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Do vaccines cause autism
Do vaccines cause autism
Connection between autism and vaccines essay
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Every child born in America is unique: whether it be because of skin color, hair color, birth weight, complications while still in the womb, or difficulties at birth. Yet when it comes to vaccinations they are all treated equal and are expected to follow the government recommended vaccination schedule. Once these vaccinations have been given, they cannot be removed from a child’s body. The harm they may have caused a child, cannot be reversed. Parents need to be aware of what is in these vaccines and the possible harmful effects they can have on their child. While the official cause of autism has not been clearly determined, parents of young children and expecting parents need to be aware that research shows a definite link between vaccinations and reported cases of autism.
Vaccinating young children is not a new practice. Vaccinations have been given to young children for many years. Vaccinations were first started to provide people with immunity to harmful diseases. Many diseases have been almost eliminated from our country because of these immunities. Vaccinating children is a common practice that most parents follow as part of their “well-child” visits to the pediatrician. Many parents don’t even think twice about vaccinating their children, as that is what the pediatrician and the Center for Disease Controll
Brown 2 recommend. The CDC has developed an immunization schedule which physicians follow to determine at what age certain vaccinations are given. The current vaccination schedule for a child is said to be safe by the CDC. Dr. Donald Miller provides an informative summary of this schedule:
Before a child reaches the age of two, he or she will have received 32 vaccinations on the schedule, including four...
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In the Frontline episode The Vaccine War, a progressively distressful debate ensues among many scientists and doctors within the public health system and an unnerving alliance of parents, politicians, and celebrities. The topic of debate is the overwhelming pressure parents feel to vaccinate their children and their right to decline such vaccinations. In several American neighborhoods, groups of parents have been exercising their right to refuse vaccinations, which has elevated anxiety on the return of vaccine-preventable diseases such as pertussis and measles. The reason such parents are denying their children various vaccines such as the MMR “triple shot” for measles, mumps, and rubella is because they are convinced that it is linked to autism, a link that has yet to be proven. Many of these parents are focused solely on their children, not taking into account that their decision may put the American populace at risk for disease. Such parents are not thinking about other members of society that vaccines don’t work for, and in certain adolescents the effects deteriorate, thus only when every person is immunized the “heard immunity” is successful.
“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.
In the article,” Childhood Immunization Controversies: What are Parents Asking?” Dr. Daniel R. Bronfin gives s thorough history and current evaluation of child immunizations. Dr. Bronfin breaks down several different childhood immunizations from Smallpox to measles. During his break down of each of the common diseases, he gives a history, how they developed a vaccine, and how the effects of the vaccine is currently working. Dr. Bronfin wrote this article to educate parents to the benefits of immunization.
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.
Vaccines have been used to prevent diseases for centuries, and have saved countless lives of children and adults. The smallpox vaccine was invented as early as 1796, and since then the use of vaccines has continued to protect us from countless life threatening diseases such as polio, measles, and pertussis. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2010) assures that vaccines are extensively tested by scientist to make sure they are effective and safe, and must receive the approval of the Food and Drug Administration before being used. “Perhaps the greatest success story in public health is the reduction of infectious diseases due to the use of vaccines” (CDC, 2010). Routine immunization has eliminated smallpox from the globe and led to the near removal of wild polio virus. Vaccines have reduced some preventable infectious diseases to an all-time low, and now few people experience the devastating effects of measles, pertussis, and other illnesses.
My brother Dan was born November 22, 1999. Daniel was a normal child, he developed at a normal physical and social rate. He was just beginning to talk, gave eye contact, and would use hand gestures (pointing and clapping). When he was almost 2, he when to the doctor's office to receive his MMR (Measles, mumps, and Rubella) shots. He received 9 doses of the shot. After 24 hours of the vaccination, Dan developed an extremely high fever that lasted for two weeks. Once Dan's fever receded, he did not socialize, give eye contact, couldn't be touched, and did not interact with the family anymore. Dan was diagnosed with Autism soon after. Many families report this happening to their child, the reports have grown since the late 90's. I believe that vaccines are the cause of autism and the only way to lower the rate is to give fewer vaccines at a time.
