The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has listed immunizations as the number one greatest public health achievement in the 20th century. This attainment towards the goal of health and safety is a huge success for not only our country but from the global perspective as well. Immunizations help to prevent illness and death from vaccine-preventable diseases. The World Health Organization states that global vaccination coverage has remained consistent for the past few years; for example, the percentage of infants fully vaccinated against diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis has held secure at 83%. Programs for population-wide vaccinations have helped with the annihilation of polio in America since the late 1970’s, the eradication of smallpox, and the control of numerous other infectious diseases in the United States and other parts of the world.
“Vaccines are the most effective tool we have to prevent infectious diseases… Most childhood vaccines produce immunity about 90-100% of the time” (Vaccines). If it weren’t for vaccines we would be having bad epidemics like we did in the earlier 1900’s. Vaccinations have been proven useful and highly popular among societies. Immunity is much higher when majority of the community is vaccinated. We started to have vaccines around 1885 with the rabies vaccine. Throughout the 1930’s antitoxins and vaccines were made for diphtheria, tetanus, anthrax, cholera, plague, typhoid and tuberculosis (Vaccines). The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) estimated that 732,000 American children were saved from death and 322 million
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimated that 732,000 children were saved and 322 million cases of childhood illnesses were prevented between 1994 and 2014 due to parents preventative vaccinations. (Vaccines 1). With 732,00 children saved from death and illness there should be no question on whether parents should vaccinate their children. Vaccines are an important part of saving children’s lives, all parents should get their children vaccinated, this prevents their child from catching diseases and passing it on to other children and adults, some parents fear that vaccinations can cause autism when there is no scientific evidence; vaccines are safe in the amount used.
Vaccinations have been a controversial topic over the years because the benefits are inevitably invisible. People who do not receive the disease are unaware of the good that comes out of the vaccination as well as the risks. There are multiple killer diseases out in the world that could and do harm unsuspecting victims and need to be prevented; therefore, vaccinations are the solution. A vaccination is the injection of a killed or weakened organism that produces immunity in the body against that organism (vaccine.gov). Research shows that vaccinations have decreased the percentages of diseases such as Measles, Mumps, and Rubella, more than 90 percent (Immunize for Good). Even though some parents are worried about the slight risks and the money
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.
“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
Vaccines are said to be one of the greatest public health achievements in history. They date back to 1796, when Edward Jenner used cowpox material to create immunity to the smallpox disease. (Historyofvaccines.org 2014) Now over two-hundred years later they’ve helped dramatically reduce the instance of viral diseases in children. For example, old childhood diseases such as Polio, Smallpox, and Diptheria have either been completely eradicated or are rarely seen in the United States thanks to vaccines. However, in recent years we’ve seen a sharp increase in parents who opt out of having their children receive these life-saving immunizations. This is mostly due to accusations over different side effects and a link between vaccines and autism, which is causing this new trend known to most as “the Anti-Vaccine Movement.”(Ashbrook, 2014) A major side effect of this movement is the comeback of old world diseases. We are seeing a rise specifically in measles and pertussis mostly within states that have the lowest vaccination rates. (Raja, Mooney 2014) Even though we have proof of their effectiveness based on scientific research and statistics, there are still parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated, ultimately putting their health at risk and the health of others who are not well enough or old enough to be vaccinated. It is extremely important that we try to reach out to these people and educate them on why their children should be vaccinated, not only for their health but for overall health within our communities.
Many parents ask, are vaccines safe for my child? I am one of those parents but the more research that I have done, has put wondering thoughts to rest. Many parents believe that vaccinations are linked to the causes of autism, multiple sclerosis, asthma and many other health problems. Although many parents have legitimate reasoning to not have their children receive vaccines, there are more pros than cons to receiving the vaccines. In rare cases children have became sick after immunizations, some life threatening. Because of vaccine safety and studies, the change in affordability of the vaccines, and recent decreasing results of major disease outbreaks, vaccines are helping keep children and our society safe.
To conclude, vaccines are proved as the safest methodology to prevent an epidemic disease breakout throughout the world. These injections are only given to people after a careful and long-term review by various pediatricians and health professionals. Side effects after vaccination is very rare. The benefits of getting inoculations are much greater than the possible side effects for almost all people. Thus, to solidify the safety of our society to the great extent, the U.S. government should legislate to provide and require vaccinations for every child by providing a governmental subsidy to offer vaccination at the possible lowest cost. This will prevent epidemic diseases that may endanger society.
Since Edward Jenner’s first inoculation of the smallpox virus science has made leaps and bounds in the development of vaccines. Today the CDC recommends at least 16 vaccines for children. Through vaccines and crowd immunization we have eradicated polio and smallpox. There is no doubt that vaccines have helped human life grow and develop. However, there are growing concerns about side effects of vaccines. There are groups of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. Groups like this have lead to outbreaks of diseases we have not seen in decades. While there are those who doubt the efficiency of vaccines it is clear that vaccines are our only option to eradicate disease.
Vaccination is one the greatest achievements of public health which led to a marked decline in the rate of infectious diseases in the 19th century. (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 1999) However, currently a growing number of parents are in doubt regarding the safety of vaccines and the necessity to follow the recommended vaccination schedule for their children, resulting in many parents following an alternative schedule of vaccination or complete refusal of vaccination. (Dempsey et al., 2011)
Immunizations have saved millions of lives over the last hundred years. Currently vaccination rates are at their highest in the United States. Most vaccinations are given during infancy through adolescents. Infants especially are more susceptible to infectious diseases; this being the reason it is so important to guard via immunization. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention immunizations help prevent disease from spreading and protect infants and toddlers against threatening difficulties of diseases such as polio and measles.(2004) Data compiled by the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) states that children today now receive as many as 49 doses of 14 vaccines before they reach age six, this is about 12 times higher than the number of vaccines administered to children back in 1940. (Huff, 2013) Immunizations were developed to eradicate diseases such as polio and measles. There is no longer polio and measles in the United States, so why are our children still being immunized against them? Are all these immunizations still necessary? Although there is understanding in why certain immunizations are essential there are many vaccines that can cause harm to us, especially infants and children. Vaccines have been shown to cause autoimmune diseases and other serious reactions, suppress the immune system and contain toxic ingredients bringing about neurodevelopment diseases.
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
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.
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...