The Pros And Cons Of Vaccines

The day has come – you are getting a new puppy! On the way to pick up the puppy, the breeder calls and informs you that everything is going well and that they cannot wait for you to arrive, so you sit back and let the excitement just wash over you. However, when you arrive to the facility where your puppy has been living for the past eight weeks, you notice something a little bit off. It occurs to you that the dogs you are passing on the way to the nursery all seem to be in poor condition, many of them seeming ill. You exhale a sigh of relief when you reach the nursery and find a litter of healthy, happy puppies, so you pick yours up and carry her home. As soon as her paws hit the carpet in your living room, you decide to schedule an appointment

When attempting to understand how the anti-vax mindset works, I cannot fathom how some people are terrified of the possibility of vaccines causing autism [which they don’t according to numerous scientific studies, and the CDC (“Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism”)], concluding that they are okay with a crippled or dead child instead. A current topic up for debate is in regards to whether or not vaccines should be mandatory. According to Phoebe Day Danziger and Rebekah Diamond, authors of the article “The Vaccination Double Standard,” and medical residents training to be physicians in the neonatal unit of the hospital they work at in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the only way to get past the massive amount of parents rejecting science is to make it absolutely mandatory for children to be vaccinated. In their article, they describe what it is like to see poor, single parents face investigation from Child Protective Services because they work two jobs and live several hours away from the hospital while taking care of two other children, thus not being able to visit their premature newborn at all hours of the day, yet the parents who neglect to vaccinate their infants and toddlers walk away

If legal action were to be taken against anti-vax parents, such as charges for neglect, perhaps opinions on vaccines may begin to change? An alternative treatment that has been mentioned is the idea of spacing out, or delaying vaccines so that the child does not receive them all in one visit. However, “spacing out vaccines provides no benefit, and leaves children susceptible to illnesses for a longer time. It also requires more trips to the doctor, each of which is a chance to be exposed to other sick children. In addition, studies show that spacing out vaccines reduces the likelihood that children will complete the full schedule of immunizations,” according to Aaron Carroll, author of the article “Not Up for Debate: The Science Behind Vaccination.” The article also points out that we should not even be debating vaccines at this point, as there is solid scientific evidence that vaccines are safe and effective medical advancements that have saved millions of people from horrific diseases and death, and there needs to be better patient/physician communication in order to iron out the confusion and fear associated with vaccines.

Ultimately what this debate boils down to is the question of: why are parents still so afraid