According to Barbara Loe Fisher, since 1990, around fourteen thousand reports of hospitalizations, injuries, and deaths following vaccination are made to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting Systems (VAERS), but, it is estimated that the actual number of vaccine-related health problems occurring in the U.S. every year can be more than one million. (“Parents Should Be Allowed to Opt Out of Vaccinating Their Children”, 536.) Barbara Loe Fisher and Steven P. Shelov both wrote articles about the effects of immunizations on children and the community, taking opposite sides on the argument. Fisher argues against indiscriminate mass vaccinations, and parents should have the right to decide whether or not they want to vaccinate their children. However, Shelov believes that allowing parents to opt out of vaccinating their children would open the door to epidemics of several deadly childhood diseases such as polio, measles, mumps, rubella, and diphtheria. The biggest concern in the past decade is that whether or not vaccines in general are safe. Vaccines have been shown to cause lasting damage to children. For instance, Fisher argues that vaccinations can cause mental retardation, epilepsy, learning disorders, diabetes, autism and asthma in children. Vaccinations have gotten rid of polio, but have doubled cases of attention-deficit disorder. Fisher also states that parents should have the right to decide which vaccination their children receive. She said that the government sees the children as sacrifices to learn the effect out of vaccination. She argues that parents are the one that have to deal with the burden of what happens to the child and not the government. On the other hand, Shelov believes that vaccinations are safe and necessary. He said if you don’t vaccinate a child, it would increase the risk of catching dangerous diseases. Shelov also said there is no evidence linking vaccine to autism, SIDS, or asthma. He said that vaccinations…
The first pressing reason to vaccinate children is to prevent them from contracting diseases. It can hardly be argued that immunizations fail to protect the majority of children from getting the infection the immunization was designed to prevent. In the 18th century, for example, hundreds of thousands of Americans were infected by a crippling condition called polio. Polio was a terrible infection that caused sufferers to lose the use of their legs. Many had to walk with braces or crutches. Some lost the ability to walk and had to be placed in wheelchairs, while others were so disabled they became unable to engage in any physical activity, or even died of the condition. Polio was so prevalent it even affected American president Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Schnell 2)! Thanks to vaccinations, today polio is all but unheard of in the USA, and in other countries that immunize against it. This example alone should show the desirability of immunization. Who…
Apparently vaccinations have always been under scrutiny. This author wrote this article from a historical standpoint, not a scientific standpoint. The fact that there was little opinion written in this article reflects a credible source. It would be interesting to anyone who enjoys historical and sociological topics. It discusses the vaccination controversy from a new standpoint, sharing the different issues that have been a part of the vaccinations themselves since the 1700’s. The new angle of this topic is appealing to any person researching the topic. There has always been discussion of the safety and legal stance of the vaccination. This shows skepticism in society. No matter the time period and the disease at hand. The legal issue and the discussion of the 14th amendment is also a topic brought into discussion. This article is a great source for any person looking into the vaccine…
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…
Imagine living with smallpox, rabies, polio, and other fatal diseases running rampant. Imagine the fear instilled in daily life because of those diseases and that there are no cures or prevention methods. Fortunately, we live in a time with vaccinations. Vaccines save millions of lives each year, have eradicated smallpox disease, and substantially lessened the chance of contracting other diseases. Vaccines are considered to be one of the greatest medical achievements. However, whether to vaccinate or not is a steadily growing debate, as there are no US federal laws mandating vaccination, certain vaccines are required for public school with a few exemptions, parents ultimately have the choice whether to vaccinate or not. Although, vaccinations…
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…
Certain things that we encounter in life, have hidden dangers, while others only look scary at first glance and turn out to be quite positive. It is because of these types of things that many people become confused when it comes to making life altering decisions, such as being vaccinated. While many think of vaccines as harmful and dangerous, they are in fact safe and essential for stopping the spread of life threatening diseases, and therefore should be mandatory.…
