Since the debut of vaccines, global health has improved as diseases become less common and, in some cases, eradicated. “Herd immunity,” the overall immunity established when a significant proportion of a community is immune to a disease, can be reached through widespread vaccination. The result of herd immunity is an extreme reduction of disease prevalence (Fine, Eames, & Heymann, 2011). Current herd immunity saves forty-two thousand lives and fourteen billion dollars in the United States each year in direct medical costs alone (Buttenheim, Jones, & Baras, 2012).
Reaching the threshold number of individuals needed in order to achieve herd immunity has generally been a nonissue for countries. However, smaller scale communities sometimes struggle to reach thresholds due to larger magnitudes of unvaccinated individuals. Individuals may not be vaccinated because of age, medical issues, or personal objections. Such objections can have many roots, including philosophical, moral, personal, and religious reluctance. Imdad et al. (2013) indicated that throughout the United States, that while regulations for vaccination exemptions are determined on state-by-state basis, the overall rate of exemptions for mandatory vaccinations granted on religious grounds has risen in recent years, when previously the rate of such exemptions remained constant.
Individuals with religious exemptions for vaccinations not only are at a greater risk for contracting vaccine-preventable diseases, but also elevate the risk for others. Individuals who cannot be vaccinated because of medical conditions or age are at greater risk because of the religiously exempt, who can become infected and transmit disease them. Even vaccinated individuals are at greater...
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Marlow, L. A. V., Wardle, J., Forster, A. S., & Waller, J. (2009). Ethic differences in human papillomavirus awareness and vaccine acceptability. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 63(12), 1010-1015. http://dx.doi.org/10.11 36/jech.2008.085886
Muhsen, K., El-Hai, R. A., Amit-Aharon, A., Nehama, H., Gondia, M., Davidovitch, N., . . . Cohen, D. (2012). Risk factors of underutilization of childhood immunizations in ultraorthodox Jewish communities in Israel despite high access to health care services. Vaccine, 30(12), 2109-2115. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2012.01 .044
Ruijs, W. L.M., Hautvast, J. L.A., van der Velden, K., de Vos, S., Knippenberg, H., & Hulscher, M.E. (2011). Religious subgroups influencing vaccination coverage in the Dutch Bible belt: an ecological study. BMC Public Health, 11(1), 102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-11-102
There is a war going on against parents that refuse to vaccinate their children. It is coming from the government that makes and enforces laws requiring parents to vaccinate their children, hostile parents of vaccinated children, and doctors that refuse to see unvaccinated children. They are concerned about the potential health risk unvaccinated children pose to the public. These parents aren’t lunatics but are concerned parents that are trying to make the best choice for their children. In fact, these parents aren’t fighting alone; a number of pediatricians and medical experts are apart of this crusade and have taken the lead. They will tell you there is an agenda, “Vaccine manufacturers, health officials, medical doctors, lead authors of important studies, editors of major medical journals, hospital personnel, and even coroners, cooperate to minimize vaccine failings, exaggerate benefits, and avert any negative publicity that might frighten concerned parents, threaten the vaccine program and lower vaccination rates.” 4
Health care is a major global issue that affects millions of people every day. In this paper I am going to review an important health care topic that includes childhood immunizations and religious exemption policies. Immunizations are one of the most cost-effective public health achievements that protect both individuals and the community as a whole. Vaccinated individuals help the community by creating what is called herd immunity for those who cannot be vaccinated due to age or current health conditions get some protection because the spread of contagious disease is contained. High vaccination rates and low incidences of diseases indicators of successful immunization programs.
The article “People Should Not Be Allowed to Refuse Vaccination” focuses on the dangers people who choose not to vaccinate are opening to others. The argument stems from the ease with which disease can spread through an unvaccinated community and the threat this poses to those who cannot vaccinate. Because of this danger the author of the article believes vaccination should not be left to choice, but required for the good of public safety.
“Vaccinations are causing a major upsurge in childhood diseases, adult maladies, and even deadly ailments such as Gulf War Syndrome and Lou Gehrig’s disease” (Blaylock). Every now and then an individual’s doctor calls telling them about the latest vaccine they should receive. The person immediately schedules a time to come in and get it done. But do they even give a second thought about it? Have they ever thought that maybe they do not need another vaccination? Many people have not taken the time to seriously think about the process of immunization. The truth is, there are many dangers that the average person should be unaware of. Rarely do vaccines actually accomplish what the public has been told. In fact, a lot of vaccines contain harmful substances that have been linked to disorders such as autism. The lack of education and dishonesty from doctors are putting people in danger of health problems without even realizing. Many parents feel obligated for their children to get vaccinated because of school, not knowing they have the alternative option of refusing immunization.
Vaccines are becoming increasingly hazardous for many children and parents are not being informed about the safety of their children. Current reports are linking vaccines to serious life-threatening disorders such as asthma, autism, immune system dysfunction, and mental retardation (Williams). These recent revelations are causing an increasing amount of people to claim religious and medical exemptions from vaccines. From 1999 to 2006, exemptions have more than doubled from 9,722 to 24,919 (Cronin). It is very clear that vaccinations are posing many problems for parents everywhere. Each day researchers are finding out about vaccines and are realizing that there are a lot more risks than benefits. Dr Phillip F. Incao explains: “Today, far more children suffer from allergies and other chronic immune system disorders than from life-threatening infectious disease. It is neither reasonable nor prudent to persist in presuming that the benefits of any vaccination outweigh its risk” (qtd in Spaker). While infectious diseases are becoming uncommon there is no need for any person to get vaccinated.
