Mandatory chicken pox vaccine Chicken pox vaccine mandatory for children by Ana Patejdl at The Daily Illini, Available at http://www.dailyillini.com/apr02/apr17/news/stories/news_story10.shtml, Accessed 12/06/03 The above-mentioned article discusses the validity and safety of the vaccine for the chicken pox given to children before they enter kindergarten. The above mentioned article supports the assumption that the decision to give vaccines to children entering kindergarten did not have any solid proof as to whether the vaccine was safe enough for the children or not. The article argues that the approval for the requirement was not backed by the scientific proof that the vaccine was safe. Nevertheless, as the vaccine validity and safety is under debate, there is a healthy assumption that the vaccine would be good for children and would prevent them from dying under the unhealthy circumstances like chicken pox. This assumption is valid as long as there is scientific proof and evidences that: "I wanted people to know there is a vaccine available for them, for their children so that, you know, it doesn't have to happen to them. You know, if we only knew then what we know now, our son might be alive today." Chicken pox, Wednesday, August 7, Available at http://wgntv.trb.com/news/local/eveningnews/wgntv-080702medicalwatch,0,4271659.story?coll=wgntv-evening-news-2, Accessed 12/06/03 In the above example of the statement the evidence is provided through a personal testimonial of a mother whose son has died due to chicken pox. While here we may not argue for the validity of the proof that the lady’s son died due to chicken pox, but that if the vaccine were available he would have survived. There is a direct connection and relatedness ...
... middle of paper ...
...ning as the years progress, all school children will have protection from a disease that scarred this mother for life”. This case study reflects that the sample size was very small. Considering the mother that lost her son, the sample size is 1. The implication of the findings of this sample size is not appropriate as the sample size is too small to be representative of a population. Thus, the evidence that is given in this case study on the basis of personal testimonial and the research is inadequate. References Chicken pox vaccine mandatory for children by Ana Patejdl at The Daily Illini, Available at http://www.dailyillini.com/apr02/apr17/news/stories/news_story10.shtml, Accessed 12/06/03 Chicken pox, Wednesday, August 7, Available at http://wgntv.trb.com/news/local/eveningnews/wgntv-080702medicalwatch,0,4271659.story?coll=wgntv-evening-news-2, Accessed 12/06/03
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.
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.
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.
Vaccination was first introduced globally for small pox and later on extended to other communicable diseases which are now known as vaccine preventable disease. Vaccination is beneficial both for individuals and community. This bring us to the ethical dilemma - Vaccination of a healthy child with the intention of protecting both the individual child and the community at the same time exposing the child to the theoretical risk of exposure to disease products whether live, attenuated or killed. There was a time when people never questioned the government or their physicians. Now because of more public awareness and accessibility to medical information, they are questioning the safety aspects of vaccines.
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.
The history of vaccinations does not begin with the first vaccination itself but rather an infectious disease that had greatly affected the human population. In 1796 Edward Jenner created a successful composition using cowpox material that created immunity to the ongoing growth of the small pox disease. Jenner’s method underwent 200 years of medical and technological changes until it had finally resulted in complete elimination of the smallpox disease. Vaccinations have been a controversial medical topic for many years and although it is proven to be an effective means of preventing serious effects, including fatalities from childhood illnesses the controversy remains that the side effects from the immunizations outweigh the risk of contracting the disease. According to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia they state that “innovative techniques now drive vaccine research, with recombinant DNA technology and new delivery techniques leading scientist in new directions. Disease targets have expanded, and some vaccine research is beginning to focus on non-infectious conditions, such as addictions and allergies” (“The History of Vaccines” College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Web. 10 January. 2014). While public health officials insist that vaccines are the best way to protect public health. Over the past thirty years the vaccination schedule has tripled and since then there has been an alarming rise in the infant mortality rate in America. The problem is not the vaccination itself, but the quality of the vaccination.
