As a child, everyone remembers having to get shots. My first memorable experience with shots came at age four. I didn’t understand why I needed shots. All I knew was this sharp thing was going to be stuck in my arm and it was going to hurt. Before I got my four year old shots I received my first set of vaccines, vaccines that people are now claiming are dangerous. Research shows that vaccination rates fell. MMR (mumps, measles, and rubella) vaccine rates dropped from 93.5% to 90.6%, tetanus, whooping cough and diphtheria rates dropped from 87.2% to 85.4% in 2009. (Kluger) Why are vaccination rates dropping so significantly? Pediatrician Dr. Robert Frenck says “Very articulate, very good-looking movie stars or personalities … are giving out information about how bad vaccines are,” People are now relying more heavily on blogs, talk shows, and the rumor mill for their medical advice. People now believe that vaccinations cause autism (Kluger). Even though there are some legitimate concerns, vaccines are safe because they do not cause autism and they have almost eliminated many diseases.
Due to vaccines there are certain diseases that are no longer a problem. One of these diseases is smallpox. Due to movement made in 1967 by the World Health Organization (WHO) many people who could not afford to be vaccinated received the smallpox vaccination. Over one billion doses of the smallpox vaccination were administered. Just ten years later, in 1977, the last known case of smallpox was reported. It occurred in Merka, Somalia in a hospital cook named Ali Maow Maalin ("Ali Maow Maalin Survives the Last Endemic Smallpox Case.")
Due to vaccines the numbers of cases of meningitis due to the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) have ...
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Null, Gary, and Martin Feldman. "Some Worries About Childhood Vaccinations Are Legitimate." Should Vaccinations be Mandatory? Ed. Noël Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. Rpt. from "Vaccination: An Updated Analysis of the Health Risks—Part 3." Townsend Letter: The Examiner of Alternative Medicine 293 (Dec. 2007): 117-120. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 7 Nov. 2013.
Offit, Paul A. "Vaccine Risks Are Outweighed by the Risks of Not Vaccinating." Should Vaccinations be Mandatory? Ed. Noël Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. Rpt. from "Common Concerns About Vaccines." Vaccines: What You Should Know. 3rd ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2003. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web.
Pearson, Cam. "How I Gave My Son Autism." The Thinking Moms' Revolution. N.p., 02 20 2013. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.
Eradication is the concept that a disease is entirely eliminated in a region. (Carter n.d.) Only one infectious disease to date, smallpox, has been categorized as eradicated worldwide (CDC 2010). How did this eradication occur? From 1958 to 1965 all fifty states enacted legislation to mandate school age children receive the small pox vaccine (College of Philadelphia). Consequently, by 1971, no small pox cases had been reported in the United States for 20 years. The last known smallpox case in the world was in Somalia in 1977 (CDC 2010). Even though small pox is the only listed eradicated disease, the Carter Foundation has listed six other diseases as having the potential to be eradicated: lymphatic filariasis (Elephantiasis), polio, measles, mumps, rubella, and pork tapeworm. In addition to these previous listed diseases are to date the following diseases which are considered preventable by vaccination: chicken pox, diphtheria, Haemohphilus Influenza type B, Hepatitis A and B, HPV, Influenza, Measles, Meningococcal Disease, Mumps, Pertusis, Pneumonia, Polio, Rotavirus, Rubella, Shingles, Smallpox, Tetanus, Yellow Fever, and STDs (Carter n.d.).
The use of vaccinations has been a major topic in the news lately. The decision to or not to vaccinate your child is a decision that parents face each day. For some the decision is an easy one, a no-brainer. For others, it’s a very difficult one to make. People that are pro-vaccine believe that they are protecting their children and the future generations by vaccinating them against diseases that they could potentially get. People that are ant-vaccine believe that by choosing not to vaccinate, they are protecting their children and future generations from the serious side effects that they could potentially get from the vaccination.
20. Kennedy, Alison M et al., ‘Vaccine beliefs of parents who oppose compulsory vaccination’, Pub Health Rep, 120 (2005)
Offit, P. (2011). Deadly choices: how the anti-vaccine movement threatens us all. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Wallace may have fallen short of persuading readers to vaccinate their children, but recently this has been a very controversial topic. In order to make this a better article, more facts and statistics should have been used to reveal how large of an issue this really is. Overall, Wallace did a nice job of presenting her argument on why parents should vaccinate their children, but in order to make a larger impact different types of resources and references are
Thesis: There are many misconceptions regarding the safety of vaccines but the reality of the issue is that if we stopped giving our children vaccines it would not only negatively impact the health of our children now but future generations.
Two and half million children everyday are saved from vaccines (“Should”). Many people in America think that parents should not have the decision to let their children opt out of getting vaccines. The controversy of immunizations can be understood through learning about immunizations and how they are used, why people are for and against immunizations and why they are used, and the cons and pros of immunizations.
Vaccines are one of the many great advancements that modern medicine has made over the years. The ongoing debate on whether or not to vaccinate children has been argued for countless decades. The majority of parents base their decision to immunize their child or not merely on their opinion of what is best for their child. What some parents might not realize is that vaccinations are ultimately the best way to defend and protect the precious lives of their children. Prior to the period of vaccinations, parents would have never imagined we would be able to successfully protect future generations from deadly diseases. According to an article titled, “History of Immunizations”, written by the American Academy of Pediatrics, in the 1920’s, diphtheria
Forethought and practicality comes into importance in dealing with mandatory vaccinations as well. Why is it wise to immunize? What are the costs involved and how do you get the vaccines to all people? How can public health policy work to benefit both those who chose to vaccinate and those opposed? These are some of the questions that must be answered and logistical scenarios must be worked out.
Vaccination is widely considered one of the most successful medical attainments of modern civilization and a cost-effective public health tool. It prevents citizens from acquiring serious diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, and diphtheria. These diseases were common in children generations ago, but the mortality rate is decreasing now because of immunization. Moreover, smallpox was the critical disease until two centuries ago, where millions died from it every year. After the invention of vaccination for smallpox, it was wiped out. Vaccines are made from the same germ that causes diseases. For instance, the chickenpox vaccine is made from the chickenpox virus (“Vaccine”). However, the virus in the vaccine is killed, and it is introduced to the immune system through booster shots. The immune system responds to the vaccine same as the real disease by making antibodies. Hence, if a child is
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.
Vaccinations are known to be one of the worlds greatest medical achievements. There seems to be one for every disease discovered, form the flu and even the one used to help eradicate Polio. Vaccines have not only kept prior generations away from certain diseases, they have been proven to be very effective. There has always been oppositions to vaccines, some that date back to the early 1800s. The first smallpox vaccine frightened many parents due to the fact that it included scoring the flesh on a child's arm, and inserting lymph from the blister of a person who had been vaccinated about a week earlier ("Opposition to Vaccines Has Existed as Long as Vaccination Itself.” sec. 1). Although todays medical advancements have made the vaccination
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).
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
"Vaccine Risks Are Outweighed by the Risks of Not Vaccinating." Should Vaccinations be Mandatory?, edited by Noël Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010616205/OVIC?u=j031903001&xid=e0496826. Originally published as "Common Concerns About Vaccines," Vaccines: What You Should Know, 3rd ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2003.