Pertussis is a respiratory tract infection that is very contagious. It got its name because of the sharp high-pitched intake of air that makes a “whooping” sound that follows a fit of coughs. It was originally considered a childhood disease but now it affects those children that are too young to have completed vaccination and those who have slowly lost the immunity to it. This can cause death in infants, which is why pregnant women should be vaccinated against it. Whooping cough is caused by the bacteria called Bordetella pertussis. It produces many virulence factors including the pertussis toxin and since it can be transmitted through droplets, it can go from person to person making it highly contagious. When the infected person coughs or sneezes, the droplets in the air can be taken in by anyone nearby.…
The article by Kate Thayer, is an obvious push to persuade the idea of child vaccinations and the role that parents and doctors play in them. It follows the story of a family, who was against the idea of getting vaccinated until they developed the rotavirus and their school system started kicking out unvaccinated children. The mother states that doctors were not doing their role to inform parents and reduce their fears on vaccinations. Many health facilities have even started turning away patients who refuse to vaccinate, which is a divided issue. On one side, people say that turning away patients is okay because they are protecting their other patients. However, doctors have a better chance of convincing parents to vaccinate if they keep the…
Did you know that some childhood diseases, such as polio, whooping cough, and especially the measles, have nearly been eliminated in the United States due to the implementation of vaccination (“Lode Tot, Other Cases Prompt Call for Vaccinations” 1)? Unfortunately, these diseases and others like them are now making a comeback thanks to parents who are reluctant to have their children vaccinated. I believe children should be vaccinated because vaccination protects them against sickness, reduces the spread of common ailments, and can protect individuals who cannot be vaccinated.…
People’s choices are now affecting the lives of others. The spread of diseases, has become a problem. The diseases are able to protected with vaccinations. They are coming back into society during small outbreaks. There was an outbreak in 2014 in the state of California. While everyone has a right to make their own choices, your choices can affect the to the lives of others. At this point, they are no longer just individual choices. My 5 year old child has all her vaccinations. But there is no guarantee that they will be effective. As a child, they had me vaccinated for pertussis. I contracted it despite having been vaccinated for it. It is terrifying my child could contract something deadly. All because of the ill-informed choices of others. Vaccinations, like it or not, are not a choice. They should be mandatory to protect the lives of all…
Herd immunity protects people with “many medical conditions, especially those which compromise the immune system” because “in a population of vaccinated people, infectious but preventable diseases have trouble spreading even to the immunocompromised” (“The Anti-Vaccine Movement”). While herd immunity is of critical importance to those with weakened immune systems, many Anti-Vax parents fail to realize that the health of their children is also dependent on herd immunity. A recent study estimates that “if current vaccination rates were to dip to just 98 percent of where they are now, one child in seven would be vulnerable to measles” (“Anti-Vaxxers Are Destroying”). With the estimated rate of measles increasing that significantly, there comes a point where one wonders how far Anti-Vax parents will go before they begin to see the trail of destruction they are leaving. Recently, in America, “whooping cough… hit its highest rate of infection in 50 years,” and “over 100,000 illnesses and over 1,000 deaths” were “associated with the anti-vaccine movement” (“The Anti-Vaccine Movement”). When more and more parents stop vaccinating, they endanger not only the health of their child but also the health of those who cannot be…
There are also other factors that people are also refusing to receive immunizations: religious and philosophical beliefs, freedom and individualism, misinformation about risk, and over perception of risk. This is the difficult challenge the Department of Health is facing today because everyone has the right and freedom to choose what is best for them and their children while safeguarding everyone’s health and welfare. Many parents opt-out of immunization and on the rise due to religious reasons in majority of the states. Opting-out of immunization leaves with unprotected children and the rest of the society as well. Pregnant girls have to speak to their doctor before receiving vaccines, although some vaccines benefit them. Parent has many different reasons and beliefs for not vaccinating their children and should be…
One of the controversial/hot topics or issues nowadays in health care in the US and the world as a whole is vaccination. The main purpose of vaccines is to control and prevent communicable diseases. The target is to vaccinate about 99 percent of the population. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “about 1.5 million children under age 5 years continue to die annually from diseases that are preventable via the administration of vaccines, making up approximately 20 percent of overall childhood mortality” (Maternal and Child Health, n.d). The WHO continues to argue with evidence that vaccination can prevent death from pneumonia and diarrhea which are the leading cost of death among children under five years old. Although vaccination…