Hannah Poling, a 19 month old, was diagnosed with autism shortly after receiving five vaccinations in one day. Before receiving these vaccinations Hannah was a healthy child without any characteristic of autism. The Polings, believing the vaccines to have caused her change, filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services, and won. The courts ruled that the vaccines she had received were responsible for her condition (Healy). This story is just one example of the growing fear and opposition from parents towards vaccines. Likewise, the verdict reached by the courts resulted in an outcry from promoters of vaccines as they fear the negative effects this decision could have on public health. On the one hand, it is argued that the state should be allowed to enforce mandatory vaccinations as this is in our children’s best interest. On the other side of the debate, parents should have a right to decide what is injected into their child’s body, especially when the substance could cause permanent harm or death. Strong arguments have been presented to support both sides, and some of these arguments will be examined in detail.
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.
...ey found that 7.6 percent of parents report that in the past 12 months (or since birth) they had missed or delayed a vaccine for their child aged 4-35 months. In both analyses, refusal/delay is not associated with family income, public vs. private insurance, mother’s age, or region of the country. This study shows effectively only a small percentage of parents don’t get their children vaccinated. The information that the article references come from is the American Academy of Pediatrician, which this comes from a credible source, although there is no dated on the article to when this was actually publish the information data that was reported is from 2002; since that time the information could have change. Therefore, this information is very useful to toward my assignment to show that there is only a small number of the population to convert back to using vaccines.
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 against diphtheria, polio, pertussis, measles, mumps and rubella, and more recent additions of hepatitis B and chicken pox, have given humans powerful immune guards to ward off unwelcome sickness. And thanks to state laws that require vaccinations for kids enrolling in kindergarten, the U.S. presently enjoys the highest immunization rate ever at 77%. Yet bubbling beneath these national numbers is the question about vaccine safety. Driven by claims that vaccinations can be associated with autism, increasing number of parents are raising questions about whether vaccines are in fact harmful to children, instead of helpful (Park, 2008).
“Childhood vaccines are one of the great triumphs of modern medicine. Indeed, parents whose children are vaccinated no longer have to worry about their child's death or disability from whooping cough, polio, diphtheria, hepatitis, or a host of other infections.” (Ezekiel J. Emanuel, 1). Vaccines helped humanity for many years in eliminating illnesses that disfigured, disabled and a lot of times took lives away. Children who do not get vaccinated not only risk themselves by being an easy target for diseases they also, harm everyone around them. In the end, today's children are the fuel of the future. Every parent should think carefully before taking any chance that may harm the coming generation.
Because of vaccines, the prevalence of diseases that used to kill hundreds of thousands every year is extremely low. Because these diseases have been all but eradicated, the majority of parents have seen neither these diseases, nor their devastating symptoms. As stated by William Schaffner, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University, “We’ve become prisoners of our own success. Nobody knows what measles is (Parker).” In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a group of 315 people were surveyed on their attitudes toward vaccines. After the survey, the subjects were divided into three groups. One group was given the most recent research showing no link between vaccines and autism; another was read a paragraph written in a mother’s voice, describing her child’s contraction of measles, shown three pictures of children with measles, mumps, rubella, and read warnings about the dangers of not vaccinating. The third group, as a control, was given an unrelated science article to read. After the experiment, the subjects were tested again on their attitudes toward vaccines. The group who was shown the diseases’ approval rates jumped five times higher than the
Chicken pox is not an Entrée that is served at one’s family holiday dinner party. Chicken pox is an extremely contagious disease caused by the Varicella zoster virus. Chicken Pox is not a disease that is known to affect other animals or insects. Unlike other diseases, where human and other animal close interaction causes the exchange of virus and disease this disease did not come from a human-chicken interaction. The name chicken pox has been stuck for generations; there are many theories behind its name. Chicken pox could sneak up on its young victims in the form of an innocent touch, or by inhaling tiny particles from a cough, or sneeze which then enters the respiratory tract. Once the virus attaches itself to it gracious, and unwilling host cells it causes a crimson rash that could be located on different parts of the body. The rash is highly irritating which makes it almost impossible not scratch. In the United States each year about 5,000 to 9,000 people are hospitalized, and around 100 people die from the microbe Varicella zoster that causes chicken pox.