Vaccination Debate
Vaccination is the introduction of immunization, which is artificially designed to assist the body to fight against infection. A vaccine is designed using a natural immunogenic, which can be the whole pathogen, a toxin, or a component. The administration of a vaccine cannot cause the disease, but it makes the host generate a defensive response against the pathogen, which has been introduced in the form of a vaccine.
Infectious diseases like smallpox have become significant in the history of vaccines forming the foundation of vaccination and bringing in to the book people like Edward Jenner. He used cowpox pathogens to vaccinate against smallpox. China, Africa, and Turkey adopted vaccination before Europe and the Americas. Since the time of smallpox vaccines have gone through changes and have been spread widely. The changes include technological and medical shifts. The methods that were employed by these changes finally led to the elimination of smallpox. After the smallpox vaccine had left a mark on human infections, rabies followed with Louis Pasteur coming up with the vaccine. This was followed by other developments on bacteriology, tetanus, typhoid, and others. The 20th century became a time of development and research. The inventions of vaccines have reduced the problem caused by polio, measles, rubella, and mumps. There are innovations in the current research on vaccines with a combination of genetic technology. This has allowed for targeted diseases to expand in number and even further to conditions like allergies and addiction. This article, therefore, looks not only at the aspect of science in vaccines but also examines the cultural aspects of vaccines and the effects that vaccines have on social set up.
There are arguments by parents that vaccination of children may cause autism; despite all that argument, the rate of baby vaccination has remained at high rates. There have been three particular guesses brought up on the issue of autism. First is that the lining of the intestines gets damaged and the entrance of proteins leading to autism. The second hypothesis is that the weakening of the immune is related to strong vaccines, which become stronger than the defense of the body. The third hypothesis argues that vaccines which have preservative agents in them are toxic to the central nervous system. This article will look into these theories and find evidence to support the relevant theories.
The rate at which patents are refusing to vaccinate their children is alarming. Some studies have tried to examine the reasons as to why parents are shying away from the vaccination of their children. The parents give varying reasons as to why they are not vaccinating their children. Those reasons, however, range between four aspects. They gave philosophical theories, personal perspectives, and safety measures, while others expressed that they need more information from the health department on vaccination. A majority of those parents showed a lack of awareness of the importance of vaccination. Creating awareness is, therefore, a key activity in ensuring that parents make an informed decision on the vaccination of their children. In recent year’s parents have hesitated to vaccinate their children even when the vaccines are readily available. Since vaccines are important to the children in the prevention of infections, it is hard to understand the main reasons that make parents delay or hesitate to take their children for vaccination. Some laws require parents to vaccinate their children and also dictates the type of vaccinations that people should be given. Some exemptions are made in the state laws according to medical conditioning. These laws are aiming to improve immunity and reduce infection in the states. The trend by which parents are refusing to follow the rules is increasing the risk of contracting diseases that can be prevented.
Research has been conducted to study the reason why parents are delaying or refusing to vaccinate their children 77% of parents showed that they had concerns about one or more baby vaccinations. There are parents who offered religious reasons which are connected to community beliefs and personal beliefs. These choices are not a result of ignorance or lack of information, but they are mostly intentional. They are stubborn decisions made based on a rigid conviction. These religious reasons result in the complete refusal of vaccines. In schools, exemptions have been made during vaccination because of religious reasons. Lawmakers came up with rules and regulations that offer guidelines on vaccination and made it mandatory and therefore requiring sincere beliefs in order to get exemption of vaccination in school. Many parents are evading vaccination using this method of citing religious beliefs, and this results in a higher risk of contracting preventable diseases. These religious reasons are derived from the fact that vaccines use tissues from animals and others from the human fetus. It raises religious concern also given that monies can be used in a strategical manner resulting in research that makes a certain population be in need of vaccines. Some parents give personal reasons for refusing and delaying to vaccinate their children[1]. The personal reasons must be examined keenly to shed light on the side of the parents on the importance of vaccination in protecting their children from infectious diseases, which could rather be prevented through vaccination of the children. The personal beliefs include parents who often like to think that the natural resistance to disease is best and prefer that to vaccination. Others believe that when a child is infected by a disease, it is beneficial in that it prepares the child to have a strong immune system to fight diseases in the future. Other parents believe that those diseases for which the children are being immunized are prevalent, and therefore the children have a low risk of contracting those diseases. Safety concerns were also raised by other parents pertaining to the vaccines. They made up their mind basing their beliefs on information obtained from the media or from friends and acquaintances. The theories originate from various sources in the media ranging from television to radio and even social media. The burden of this information can become too much, and hence parents give up on immunization[2]. They are concerned about the long term and short term effects of the vaccine on their babies. There is also a need for education that is additional education that will make the parent come up with more informed decisions on the issues dealing with vaccination. When parents are made aware of the significance of vaccination and also informed about the risk associated with vaccines, they will decide based on facts provided. They have the urge to know more about the vaccines, and therefore information needs to be provided in a way that does not drive them away from the facts.
