Informative Essay On Vaccines

Vaccines and You As I walked into my medical building today, I made note of a sign in the front door. “Measles has been recorded in California, Utah, and Colorado. Please be aware of the symptoms, and vaccinate your children.” If you didn't already know, measles is a very contagious viral disease that is marked by a fever and rash. It’s most prevalent in children and can be dangerous, even fatal. However, in 1960 a vaccine was developed that could prevent the disease before it happens. Since then, vaccines for many infections have been developed and given to school age children around the world. In 2015, measles has returned with a vengeance, thanks to the new fear of vaccinations. Many parents are now choosing not to vaccinate their children,

As of 2014, 1 out of 10 people think that vaccines are dangerous, according to a poll by Time Magazine. Even though we are giving more shots to our children, the shots are continually getting safer and safer. An important aspect of vaccines are the antigens (molecules that make the immune system go into action.) While this may sound worrying, scientists have been able to reduce the number of antigens in every vaccine given to a child is less than 315, according to an article titled “Not Up For Debate: The Science behind Vaccination” by Aaron E. Carroll. For comparison, a child will usually fight off around 2,000 to 6,000 antigens in their normal environment every day. Another debate is that while some vaccines are important, other vaccines, such as the varicella (chickenpox) vaccine, can be deemed as “optional.” While technically correct, from 1990 to 1994, before the varicella vaccine was introduced, at least 45 children died from chickenpox. After the vaccine was introduced, from 2003 to 2007 only 10 children died. From then to the current day, only 1 child has died from chickenpox. None of the children who died were vaccinated. While this is a morbid reality, we owe a duty to our children, our cousins, our nieces and nephews to make sure that they are vaccinated. Not only for our benefit, vaccinating is important to maintain a thing called “herd immunity,” which is when so many

William Schaffner is quoted as saying, “we are victims of our own success.” Most current mothers were born in the 1980’s. They have never seen measles take over a child’s body. The only time they have heard of polio is in our history books, which briefly mention in with reference to Theodore Roosevelt. Current mothers have never seen these infectious diseases, their mothers were small children when they created the measles vaccine, so they also do not have a grasp on how measles can devastate a child. In Orange County, California, 14% of kindergarten children were not vaccinated in the past school year. This is dangerous even with herd immunity, as said in an article named “Vaccine Doubt and Your Kids,” by the LA