Fear drives much of what we do. We often become so afraid of what we do not know, that we allow reasonable doubt to take over our reasoning. A new phenomenon completely encompassed in fear has emerged. There has recently been an outbreak of preventable infectious diseases. Of these, a previosly controlled disese in the united states known as mumps has had its largest outbreak in twenty years. Thousand of people have chosen to avoid vaccinations for their children against medical advice. In this medically adavnced era, where widespread illness and epidemics are easily preventable and much better understood: how does an issue of this magnitude occur?
The answer has its roots in fear. This fear can develop from the smallest seeds of doubt. Those who are put in positions of power or authority are responsible to be truthful and moral. However, in this age of cutthroat politics and science, it can be tempting for these authority figures to fall down on their morals for a moment in the spotlight. One such scientist, Dr. Wakefield, chose to take that moment in the spotlight—publishing a paper that suggested vaccinations caused autism. Sensationalist media, which is never hesitant to pick up a story as riveting as the one proposed by Dr. Wakefield, had his “findings” echoed in nearly every household in America. The ensuing outrage led to lawsuits attacking these vaccine companies and thousands opting out of vaccinations for their newborns. Many months later, after irreparable damage, Dr. Wakefield’s bluff was called. However, Dr. Wakefield’s claims cast a doubt over vaccines that many parents today still can’t shake. The aftermath of Dr. Wakefield’s theory could live on for generations, perhaps leading to hundreds of deaths by otherwise pr...
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...ntly disfigured. In fact, “smallpox was an enormous impetus for the original efforts to develop what we now call vaccines.” (Source 1, page 8) . Small pox, now a preventable childhood illness, eradicated in the early 1900’s, was only able to be because of widespread vaccination, where a “herd immunity” can be reached.
Measels, mumps, and rubella
Nature can be both dispassionately harsh and benevolent and by asking any doctor over sixty years of age about the polio outbreaks of the 1950s, or what it was like seeing a patient contract dipheria, one can quickly be reminded of nature’s force.
Current vaccine recommendations call for giving fifteen to nineteen injections by age six, twelve of which are given by eightneen months of age. The reccomendations for specific vaccines, as developed and approved by the CDC and the American Academy of pediatrics, are as follows:
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
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.
This fear was the reason the authors explained the creation of vaccines early on. At this point, the authors again used fear in an attempt to convince readers/parents to ignore these warnings. The authors placed blame directly on those spreading negative propaganda, as well as those who accepted it as fact by stating, “such warnings, if widely heeded, raise the specter of widespread refusal to practice vaccination, thus putting the wider society at risk” (Lee, Carson-Dewitt, 2016, p.2). This directed blame seems to claim that every unvaccinated child puts all members of society at risk, without considering evidence of how an individual’s choice to vaccinate one’s self would offer protection in any
I’m sure that it is no accident that the full title of this book is The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear. Those who are pro-vaccination compose their decisions out of what science and medicine tells them. Those who are anti-vaccination generate their decisions out of fear and junk science. What certainly peaked my interest in this book was the impact of fear. According to Merriam Webster, the definition of fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. The moment a child is brought into the world, parents live in a world of fear. This fear is what causes parents to ‘child proof’ their homes; it causes them to buy monitors to watch the child sleep, to cut their food, to teach to swim, and even to teach them how to cross the street. These actions are common practice among parents because at one time in the past, a child has been injured or has died. Fear becomes understandable with reason. Parents need reasons for their fears. I imagine that one of the worst feelings for a parent is that their child is born with a mental or physical defect or disease. I’m sure that feelings of guilt begin to emerge and assuming that the parent did everything right, parents begin to search for answers as to why their child was born this way. As discussed in The Panic Virus, parents have become
“Immunizing Against Bad Science: The Vaccine Court and the Autism Test Case,” written by Lauren L. Haertlein, deals with one of today’s most popular controversies; vaccinations causing autism in children. Haertlein’s article gives insight into the history of vaccine litigation and the policies that accompany it. Furthermore, she talks immensely about the Vaccine Court, whose job is to work with petitioner’s stating that a vaccine, such as measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), has caused some illness to their child. The article uses real-life Vaccine Court examples such as Michelle Cedillo’s case, whose mother claimed a vaccination gave her daughter autism, as a way to better understand how the Vaccine Court works. This controversial topic is being discussed daily in magazines, journals, and on talk shows. The families that are blaming autism on vaccinations are giving vaccines a bad name and causing other parents to re-think their decision about getting their children vaccinated.
The article “People Should Not Be Allowed to Refuse Vaccination” focuses on the dangers people who choose not to vaccinate are opening to others. The argument stems from the ease with which disease can spread through an unvaccinated community and the threat this poses to those who cannot vaccinate. Because of this danger the author of the article believes vaccination should not be left to choice, but required for the good of public safety.
