The Anti Vaccine Movement

2325 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Arguments for and against compulsory vaccinations

(Anecdote) When I was seventeen, my brother and I contracted N1H1 or more commonly known as Swine Flu. For fourteen days I was in utter agony, and to make matters worse I still had severe back pain from a compression fracture two years earlier. I could hardly eat and drink water, or even walk, not to mention smoke cigarettes to which I was heavily addicted too at the time. My brother, who is significantly more prone to illness than I am, continued to suffer for a full month from that terrible gut wrenching flu; we had fallen ill towards the end of the wide spread panic brought about from N1H1. I remember hearing that it was a particularly deadly flu, and thinking to myself I was going to die as I lay there feeling as if someone was using an ice drill on my stomach. Finally after a week of continual pain, our mother took us to the doctor in order to find out what was wrong with us. It was years later when I first heard of the Anti-vaccine movement, which completely baffled me at first and then led me to pay more attention to the details of the opposing side I believed in. I found out that this movement has been sweeping around the world, with many children being unvaccinated and having the higher risk of falling ill to the diseases vaccines are meant to protect against. The people who refuse to vaccinate their children based on the interesting notion that vaccines cause autism and other disorders or diseases are in fact causing more harm that could very likely result in an epidemic. According to the article “The Anti-Vaccine Movement Endangers the Disabled” by David M. Perry, this movement has the potential to cause serious harm to those individuals that are too medically fragile to be vaccinated. Perry’s son, who has ... ... middle of paper ... ... I however see that the benefits of getting children vaccinated to significantly outweigh the risks, because all of the possible side effects are nowhere near as terrifying as actually succumbing to a deadly disease. I see the anti-vaccine movement as a waste of recourses that could be put to better use in perhaps developing even better vaccines with fewer side effects. However baffling the anti-vaccine movement may be to me, it is my own personal opinion, I believe everyone is entitled to their own unique opinion but not at the expense of potentially harming hundreds of other people. With the possibility of having a devastatingly deadly epidemic, I thought people would not be so reluctant to get themselves and their children vaccinated, but I guess I’m wrong. I do hope that one day every child will receive vaccinations and not have to fear painful diseases like N1H1.

Show More
Related

  • The Controversy of Mandatory Childhood Vaccinations

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Vaccine War

    1168 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Vaccine War

    942 Words  | 2 Pages

    This becomes a social problem because if one child isn’t vaccinated and comes in contact with a person with a contagious disease, it will spread to other children who aren’t vaccinated. That will lead it to becoming an epidemic. The cause of this social problem is the time we are living, we live in an age where we can find anything, about anyone at a tap of a finger. The Internet has caused us look for other options versus the generation before us. The media content on vaccines is very large. There is always someone who will support your views – even half way around the world. The social problem is not resolved because people always will have a different method of thinking from the next person. It’s ingrained in us to have our own opinions.

    Read More

  • To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate?

    1156 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Standard immunization currently averts an estimated two to three million deaths every year in all age groups” (“General Information”). Children along with adults should be vaccinated because these Inoculations prevent diseases, even deaths, from going around, along with keeping the environment a safer place. As people know, kids get vaccinated from the time born to about the time the child reaches teen years, although getting immunized does not precisely stop at any age. In fact, required vaccinations continue throughout the years. Of course these medical treatments must be tested in order to be given to anyone. In spite of the fact many people themselves argue that inoculations are not safe for children, others are thoroughly certain in the benefits vaccinations will bring them, such as keeping a person safe from an illness and healthy. A vaccine is actually put into the body acting as a disease so that when an actual illness try’s to enter the body the body will already be prepared for an “invader” thus, reacting better and quicker. Essentially a vaccine is put into the body to prevent a disease. Most children are very healthy and continue to receive flu shots throughout the years. In many countries getting immunized is already mandatory. Hearing all the benefits and well-designed information of course sounds great but many continue to argue that inoculations are not safe and that studies have shown that vaccinations could cause autism, and a few other couple diseases that a kid may develop after receiving a medical treatment. If that were efficiently accurate a higher range of children would have autism, which at this point’s percentage is very little. Worldwide vaccinations throughout the world should be mandatory in order to...

    Read More

  • Vaccinations: Know the Risks and Failures

    1626 Words  | 4 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism

    3078 Words  | 7 Pages

    Offit, P. (2011). Deadly choices: how the anti-vaccine movement threatens us all. New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Read More

  • Vaccines In Children

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... 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.

