paralysis of limbs, hearing loss, convulsions, brain damage and death(CDC, 2016, para.3.). According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), due to the effects of vaccinations, diseases such as smallpox have been eliminated and others such as polio, meningitis C, whooping cough and diphtheria have been significantly reduced almost to the point of elimination. All of these diseases are so rare now that it is easy to underestimate the importance of children’s vaccinations. While some of the diseases that vaccines protect children from have disappeared,

The debate about vaccines has been going on since the development of the first vaccine. By understanding how Dr. Jenner developed the first vaccine and how vaccines have impacted society as a whole, one can gain insight into their importance. Vaccine safety concerns are on the rise, but researchers are attempting to ease worries by providing facts and clarity on the subject of vaccines. Knowing the facts about vaccines is important for one to recognize misinformation and poor logic as well as the misinterpretation of existing information about health concerns associated with vaccines. Because of these health and safety concerns, many parents question the benefits of vaccines.

The medical world considers vaccines to be effective if they suppress a few targeted illnesses, but at what expense? An emerging body of evidence indicates that vaccines can damage a child’s developing immune system and brain, leading to life-threatening or debilitating disorders like autism, ADHD, asthma, peanut allergy, juvenile diabetes, etc or to SIDS, death itself. If this is true, the number of vaccine-related deaths per year may well outnumber the deaths from vaccine preventable illnesses. "many of the benefits of vaccines are overshadowed by their perceived risks. As more children receive vaccines, the total number (not necessarily percentage) of real and perceived adverse events increases." (Calandrillo, 2004, p. 19)

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”).

There have been many complaints and worries about immunization programs; that vaccinations don’t work or that they give out possible negative side effects. Recently the use of vaccines has been going downhill because of those thoughts. If just one person goes around saying that a vaccine made them sick then other people believe it and stop getting vaccines. However, there have been studies that show that vaccines actually have helped throughout the years with different epidemics and diseases.

Despite vaccinations being credited for the control and elimination of several childhood diseases, there are still many critics who raise concerns about the necessity of vaccination. In a national study of parents performed in 2000, 19% indicated they had “concerns about vaccines” whereas in a subsequent survey performed in 2009 this number had risen to 50%. There has also been a rise in non-medical vaccine exemptions that has occurred over the last several years. In a 2010 national survey of physicians, 89% of respondents reported at least one vaccine refusal by a parent each month (Dempsey & Gowda, 2013). Opposers argue that making school vaccination mandatory is against their right to make personal medical decisions. They feel that the government has no place to force parents to vaccinate their children if the parents decide it is not in their child’s best interest. Many parents are disagreeable about the multiple vaccinations received at one time, which results in possible pain and discomfort for the child. Another argument against vaccination is the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Critics are concerned about the unknown risks vaccines pose to children. Some parents noted their child acquiring a “high fever” or beginning to “act different” after the administration of a vaccine. There is a belief that there is a connection between the measles vaccination and autism. Another theory is that the influenza

Vaccinations are a much-debated topic whether they are necessary or even safe for our children. There is a great amount of evidence that suggests, vaccinations are not only safe for children but are lifesaving. Even though it is reported that vaccines are the surest, most effective treatment for reducing and preventing diseases, some researchers dispute vaccine safety. It is reported that vaccines can cause serious side effects that may be associated with ADHD, autism, and other chronic illnesses. There is supported facts that claim, those who choose not to vaccinate their children are not only risking the health of their children but jeopardizing the lives of other individuals that are unable to receive vaccines, such as those with a weakened immune system due to cancer or other diseases that affects the immune.