Vaccination Argumentative Analysis

Vaccines are responsible for minimizing the risk of many deadly diseases and even eradicating some completely. People today are privileged enough to live during a time where the fear of dying from a disease like measles or smallpox is negligible. Even so vaccines are not without dissenters. There is a segment of humanity that believes there is a credible association between vaccines and rising autism rates. The following articles will show that there are varying ideas on the best way to disprove vaccination opponents, yet no solid solution has been reached on how to convince vaccination opponents that their fears are unfounded. Frank DeStefano and Robert T. Chen in their article “Autism and Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccination Controversy Laid
It's time to stop that stigma.”, Elizabeth Picciuto argues that opposition to vaccines is placing people at risk over the baseless fear that it could cause autism. Picciuto states that if a link between autism and vaccines existed, then vaccine opponents are arguing death is preferable to contracting autism (par. 4). She goes on to contend that, “Having autism is not a fate worse than death, and it is grossly offensive for anti-vaxxers to suggest it is” (par. 7). Picciuto also goes on to relate how her own son has autism and even though it is a struggle at times she probably would not risk having him unvaccinated even if she believed vaccines might have caused it (par. 10). Picciuto’s article on vaccines is a very opinionated piece written for an online news site. Although there are several facts brought into the article she does not cite the source of this information causing it to lack credibility. This article relies heavily on personal narratives to attempt to sway people to its point of view. Throughout the article Picciuto’s bias is on display as it is clear that she takes offense to those who disagree with her point of view. Although this article brings up some interesting arguments it is very weak on