Film Analysis: The Vaccine War
After watching the Frontline story on "The Vaccine War," I became more familiar with the arguments for and against parents having the option to opt their children out of immunizations. Prior to watching this film, I was aware that some parents were against vaccinating their children, out of fear that they can cause autism. Moreover, many politicians used this information to push a political agenda, and either endorsed or spoke out against the safety of vaccines.
While I do believe that parents have the right to refuse a vaccine just like other medications, I find that they should be educated on the benefits and factual risks associated with every vaccine. This is more productive than simply drawing conclusions from non-scientific assumptions,
such as those promoted by celebrities and other non-medical professionals. As declared by the court, the case against the safety of vaccines was found, "none of the causation hypotheses advanced were reliable as medical or scientific theories." However, the concerns raised by parents provoked numerous studies across the globe to study the correlation between vaccines and autism and mercury damage. In all of the studies in every country, kids who were vaccinated developed autism at the same rate as those who were not vaccinated.
I do think that leaving some children not immunized leaves other children at risk. In order to promote the monitoring of the safety of vaccines, I feel that the United States and health organizations should be able to keep track of those who are and are not vaccinated across the board, like in Denmark. In case an outbreak should occur, those few who are not vaccinated, can be tracked and isolated. Moreover, I believe that public schools have the right to enforce their vaccination laws, in order to protect the kids vulnerable to contracting diseases, such as the example with the boy recovering from Leukemia. Should parents decide not to vaccinate their children due to personal beliefs, they may face denial to having their children pose as a threat to the overall public health. As stated by Dr. Arthur Caplan and Dr. Cynthia Cristofani, many parents of today have not seen the detrimental effects of something like polio or whooping cough. For this reason, it is best to take initiative and take advantage of the preventative care offered by modern medicine, rather than waiting for an emergency situation to potentially come along, where "inorganic" medications will be needed to save their child's life anyhow.
While I do believe that parents have the right to refuse a vaccine just like other medications, I find that they should be educated on the benefits and factual risks associated with every vaccine. This is more productive than simply drawing conclusions from non-scientific assumptions,
such as those promoted by celebrities and other non-medical professionals. As declared by the court, the case against the safety of vaccines was found, "none of the causation hypotheses advanced were reliable as medical or scientific theories." However, the concerns raised by parents provoked numerous studies across the globe to study the correlation between vaccines and autism and mercury damage. In all of the studies in every country, kids who were vaccinated developed autism at the same rate as those who were not vaccinated.
I do think that leaving some children not immunized leaves other children at risk. In order to promote the monitoring of the safety of vaccines, I feel that the United States and health organizations should be able to keep track of those who are and are not vaccinated across the board, like in Denmark. In case an outbreak should occur, those few who are not vaccinated, can be tracked and isolated. Moreover, I believe that public schools have the right to enforce their vaccination laws, in order to protect the kids vulnerable to contracting diseases, such as the example with the boy recovering from Leukemia. Should parents decide not to vaccinate their children due to personal beliefs, they may face denial to having their children pose as a threat to the overall public health. As stated by Dr. Arthur Caplan and Dr. Cynthia Cristofani, many parents of today have not seen the detrimental effects of something like polio or whooping cough. For this reason, it is best to take initiative and take advantage of the preventative care offered by modern medicine, rather than waiting for an emergency situation to potentially come along, where "inorganic" medications will be needed to save their child's life anyhow.