“Childhood vaccines not only have personal benefits, but for entire communities and the future of public health” (Espejo 1). If a child goes without immunization, then he or she is also putting others at risk. Most parents do not consider all of the options and effects that come along with not having their child vaccinated. Many are quick to reject because of the possible side effects and harm it could cause. However, nothing in today’s world is completely harmless. An adult can easily be in a danger at work, while the child is in danger of disease at daycare. That is why it is completely necessary to vaccinate. By doing this, family, friends, and others are being protected as well (Allen 71). “There are also children who cannot get certain vaccines for medical or other reasons, and those who are too young to be vaccinated. These children have no protection if they are exposed to someone who is infected with a communicable disease” (Espejo 4). Commonly, this is not thought
Childhood vaccinations have received a lot of media in the past few years, and parents continue to question whether or not they should have their children vaccinated. This topic is a very important issue because it seems to be a trend in our society where parents are not vaccinating their children. This then leads their children becoming more susceptible to unnecessary diseases/viruses that can be prevented with vaccines. The focus of the following articles was on the association of the specific vaccines measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), and vaccines containing thimerosal, which has been a speculated reason for the cause of autism. This contentious hypothesis has many parents failing to vaccinate their children; this is especially true of many friends and family members of mine. They believe that vaccines can cause autism, and I want to prove otherwise.
The MMR vaccine is administered between the ages of 12-15 months. When a child develops autism, their parents describe the disease as the child growing normally until they reach an age where a degenerative process starts. This problem usually happens around the age of 2 years. Although parents do say the child was growing normally, many researchers do not believe that the child was actually growing normally until the age of 1-2 years but some children do go through a degenerative process and this usually happens after the administration of MMR vaccine. The question is does MMR have a true relation with the development of autism or is it just a coincidence?
In recent years, the correlation between vaccines and autism has become the subject of much debate. On one side, there are the anti-vaccinators, or anti-vaccers. On the other, there’s pretty much everyone else. Despite the fact that the anti-vaccination movement has little base in scientific fact, their campaign to end early infanthood vaccinations rages on. While doctors and scientists try desperately to make parents look at the research studies, vaccination rates continue to fall. But, even in these dark times, there is still hope that scientific fact will prevail and defeat the anti-vaccination fear mongers who have caused many children to fall ill and even die because their parents did not properly vaccinate them. This is one of the most saddening scientific failures of the twenty-first century. A failure to educate the public properly has resulted in child, even infant, fatalities. The anti-vaccination movement was started based on falsified data and continues only because of a lack of knowledge and proper education of the general public.
Vaccines are approved by doctors who put the child’s safety first. "Vaccines are only given to children after a long and careful review by scientists, doctors, and healthcare professionals . . . The disease-prevention benefits of getting vaccines are much greater than the possible side effects for almost all children"(“Five Important Reasons to Vaccinate Your Child”). Doctors take into consideration any allergies or other negative effects that could hurt the child and not getting vaccinated could lead to outbreaks. One unvaccinated child led to an infection of measles in 131 people (Sun). Immunizations have reduced and eliminated many diseases that killed or severely disabled people just a few generations ago. For example, the smallpox vaccination
At the present time there does not appear to be enough sufficient evidence to recommend that children not be vaccinated. The benefits of having a child vaccinated clearly outweigh any possible harm that the vaccinations might be causing. Children should continue to be vaccinated according to the schedule that has been set down by the CDC, so that everyone can be protected.
Recently the number of parents who are intentionally delaying their children’s general vaccinations is increasing. The controversy that is causing the number of delayed vaccinations to go up is based on the fact that there are negative articles connecting them to autism and other similar diseases. When parents are researching vaccinations and they read those negative articles, those articles make them believe that vaccines cause autism. Vaccines are important because they protect humans from preventable diseases and getting them could save human lives. Vaccines are important throughout life no matter what some research suggests. Parents are now more likely to intentionally delay vaccines because of negative press, even though vaccines
Despite the important and positive benefits of vaccinations, some people believe that vaccinating their children can cause serious health problems. Psychological, social, and cultural factors can also play a role in the parents’ decision in whether or not they wish to vaccinate their child (M. Ruijs., 2012). I feel that is it personal responsibility of all parents to vaccinate their children. Despite any pain or discomfort that a child may experience from the given injections, vaccinations are in the best interest of the child. It is very important to vaccinate children as it will protect them against many serious and potentially fatal diseases. Vaccinations are fast acting, harmless to the recipient, and extremely effective.