One’s health and any persons whose health they are responsible for, say their child, should be regarded as their most important priority. Doctors are the only people qualified to tell us how we should up keep that health and have earned that right through years of extensive schooling and research. Oddly though, doctors are not the individuals who write most of our headlined articles on medicine. These articles are written by medical journalists, politicians, and celebrities whose opinions, personal motives, and sources go unchecked and unquestioned by the general public. Educated reporters realize the public may take their words to heart and responsibly report on the event or issue in a factual manner. Other writers who are either uneducated or blinded by their ulterior motives report in ways that can confuse and misinform the public. Due to the populations devote faith in the media, if an issue of health is being reported on, whoever is responsible for writing and/or publishing said media, since they cannot be censored, must be held liable for any injury individuals sustain by listening to their advice. Two articles pertaining to the cause of autism in children will show the differences between educated and unsupported reporting and how poor reporting can leave the public at risk and no one to blame.…
After much research and thought processing, I saw many issues in that of children with autism and the vaccinations. There were many concerns that were addressing on this particular issue on the effects in the children. In today’s society, we don’t know what to believe with that of media and what they are saying to be true, but then again we don’t know what to believe unless we do our own research and connect the dots. In general what media does is to promote the issue and give ratings on the issue because we look at the numbers and percentages not the details behind the actual research. Honestly, I really despise the media because most of the time they aren’t right on the issue and it’s not best…
When it comes to vaccinations, there are many different opinions on immunizing a child, especially when that child’s parent has a strong like or dislike towards vaccinating. Immunizations have been around for at least a thousand years and as technology advances more, there are new vaccines being designed to help protect our children from contracting contagious and sometimes deadly diseases, such as Bordetella pertussis, polio, and even influenza. For decades, all 50 states have required that parents vaccinate their children against various diseases, including polio and measles, as a prerequisite to enrolling them in public schools (Ciolli, 2008). Enrollment in public school requires up to date vaccinations in order to protect the children and even the adults from contracting and spreading a disease, possibly causing an epidemic. Although all public schools require immunizations, there are still children in the schools whose religion exempts the use of vaccinations. The goal of this paper is to further explain…
This essay will perform an examination of interventions for vaccination noncompliance in the United States. As defined by Public Health 101: Health People-Healthy Populations, an intervention is defined as “the full range of strategies designed to protect health and prevent disease, disability and death.” Interventions include education on vaccination, laws and regulations and increasing access and financial assistance. In the 1850’s England streets were filled with violent protesters. This was because Edward Jenner had invented the smallpox vaccine. The “father of immunology”, is credited with saving around half a billion lives. He also paved the road for global eradication of smallpox. Although Jenner’s creation received tons…
The general public needs to be aware of radical political ideologies that oppose vaccinations without clinical studies or proof of the dangers of vaccination. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wants to inform you of the clinical trails and the content of vaccines, which will dispel any subjective arguments against the vaccination process. The citizen must be aware of the dangers of subjective or misinformed political ideology that strays from scientific fact and clinical studies that are available to the general public in reference to vaccination.…
Since vaccination decisions not only affect the infant or child, but also the community, these decisions cannot be treated as individual ones. At the point where individual decisions might harm the community, the government and public health professionals should also be involved. At the same time, the procedure of vaccination should be more open, and health professionals should carefully study genetic history and reactions of kids before vaccinating them. The controversy on vaccinations significantly influenced means of delivering scientific conclusions to the…
It has become a clear issue that a number of people do not want to vaccinate their children. Vaccinations that prevent diseases such as smallpox, polio, mumps, measles, rubella, whooping cough, and many others is being denied for some children. Why has this become a problem? The belief is that these vaccinations cause autism. the simple fact of the matter is that they do not. The effects of vaccinations have been tested time after time in correlation to autism and they have shown no connection. People that are not doctors and scientists need to stop taking in their own hands to decide whether or not vaccinations would be good for their child. the Anti-Vaxxers’ attempt to stop or slow autism is ridiculous. The only effect they will have on society…
There are many issues in regards to the controversy on vaccinations. Vaccinations were made to protect people from diseases, that could otherwise cause illness or potential death. There are many arguable topics but the most important is, should an individual have the right to deny needed vaccinations, or should vaccinations be mandated. This topic has been a huge debate in recent years. There are individuals that believe that an adult or child should be up to date on their immunizations, due to avoiding possible illnesses to return. When others argue that it should be their right to deny vaccinations all together, due to believing immunizations are harmful and could hurt them or their children. This paper will examine whether being…