Every parent must decide whether or not they will vaccinate their child. The medical community advocates for vaccinating children, which will contribute to herd immunity, and help in the eradication of preventable diseases. However there are arguments to be made against vaccinating as well. People are finding that vaccines are not providing long term protection, and are less effective than developing immunity through a natural defense process. Vaccines provide unnecessary exposure to toxins which may be linked to developmental delays. Also some of the side effects and complications associated with various vaccines are proving to be more detrimental than the disease processes they are designed to fight against. Many parents are weighing the cost vs. benefits of vaccinations, and deciding that it isn't worth the risk.
The public is becoming increasingly aware of the potential for vaccination to cause reactions that range from swelling and pain at the injection site to life threatening anaphylactic shock, to brain and immune system injuries resulting in lifelong disabilities. " Since the illnesses that vaccines combat are no longer major killers in the United States, far greater attention is paid instead to the risks that immunizations present." (Calandrillo, 2004, p. 14)
Vaccines are said to work by triggering the body’s natural immunity. By injecting weak or dead infectious agents through the skin the body will recognize the invading pathogens and create the necessary immune defense. While this idea is over two hundred years old, it’s not nearly as effective as we are lead to believe. Vaccines boost our defenses only temporarily. Research has shown that the historical decline in infectious diseases were not the result of inocu...
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Briss, P. A. (1994). SUSTAINED TRANSMISSION OF MUMPS IN A HIGHLY VACCINATED POPULATION: ASSESSMENT OF PRIMARY VACCINE FAILURE AND WANING VACCINE-INDUCED IMMUNITY. Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. doi:10.1097/00006454-199409000-00031
Calandrillo, S. P. (2004). Vanishing Vaccinations: Why Are So Many Americans Opting Out of Vaccinating Their Children? University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, 37(353), 1-78.
Chemist Gives 3 Reasons He Doesn't Vaccinate and gives vaccine exemption forms for all states | ThePeoplesChemist.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://thepeopleschemist.com/reasons-dont-vaccinate-children-vaccine-supporters-shouldnt-give
Shannon, US National Institutes of Health, J. A. (2004). Vaccination: What you Need to Know; The Only Safe Vaccine Is a Vaccine That's Never Used. Vaccination Risk Awarness Network Inc, 1-12. Retrieved from www.vran.org
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
The effectiveness of vaccinations continues to be proven (Malone and Hinaman n.d.). For example, after development of the measles vaccine and the implementation of the vaccination program, the number of reported measles cases declined from 57,345 in 1977 to 2587 in 1984( CDC 2010 ). However, even though vaccinations have been proven safe and effective; there are still risks as well as the implication that not every person who is vaccinated will obtain immunity. That being said, serious damage from vaccination is a rare occurrence (Malone and Hinaman). A Glanz study (2013) from the Vaccin...
Blaylock, Russell. “The Killer Vaccinces: An Honest Physician Warns of Serious Dangers.” Newsmax. The Blaylock Wellness Report. 2014 Web. 22 Mar. 2015.
The article’s information is presented with the goal of informing a reader on vaccines. The evidence is statistical and unbiased, showing data on both side effects and disease prevention, providing rates of death and serious illness from both sides. This evidence is sourced from a variety of medical organizations and seems reliable, logical, and easily understood, no language that would inspire an emotional response is used. The validity of studies is not mentioned in the article, but it does encourage readers to investigate further to help make a decision. The article allows a reader to analyze the presented evidence and come to their own
...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.
Why It Is Important to Monitor Vaccine Safety. (2011, February 5). In Center of Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved October 8, 2011, from http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/VaccineSafety/UCM096228
... you wait, the more likely your child’s immune system will be able to handle the onslaught with minimal damage” (Sarah). I am not suggesting that we return to the days without vaccines. But we must seriously address what appears to be an obvious link between the epidemic of developmental delays, autoimmune diseases, and the increasing number of mandatory vaccines. Every parent should know the advantages as well as the dangers associated with each and every vaccine, each and every time it is given. They should know the positive and negative consequences of refusing that their children be vaccinated, and be made aware of how they can go about getting exemptions. Also-- the government, industry, health-care professionals, and parents must band together to get the research needed to determine the safety of these vaccines. The stakes are too high for us to do otherwise.
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.
Vaccines have many disadvantages, which justify a parent’s right to chose if they want to take the risk of vaccinating their child or not. The leader of a family, not the leader of a nation, should make this choice. The diseases and disabilities caused by vaccines are too substantial to ignore. More solid, long-term research should be done before they are deemed safe and mandatory. The innocent civilians who lost their lives in this war against disease are the biggest reasons of why the weapons of choice, vaccines, should be reevaluated.
Many parents do not want to get their children vaccinated because they are harmful to children, but vaccinations are not as harmful as they think. Parents should have to have their children vaccinated because there are less diseases now since the use of vaccinations, other people that can’t get vaccinated won’t contract any infectious diseases and there are less problems caused from being vaccinated than non-vaccinated. Vaccinations have proven to be useful time and time
...rsonal stance. What about the children who aren’t old enough or healthy enough to be vaccinated? Or the children who have been vaccinated, but the vaccine didn’t work for them? These children depend on the immunity of the people around them to maintain their health. In healthcare terms, this is called, “herd immunity.” A good example of why herd immunity is important would be the case of a 3 week old from Transylvania County whom contracted pertussis or “whooping cough” last September and died from it. (ncdhhs.gov 2013) This child was not old enough to be vaccinated against the disease and solely depended on the immunity of the people around her to keep her safe. When parents opt out of vaccinating their children, they are breaking down the total immunity within their communities thus making these unfortunate people who can’t protect themselves more vulnerable.
Although there are many reasons to make vaccines mandatory, there are also reasons not to vaccinate. Some who are for vaccines wonder why anyone would risk acquiring a gruesome disease when they could just simply get a shot. However, the amount of people who decide not to get vaccinated is increasing. According to pediatrician Dr. Sharon Humiston, roughly 1.8% of children are not being vaccinated due to the fact that their paren...
Parkins, Christine. "Protecting The Herd: A Public Health, Economics, And Legal Argument For Taxing Parents Who Opt-Out Of Mandatory Childhood Vaccinations." Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal 21.2 (2012): 437-490. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Apr. 2014. .
“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.
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.