Acceptance/Rejection of Vaccination
Parents endanger their children’s lives by rejecting vaccination and, as such, they risk contracting preventable diseases. The latest Disneyland measles outbreak reveals just how quickly a disease can spread. In just over a month, 103 people were infected with a single outbreak in 18 states (Measles Cases and Outbreaks, 2014). Parents who do not vaccinate also put children of other people at risk. Over the past 20 years, there has been an increasing backlash against vaccination that has caused thousands of children to go unvaccinated. This causes illnesses to continue coming back because they are considered to be almost eradicated from the United States. In order to protect their children, protect others, and avoid the spread of these diseases, parents must be educated to have their children immunized against childhood diseases.
It is indeed important to educate parents about the need to have their children immunized. Many parents fail to vaccinate their children for reasons such as religious, philosophical, or health reasons (Addressing the anti-vaccination movement and the role of HCWs, 2014). They also believe that children are being given an unnecessary amount of vaccinations today. Parents think that vaccinations have side effects, which some do, and often they often believe in fallacies such as vaccines cause certain diseases such as autism. Some also believe that they can protect themselves naturally as well and chose not to have their children protected. All of this stems from a lack of education about vaccines. Thus, educating parents on the importance of having their children vaccinated will help create awareness about the importance of vaccination. Scientists, physicians, and health care practitioners only give vaccines to children after a lengthy and thorough examination. Vaccines may lead to some irritation at the injection site and may cause pain, redness, or tenderness, but this is minor compared to the pain, distress, and trauma of the diseases they avoid. However, some ingredients can be toxic in large doses, for instance, aluminum.
Children must be protected from these diseases. Outbreaks can happen, and they can cause the rapid spread of disease. The first case in the Disneyland measles outbreak was reported on December 28th, 2014; by February 11th, 2015, there was 125 linked to that outbreak. While measles is common in other parts of the world, it was declared eliminated from the United States in the year 2000. The year with the lowest amount of cases, only 37, was 2004. Since then, measles has been steady until a huge leap to 644 cases reported in 2014. Most of these cases started from outside the United States, where most people are not vaccinated. With over 20 million people infected each year, this is a highly contagious disease that kills nearly 1% of those who contract it. This is just one more reason why children should get vaccinated, 17 deaths every hour, and anyone without vaccination is at risk (“Measles Vaccination,” n.d.).Immunizing children will prevent these diseases from spreading and protect our children,
Society must be protected. Scientifically, there is no debate about whether or not vaccinations are safe. The majority of the scientific and medical communities believe that vaccinations are necessary and safe. According to “Vaccine-Preventable Deaths And The Global Immunization Vision And Strategy, 2006–2015” (2006), “In 2002, among diseases for which vaccines are universally recommended, WHO estimates that fewer than 1,000 children aged <5 years died from polio; 4,000 children died from diphtheria; 15,000 children died from yellow fever; 198,000 children died from tetanus; 294,000 children died from pertussis; 386,000 children died from Hemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and 540,000 children died from measles.” (Estimates of Vaccine-Preventable Deaths, 2002, and Recommended Vaccines).Although not 100% effective doctors believe that they work and keep the cases of the communicable disease down. Why would they themselves get vaccinated for the flu, whooping cough, and hepatitis b if they did not think they were safe? They know that there is the possibility of side effects, but they feel the benefits outweigh the risks (Hieb, 2013). They are having children immunized will protect society from these preventable deaths.
In order to better protect our children from diseases, parents need to make sure that they are getting vaccinated. Better educating parents will help them make a more informed decision. The parents can be shown how the benefits outweigh the risks. The world is a very connected place, and while most of America is free of disease, the rest of the world is not. There are numerous other countries where vaccinations are unheard of, and people from those countries can travel here and possibly spread disease (Tafuri et al., 2014). Vaccinations are what can prevent these small numbers of cases from becoming widespread outbreaks and protect society. With the scientific community backing their safety and sharing what information on what the vaccines contain, parents can make a more informed decision. Educating parents on the importance of getting their children immunized will help protect society and prevent the spread of illness.
References
Hieb, L. D. (2013, Summer). Letter to hospital authorities on mandatory influenza vaccination. Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, v18(i2), pg 47. 360 Link.
Tafuri, S., Gallone, M. S., Cappelli, M. G., Martinelli, D., Prato, R., & Germinario, C. (2014). Addressing the anti-vaccination movement and the role of HCWs. Vaccine, 32(38), pg. 4860-5. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2013.11.006
Measles Cases and Outbreaks. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html
Measles Vaccination. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/measles/vaccination.html
Vaccine-Preventable Deaths and the Global Immunization Vision and Strategy, 2006–2015. (2006). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5518a4.ht