The increase in autism diagnoses around the world has raised concerns since many associates the diagnosis with vaccination. Measles, rubella, and mumps vaccines and others that are being used currently have been named by the arguments as causing the autistic conditions.
Systems of healthcare that are termed as being based on solidarity whereby the funding is shared by the government and members of the public are poorly run since those health systems have the right to dictate and punish the other party. This is because these systems require both parties to oblige to the rules and regulations put in place and can penalize the people who don’t contribute to the system[3]. Vaccinations managed by such healthcare systems may perform dismally. Hence it cannot be a reflection of a failure in the vaccine but basically on poor public health. Solidarity refers to sharing responsibility in unison among individuals. This is because of a common aim, like in cases of solidarity among the workers on strike. Vaccination is a solidary obligation that requires legitimate and social enforcement. A significant element in solidarity is featured by we-thinking. This differentiates it importantly from the charity, which is directed purely by others. In a solitary based set up, people not only give to others but expect something back after giving. Shared groups of membership derive these interests of solidarity recognition. There is an idea of reciprocity that requires clarification in three ways[4]. First, the idea does not require giving and taking, but only one part plays. Secondly, this idea needs only to be hypothetical and not practical. Finally, the idea does not mean disagreement with other claims that solidarity cannot be solely motivated by reciprocity. It is worth saying there is a relationship between solidarity and justice because we are concerned with imposing the cost that seems unreasonable and tends to disrupt justice. However, we accept justice in some sense, is prior to solidarity.
Mandatory vaccination has been a debate for so long. One side is those who see that lawmaking has played a big role in this area of public health, while the other side is concerned with the lack of evidence on how mandatory vaccination helps the health care. However, vaccination is among the most effective public health interventions in the world because it has saved lives and promoted good health. Water is the only thing that does better than vaccination. Vaccination has, however, reduced drastically in some countries following misguided concerns over vaccine safety. Parents are less likely to be affected by preventable diseases if vaccines are given to control infectious diseases. It will then become easy to overcome misplaced alarms about vaccines. Infections spark when vaccination declines. That is the reason why countries are doing vaccination mandatory practice. The effectiveness, however, varies from country to country due to differences in the systems of healthcare. In the United States, vaccination is mandatory for children above the age of five years before joining public schools or other facilities. States have medical exemptions, and a few states give way for evasion based on personal or philosophical reasons and others on the grounds of religious reasons. Exemptions rates have become rampant in recent years, and studies have shown that they result from community clusters. Some parents take time before vaccinating their children until they start school. This is not ideal because babies are at a higher risk of the disease of which were scheduled to be prevented by vaccination during the first year of their life. The defense is needed at an early stage[5]. The increase in homeschooling has become an unintended consequence of legislation. United states have the strictest laws on vaccination, and the rates of whooping cough and measles are evidently fewer, which shows that making vaccination to be mandatory is effective. Australia has attached childcare payments to vaccination schedules. The exemptions were also removed in a struggle to improve the rates of vaccination, and it increased the number of children who were immunized[6]. Making immunization compulsory is not; however, the only solution to get a lot of people vaccinated. Research on how to improve vaccination uptake among parents who delay and hesitate suggests that talking the concerns with a health professional has proved to be beneficial. More practical issues like making sure that vaccines and health care are easy to access and essential. Many people who don’t immunize are not conversant with when to take their children for vaccination. Including vaccination as part of the educational curriculum could help in future generations be less hesitant to vaccinate.
