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Not Up for Debate: The Science Behind Vaccination
Four different respects in which the anti-vaccination movement is harmful
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- Anti-vaccine and vaccine-phobic sentiments have spread through social media and word-of-mouth. These attitudes are often propelled by religious beliefs, skepticism about science, and strong voices opposing vaccination.
- It’s common that people’s reluctance or enthusiasm towards vaccines does not affect their behavior. Many people go through with recommended vaccinations despite their philosophical disagreements. This is often because schools and employers often uphold vaccination standards for students and employees. In other cases people’s pro-vaccine enthusiasm may not be enough to overcome barriers to access.
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
Through the rise of technological advances in medicine, the vaccine has changed the world for the greater good of the human race. Making a great triumph and virtually eliminating an array of life-threatening diseases, from smallpox to diphtheria, thus adding approximately thirty years to many humans’ life spans. Although, a new complication has arisen, possibly linking neurological digression with this rise of new vaccines. Such a digression has forced parents to exempt their children from receiving vaccinations and brought forth mental anguish affecting the minds of many.
Cognitive Dissonance would be the most likely theory for what these parents choose for their families. They want to be heard; they don’t feel comfortable with vaccines given to babies and feel like it will lead to sickness in the future. Despite doctors and scientist telling them it will make children more at risk of contracting something in the near future. The social issue will not go away. They will always be someone with an issue with it until the vaccines become safer, to the non-believers.
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.
The use of vaccinations has been a major topic in the news lately. The decision to or not to vaccinate your child is a decision that parents face each day. For some the decision is an easy one, a no-brainer. For others, it’s a very difficult one to make. People that are pro-vaccine believe that they are protecting their children and the future generations by vaccinating them against diseases that they could potentially get. People that are ant-vaccine believe that by choosing not to vaccinate, they are protecting their children and future generations from the serious side effects that they could potentially get from the vaccination.
Offit, P. (2011). Deadly choices: how the anti-vaccine movement threatens us all. New York, NY: Basic Books.
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.
Through the years, controversy has surrounded vaccinations such as, whether or not they have harmful side-affects, are a government scheme, or simply unnecessary. Parents today have a choice whether or not to vaccinate their children, but should vaccinations be choice? By mandating vaccinations, fewer people are likely to contract diseases. Although vaccines have been subject to scrutiny, vaccines have worked for many years, are not harmful, and use safe ingredients.
Most of this has to do with the myths circulating around vaccines, mainly the one that ties vaccines to autism. In 1998, an author wrote a research paper called The Lancelot. In The Lancelot, “Andrew Wakefield, a British researcher at the time, linked the MMR vaccine with autism spectrum disorders in the paper” (Bushak par. 22). This paper created a huge stir within parents and caused a decrease in vaccines despite the fact that “later, the paper was found to be fraudulent, and it emerged that Wakefield had been funded by opponents of vaccine manufacturers” (Bushak par. 22). The paper surfaced years later, and now there are organizations built on anti-vaccination ideologies around this paper despite the fact that it has been proven wrong several
Many people come to the United States of America in order to live freely and make choices based on their personal morals. Considering the fact that America is known for being the “land of the free”, people should be able to choose whether or not they want to get vaccinated. People should have the right to reject vaccinations for whatever reason it may be, whether it’s religious beliefs, health concerns, or lack of belief in the vaccination systems. Personally, Vaccinations have benefited me and my health, and I choose to get vaccinated. I choose to get vaccinated because I strongly believe in a way it helps build my immune system and keeps me from getting sick or catching diseases. However, people have different beliefs than mine. Therefore
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.
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
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
We are always hearing on the news and in newspapers about children catching diseases and often dying from them. Why is this happening when all of these diseases are easily preventable by simply being immunised, why aren’t parents getting their children Immunised, is it for religious beliefs or just carelessness. What ever their reason may be is it really good enough, because why would anyone rather let their child be able to catch and spread a deadly disease then have them Immunised, so Immunisation should be made compulsory for all children.