Most people know what vaccines are and have received them during our childhood years; but past that knowledge, most people do not think much about vaccines until we have children of our own. Some parents are more skeptical than others on the topic of vaccinations, but most parents choose this preventative measure in protecting their children from harmful diseases. However, in the case of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, there is quite a controversy as to if it is appropriate to administer the vaccine to pre-teen to teenage children. Genital human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually-transmitted infection in the United States; an estimated 14 million persons are newly infected every year (Satterwhite,
The controversy concerning parents vaccinating their children has been a debate for many years. A vaccination is an injection of a weakened or killed organism that produces immunity in the body against that organism. In further detail: when germs such as bacteria or viruses, invade the body, they attack and multiply. This is then called an infection (an infection is what produces illness). When the immune system realizes, it then must fight back the infection with antibodies that the human body produces against the foreign substance. Once the infection is fought off, the body is left with a supply of cells that help recognize and fight off that specific disease in the future. Vaccinations
20. Kennedy, Alison M et al., ‘Vaccine beliefs of parents who oppose compulsory vaccination’, Pub Health Rep, 120 (2005)
Parents must be forced to vaccinate their children. The detrimental effects of failing to vaccinate a child can be spine chilling for not only your child but you and your loved ones around. Despite our best efforts to keep our children safe, their lives are unhygienic, a proverbial germ fest some might argue. Children must be vaccinated as they are unaware of their surroundings and a vaccination will save their life; only the child’s but also the people around them.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Public confidence in immunization is critical to sustaining and increasing vaccination coverage rates and preventing outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs)” (para. 1). In recent history, there has been a significant decline in public confidence because of a variety of factors, such as vaccination does not always mean immunization, vaccines expose children to toxins, and children can build immunity naturally. The number of parents who are choosing not to vaccinate their children is growing yearly because there are certain exemptions that parents can claim, even if the vaccine is mandatory in their state.
Omer, Saad B., Dr. "Vaccine Refusal, Mandatory Immunization, and the Risks of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases — NEJM." New England Journal of Medicine. Web. 13 May 2014.
Vaccines are very effective in defending children from infectious disease. Although there has been tremendous success in achieving population based childhood immunization programs, more and more parents have chosen to delay the registration or even refuse to vaccinate their children at all (Diekema, 2012, p. 391). People are starting to challenge the necessity, safety and tolerability of vaccinations because the public attention has been diverted from the decreasing incidence of disease to the ambiguous risks of side effects of vaccines (Heininger, 2009, G9). Despite its outstanding performance in preventing diseases, maintaining high level of vaccination coverage needs public understanding as well, particularly the acceptance of parents
Vaccinations have significantly reduced the disease rate throughout the world. Usually, vaccines prove to be between 90 and 99 percent effective. This reduces disease and mortality rate by thousands every year (Jolley and Douglas 1). On average, vaccines save the lives of 33,000 innocent children every year (“Vaccines” 1). In addition, if a vaccinated child did contract the vaccine’s targeted illness, that child would, in general, have more mild symptoms than an unvaccinated child that contracts the same illness. These vaccinated children will have less serious complications if they do contract the disease; they will be much more treatable, and have a lower risk of death (Jolley and Douglas 2). The risks of not vaccinating greatly outweigh the small risks of vaccination. Diseases like measles and mumps can cause permanent disability. While there i...
The Anti-Vax Issue According to World Book Advanced Encyclopedia, immunization is defined as the process of protecting the body against disease by means of vaccines or serums (Hinman). While medical science backs up the efficiency and necessity of vaccines, within the past decade, a rise in parents disbelieving the medical community and neglecting to immunize their children has occurred. This “fear of vaccines” is nothing new, but with the ever-increasing safety of vaccines, the benefits of inoculation far outweigh the risks. Parents who refuse to vaccinate, or anti-vaxxers, put more than their children’s lives on the line, but also risk the safety of the whole community. Because vaccines are essential to protecting individuals and communities
This, in turn, will deteriorate the prevalence of preventable diseases and hence decrease the likelihood that medically incompatible individuals will contract them (Kim, T. H., Johnstone, J., & Loeb, M., 2011). According to the World Health Organization, “The decline of disease incidence is greater than the proportion of individuals immunized because vaccination reduces the spread of an infectious agent by reducing the amount and duration of pathogen shedding by vaccinees, retarding transmission” (Andre, 2008). This enables a significant percentage of individuals who oppose vaccines to reconcile with those who do not, as this eliminates the concern regarding adverse reactions. According to an article titled “Vaccine herd effect,” herd immunity has pervaded many communities to help minimize the spread of disease. For example, in the 1990s, a vaccine was introduced that targeted a strain of disease known as streptococcus pneumoniae, which can potentially cause pneumonia. The CDC discovered a fifty percent reduction in pneumonia cases among the elderly despite the vaccine being offered primarily to children (Kim, T. H., Johnstone, J., & Loeb, M., 2011). This scenario is indubitably a prime exemplar for herd immunity, and it is the greatest reason that mandatory inoculation is