During the making of a decision on vaccination, one should have in mind the cost associated with creating an initial infection as well the cost that goes with complications of the diseases. Vaccines are essential in protecting people against pandemics and epidemics. They protect us from dangerous diseases in other places. There are endemics that are constantly affecting that area, for example, cholera hepatitis b and polio. As far as these diseases are present around the places, then the vaccines are needed to protect from the harm of these endemics. The vaccines also play a role in the protection of children and the elderly[7]. Immune systems are strong in adulthood, meaning that the elderly and young children face a high risk of getting infected and pass diseases, but vaccines come in to prevent such a scenario. Apart from children and the elderly, there is also a part of the population that is termed to be vulnerable to infections. This means that if a majority of the people are vaccinated, the diseases cannot be spread from individual to another, and it then translates to the safety and immunity of everyone. It is a practice normally termed as herd protection. It is impacting because not all people can be directly protected with vaccines. Some people are non-responsive to the immunization[8]. Vaccines also contribute to the control of epidemics in a world of highly populated cities with increased internal traveling, change of residence, and migration. The emerging spread of epidemics like Ebola can be curbed by the use of vaccines in order for the unaffected population to develop resistance for the opportunistic epidemic. Limitation of drug resistance is also achieved by making vaccination a mandatory practice of basic health care. This is because medicine relies on being able to cure diseases with antimicrobial drugs like antivirals, which overdose and misuse can lead to serious damage to the immune system and even other parts of the body. Vaccines are an effective intervention in healthcare, and they prevent a lot of deaths.
Bibliography
Centers Disease Control and Prevention. VFC Publications: Supplement. Benefits from Immunization During the Vaccines for Children Program Era — the United States, 1994–2013. Last updated April 23, 2014.https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/vfc/pubs/methods/index.html
Davies Ben and Julian Savulescu. Public Health Ethics. Volume 12. Issue 2. July 2019.Published July 2019.https://doi.org/10.1093/phe/phz008
Gerber Jeffrey S. and Paul A. Offit. Plotkin Stanley. Division of Infectious Diseases. Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses. Volume 48. Issue Published February 15, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1086/596476
The College of Physician of Philadelphia, History of Vaccines, timeline, https://www.historyofvaccines.org/timeline/all
Kerr, Jessica. “Immunisation and the law: slippery slope to a healthy society.” Victoria U. Wellington L. Rev. 37 (2006): 93.
McKee Chephra and Kristin Bohannon. The Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics. Mar-April of 2016 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4869767/?report=reader#!po=5.55556
Ransom, James, Katherine Schaff, and Lilly Kan. “Is there an association between local health department organizational and administrative factors and childhood immunization coverage rates?.” Journal of health and human services administration (2012): 418-455.
Reynolds, Najwa, Jeanne Madison, and Gudrun Dieberg. “An Exploration of the Experiences of Adults that were Raised without Routine Childhood Vaccinations.” (2014).
[1] Gerber, Paul, Stanley. Divisions of Infectious Diseases: Vaccines and Autism. (Volume 48. February 15, 2009).
[2] McKee Chephra, Kristin Bohannon. The Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics. (March- April 2016).
[3] Davies, Julian. Public Health Ethics. (Volume 12. 2009).
[4] Centers for control and prevention. (VFC Publications, United States. 1994).
[5], The college of Physician of Philadelphia, History of Vaccines, timeline.
[6] Ransom, James, Katherine, Schaff, Lilly. Journal of health and human services administration. ( 418-455, 2012).
[7] Reynolds, Najwa, Jeanne, Gudrun. An exploration of the experiences of adults. (2014).
[8] Kerr. Immunization and the law: slippery slope to a healthy society. (Victoria Wellington, 2006)