People are current taking action against vaccinations and joining the anti-vaccination movement. Although research proves anti-immunization increases disease rates, parents stand firm in their believe that their children should not be vaccinated. This paper briefly discusses the reasoning behind their notion and the substantial fact about vaccinations. It then provides facts behind their judgment and consequences of…
Additionally, the CDC reported that most of the people that were infected by the measles outbreak were unvaccinated. “The increase in cases in 2008 was the result of spread in communities with groups of unvaccinated people. The U.S. experienced several outbreaks in 2008 including three large outbreaks” (CDC, 2015). This has been an ongoing debate among US citizens the last few years. Ever since the anti-vaccination movement began, more people are reported to choose not to vaccinate their child. However, their choice affects others; those who are too young to get certain vaccinations, or even those who already have been vaccinated are still susceptible to the exposure. Since then, the US has had outbreaks of measles almost every year.…
First what is a vaccine? “vaccine-A substance used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against one or several diseases, prepared from the causative agent of a disease. It’s products, or a synthetic substitute. treated to act as an antigen without inducing the disease”(dictionary.com). As you know parents aren't vaccinating their children and it’s becoming a major problem or is it.…
“Why should we be inoculated?” The main motive people should know is that they are preventing the spread of various viruses throughout the human race; childhood vaccinations in the United States prevent about ten-and-a-half-million cases of infectious illnesses and 33,000 deaths every single year.1 Also, most child vaccines are ninety to ninety-nine percent effective against most illnesses such as polio, measles, and mumps. However, when children who have been immunized do contract a disease, despite being shielded against it, they suffer fewer severe tribulations than an un-inoculated child that gets the same illness. Scientists and doctors are working hard to make them more proficient, with fewer side effects. Overall, immunizations are a personal choice. As to who makes this choice is another controversial issue. One simple theory, should you not be vaccinated, come in contact with someone infected, your chance of contracting that infection (fatal or not) is very high. It has been shown and documented that populations can infect other people’s health by not choosing to have these important…
Despite the current fascination with the anti-vaccination movement, it might come as a surprise that American children actually receive more vaccinations than ever before. Only less than 0.5 percent of children receive no vaccinations at all. In Vaccine Nation, Conis argued that the widespread belief of vaccination is an important part of study on which to be educated. Conis turned her focus to the spread of vaccines in the postwar era when new vaccines targeted the more “milder” diseases of a child’s early years, including measles, mumps, and whooping cough. More recently, vaccines have been developed and promoted to protect against diseases that largely affect adults. Conis proclaimed, “Health officials were blunt in justifying the widespread…
It is believed that the source of the outbreak was likely brought over by travelers from overseas. This would not be a problem if all of the children were vaccinated; but, because they were not, a small epidemic of measles was the result. Measles had been declared eliminated in the country in the year 2000 which leads a poll of ninety-two percent of physicians to believe that this outbreak is directly attributed to parent not vaccinating their kids. this affects not only the unvaccinated children of Anti-Vaxxers but those that are unable to be vaccinated. Young babies and the elderly with immune disorders are also at risk. Anti-Vaxxers need to realize they are risking the lives of more than just their children in making their decision to not have them vaccinated.…
A risk of not being vaccinated or refusing to vaccinate your child is the possibility of contracting harmful vaccine-preventable diseases.Diseases like the measles, smallpox, chickenpox and almost all vaccine-preventable diseases are easily spread from one person to another.According to M.D Matthew M. Davis “When children are unvaccinated or undervaccinated (in other words, they have not received all of the recommended doses of vaccines for their age), they are at greater risk for getting sick with diseases that can be prevented through timely immunization. When a child becomes seriously ill, needs to be hospitalized, or even dies from diseases such as measles, pertussis and influenza that can be prevented with effective and safe vaccines,…
Vaccinations are a common occurrence in many children’s lives that are typically followed by a heart-wrenching cry. With recent outbreaks of vaccine side-effects, many parents question the dangers associated with childhood vaccinations. This change in America’s medical and social culture has lead to a serious controversy affecting many. Surrounding this on-going controversy are many parents weighing the risks and benefits of vaccinating their children. Imposingly, many parents still fear the effects of preventable and deadly childhood diseases. For example, a study recently performed by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that America’s current population has seen the most measles cases since 1996, and the majority of these…