“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.
Despite all the testing and approval process of vaccines, many people still mistakenly believe that vaccines cause autism, even in light of research that has disproven the notion. This evidences the difficulty of dispelling false statements once someone has accepted a falsehood, especially if it has scientific research backing the results. It also highlights the gullibility of the public at large to believe anything that medical research reports without questioning the findings. Unfortunately, the media attention such examples of junk science receive aids in convincing many of its truthfulness. The hype surrounding the belief that vaccines cause autism began in 1998 when Andrew Wakefield in the UK published an article in the Lancet linking the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR...
My brother Dan was born November 22, 1999. Daniel was a normal child, he developed at a normal physical and social rate. He was just beginning to talk, gave eye contact, and would use hand gestures (pointing and clapping). When he was almost 2, he when to the doctor's office to receive his MMR (Measles, mumps, and Rubella) shots. He received 9 doses of the shot. After 24 hours of the vaccination, Dan developed an extremely high fever that lasted for two weeks. Once Dan's fever receded, he did not socialize, give eye contact, couldn't be touched, and did not interact with the family anymore. Dan was diagnosed with Autism soon after. Many families report this happening to their child, the reports have grown since the late 90's. I believe that vaccines are the cause of autism and the only way to lower the rate is to give fewer vaccines at a time.
Vaccines are one of modern medicine 's game-changing breakthroughs, but they have been around for hundreds of years earlier in primitive forms. Dating back to medieval times, the first precursor to modern vaccination occurred in China around the tenth century. (2) Known as variolation or inoculation, the method was used to prevent smallpox that plagued Europe and Asia. (2) Chinese doctors found that when healthy people were exposed to smallpox scab tissue, they were less likely to get infected or got a milder, less dangerous case. (2) The most common form of inoculation in China was to crush smallpox scabs into powder and then breathe it through the nose.(2) Because smallpox was such a destructive disease, in the late 1700 's, George Washington ordered mandatory inoculation for troops who hadn 't survived smallpox before. (2) Also in the late 1700 's, Edward Jenner
media, the news, the internet, and the public; false information about vaccines. Even parents that
The MMR vaccine is administered between the ages of 12-15 months. When a child develops autism, their parents describe the disease as the child growing normally until they reach an age where a degenerative process starts. This problem usually happens around the age of 2 years. Although parents do say the child was growing normally, many researchers do not believe that the child was actually growing normally until the age of 1-2 years but some children do go through a degenerative process and this usually happens after the administration of MMR vaccine. The question is does MMR have a true relation with the development of autism or is it just a coincidence?
Vaccines are usually given in the first few months of life and work to protect the child from its first exposure to diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend that healthy children get vaccinated against 14 diseases by age 2 (with boosters later for some), along with an annual inoculation against the flu (Heyworth. sec. 2). There are some parents that believe choosing to vaccinate their children will result in making them sicker. However, vaccines contain the same antigens that cause that specific disease, but are either killed or weakened, which results in not making the person sick. The antigens make the person’s immune system remember the antigen, which allows it to respond faster in the case of being exposed again. If a child receives all the vaccinations recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), by his or her second birthday he or she will have received immunizations to protect him or her from mumps, measles, chicken pox, meningitis, and many other frightening diseases (“Vaccines”. par. 3). Although vaccinations are first given as a young child, there are many available throughout life. As an adult, you are also susceptible to various diseases that can come from working in certain environments and engaging in certain activities. For example, if you are a health care worker, you are surrounded by
According to World Book Advanced Encyclopedia, immunization is defined as the process of protecting the body against disease by means of vaccines or serums (Hinman). While medical science backs up the efficiency and necessity of vaccines, within the past decade, a rise in parents disbelieving the medical community and neglecting to immunize their children has occurred. This “fear of vaccines” is nothing new, but with the ever-increasing safety of vaccines, the benefits of inoculation far outweigh the risks. Parents who refuse to vaccinate, or anti-vaxxers, put more than their children’s lives on the line, but also risk the safety of the whole community. Because vaccines are essential to protecting individuals and communities
Recently the number of parents who are intentionally delaying their children’s general vaccinations is increasing. The controversy that is causing the number of delayed vaccinations to go up is based on the fact that there are negative articles connecting them to autism and other similar diseases. When parents are researching vaccinations and they read those negative articles, those articles make them believe that vaccines cause autism. Vaccines are important because they protect humans from preventable diseases and getting them could save human lives. Vaccines are important throughout life no matter what some research suggests. Parents are now more likely to intentionally delay vaccines because of negative press, even though vaccines