    Read More

  • Vaccination Argumentative Essay

    1214 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mumps, Measles, Whooping Cough, Smallpox, Polio and, Diphtheria are all deadly diseases that were once a death sentence to children and adults around the world, but there is something that can help combat these fatal diseases. Vaccinations can change the course of these lethal diseases, but some families are still refusing to vaccinate the future of the world. Vaccinations can not only be beneficial to the child itself but to rest of humanity as well. There is evidence that goes against false claims bashing vaccination and the positive effects of vaccination overrule all of the negative. Vaccination can have a positive effect on the world due to its life-saving properties, effects on humanity and the extensive amount of safety and care that

    Read More

  • Anti Vaccine Pros And Cons

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    For centuries different diseases and infections have plagued the human race. As science evolves throughout our history, we’ve figured out how to combat these illnesses effectively, but some still choose to not protect themselves or their children and put the rest of us at risk. Mandatory childhood vaccination is essential for keeping our population safe and building a strong and healthy future. While many support this stance, some also have opposing views to this subject. Some claim that the vaccines pose a dangerous health risk to young children that can amount from anything to a weakened immune system, to developing secondary disease from the vaccine. As well, some see vaccinations as non-effective and don’t see why they should immunize and potentially put their child at risk. Also, anti vaccine parents do not feel they should be held socialy responsible for not protecting their child and putting others at risk. These are legitimate concerns, but if you look at how diseases have been irradiated, the vast amounts of research done, and countless children’s lives saved because of vaccinations, you might ask yourself why people would decide to not protect the ones

    Read More

  • Vaccination Pros And Cons Essay

    1349 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the same time those who take the vaccines are less likely to endanger others with themselves or their children unvaccinated immune system. Leaving those who are unfortunate enough to be unable to get vaccinated themselves, prone to ailments and diseases that they are then exposed to, by not being around vaccinated people. If the controversy over anti-vaccination is not resolved then then it will stay the same, nothing will change. Both sides will continue argue on that their way of thinking right, they will most likely never see eye to eye. A way to help with this controversy is to educate society on what is real and what is fake. Society needs to open a conversation on the issues that the public has on

    Read More

  • Vaccine Argumentative Essay

    1751 Words  | 4 Pages

    Even in the present high-tech age of medicine, there is an ever growing population of outspoken objectors to the modern practice of routine childhood vaccinations. Many believe that vaccines are not safe because they are not natural, or that they cause autism and feel that the risk of negative side effects are not worth the benefit of protection against the infectious diseases themselves. Others just do not want to be told what they can and cannot do in regard to their own children’s health. Although the concerns may be well meaning, the reality is that the advent of vaccines has remarkably changed the landscape of disease in the United States for the better. The growing reluctance and refusal of some parents to immunize their children has resulted in the increased incidence of measles and other serious and often fatal diseases in

    Read More

  • Arguments Against Vaccination Research

    2029 Words  | 5 Pages

    Numerous people have become afraid of vaccines due to the countless amount of false accusations against them. Some of the population is against them for other reasons. This uncertainty does not justify keeping your child from vaccination, which mostly stems from being uneducated on how vaccines work. This is harmful to the human population and is also causing fierce debate between those blindly believing the story of vaccines being harmful. Vaccines do not cause problems in children and are needed for our population to thrive.

    Read More

  • The Benefits of Vaccinations

    1147 Words  | 3 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Anti Vaccination

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    Those who choose not to vaccinate their children are endangering the health of those unable to be vaccinated themselves, such as infants, pregnant people, and the immunocompromised, by jeopardizing community immunity. According to vaccine.gov, a federal government website managed by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, community immunity or “herd immunity” occurs when “a critical portion of the community is immunized against a contagious disease, most members of the community are protected against that disease because there is little opportunity for an outbreak” (Community Immunity). An infographic featured in an NPR article entitled “How Vaccine Fears Fueled the Resurgence of Preventable Diseases” illustrated the rise in measles cases in Western Europe and of pertussis (whooping cough) cases in the U.S (Doucleff). In the first eight months of 2014, there were eighteen measles outbreaks, and six hundred cases of measles. This is incredibly dangerous because outbreaks give these diseases the opportunity to evolve and become resistant to vaccines, putting even vaccinated children at risk (Harmon). Parents making the decision not to vaccinate are doing so out of a place that all parents share: a desire to keep their children healthy. However, these anti-vaxxers are basing their decision not on

    Read More

  • Vaccine Argumentative Essay

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    The third and most essential reason that the United States should enforce national inoculation pertains to the concept that vaccines can support not only individual immunity, but also herd immunity to protect those who are medically incompatible with vaccines. A prevailing argument that pro-volunteer individuals frequently make is that vaccines have the potential to be harmful to individuals; a primary motive behind this pertains to an alleged correlation that exists between thimerosal, a component of vaccines, and countless disorders including autism (Benjamin, 2003). According to Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center, “When you take a look at the ever-increasing numbers of doses of vaccines babies have received over the past two decades and you see this corresponding rise in chronic disease and disability in our children, it is out of control” (Benjamin, 2003). Many speculated that the mercury contained within the thimerosal was to blame for this.

    Read More

More about The Anti Vaccine Movement

Open Document