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Veranda Vickers

Professor Mcgriff

ENC 1102

13 November 2018

Vaccinations/ The Common Debate

Should the government require everyone to be vaccinated? The common debate is one of the

most talked about topics in today’s society. The reasons behind this could be alarming. However,

vaccines and immunizations around the world have made such an impact on the entire world’s

health state. Vaccines are substances that are given to a person or animal to protect them from a

particular pathogen- a bacterium, virus, or other microorganism that can cause disease.(Vaccines:

What Everyone Needs to Know, Kristen Feemster).”The ideal of vaccinations were first found in

Ancient Greece, where physicians observed that getting infected with a virus could prevent

reinfection with the same virus.”Physicians were experiencing the first ever break-through for

getting soon to come numerous diseases eradicated. Vaccines weren’t only created for humans,

they were made and used on animals as well. The controversial debate relies on whether

vaccinations are linked to many disorders and diseases we see in today’s society. To name the

most common debated; autism. I have concluded on behalf of my research that the pros weigh

out the cons. Vaccines,I feel should be mandatory. Vaccines are safe and effective, vaccines help

control the breakout of numerous diseases and any issues that pose a threat are already

genetically pre-linked.

Vaccines: What are they and how safe are they?

Since 1976, many diseases the world has been faced with have since then been eradicated.

Eradicated means to destroy completely or to put an end to. Meaning such diseases as measles,
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rubella, and meningococcal disease and several others have since been eradicated or there are

very few/rare cases have been reported in many years. The words widely used to describe and to

ensure the safety of the use of vaccinations are “safe” and effective”. Safe meaning protected

from or not exposed to danger or risk. Effective meaning successful in producing a desired or

intended result. According to the CDC.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), numerous

safeguards have been put in place, required by law to help ensure that vaccines we receive are

safe. The administration and protection systems to strictly enforce safety include Vaccine

Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), the Vaccine Safety Datalink. (VSD) and the

Clinical Immunization Assessment. (CISA). These systems work collectively to monitor and

conduct extensive research on vaccinations and how and when vaccines are going and going to

be distributed to the public. Today, vaccinations are not completely mandatory, however there

are guidelines we have to abide by in order to be able to participate in some of life events. Such

as, a medical field position; you will be required to be updated in 6 in total vaccinations in order

to fulfil the position. The same criteria would apply for your child to attend most child care

facilities such as daycare and public/private institutions. Others maintain, that their own beliefs

that safe and effective; being completely free of vaccinations is how they would like to claim

themselves “safe and “effective. The influenza shot is still very optional these days, and I feel it

should be left this way. As, the flu changes year round, and the common flu with the technology

and health care is very reasonable in today’s society. Although, this too is mandatory when

planning to be in involved in the healthcare industry. Vaccines have an excellent safety profile

and are governed by a rigorous set of federal regulations.

Vaccines: A Disease Perspective

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Vaccines do help control the breakout of diseases with the help of the CDC, the government and

majority of the public; since putting vaccinations into place there have been cases were diseases

were noted to be eradicated or extremely rare in the US. Although, complete eradication is not

likely just yet, it can be considered to be likely for some diseases over others such as polio. By

people being regularly and on routine for their vaccinations this greatly helps control, and

minimize the spread of the diseases caused by bacteria. Eradicated diseases that have been

reported include Polio and Smallpox. Much others are still underway and those include Rubella,

and Measles. The six in total vaccinations that I think should be required are Hep B, MMR

(Measles, Mumps and Rubella), Varicella, TDap, and Meningococcal. These are the 6 basic

vaccinations that are required for health officials. All others, I feel should be extremely pushed

as optional. With the help of the general public abiding by vaccination schedules, many of the

diseases that once were destroying the country’s population, we have now gained control back

and have seen many diseases go unseen for a very long time.Measles are now extremely rare just

to name one. However, without the help of the general public the changes can fastly reverse back

into the original state. Routine vaccination is very important to protect the general health and

ourselves. The centerpiece for any immunization program is its immunization schedule, a

national standard of practice for which vaccines are administered and when. The schedule is

important to improve the country’s overall wealth and health. Many parents express that the

reason they do not receive vaccinations or their children is based on the fact that they believe that

the vaccination and immunization scheduling is crowded and may be too much for one’s

immunes system. However, “Vaccines work by presenting antigens to the body that stimulates

an immune response. It is important to remember that these antigens are a small part of the
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bacteria or virus the vaccine protects against. “ (Feemster, 104) Feemster, illustrates that the

number of vaccinations a human receives at one time; whether it's 1 or 4;The amount of bacteria

that can be found inside the body at this time is much less bacteria than the actual bacteria count

that can be found inside the body once it has been infected with such bacteria. The current

scheduling that is set in place for vaccinations is constantly being monitored by the ACIP. They

closely monitor the side effects and monitor closely the information they receive on a day to day

basis. It is imperative to know that the CDC has high confidence with the scheduling that has

been set for years.

The scheduling of vaccinations is one of the main concerns of parents who decline vaccinations,

Imagine having your first child and their constantly getting shots every month they go to have a

routine check up done. You can only imagine how a first time parent would feel. A lot of

pushback from vaccinations come from the effects an individual typically comes in contact with

after being vaccinated. A vaccine adverse event is the appearance of any symptoms after

receiving a vaccine. The most common symptom after being vaccinated is a fever. A fever is the

body fighting off an infection, which raises the body cavity up to well beyond 100 degrees

fahrenheit. A fever can be deadly in cases, however; this is extremely rare in today’s society.

“Moderate to severe events occur far less frequently- one time for every 10,000 doses for febrile

seizures.” (Feemster, 78) The chances of experiencing severe side effects from being vaccinated

are slim to none. The pros definitely weigh out the cons in any given scenario regarding to being

vaccinated. Other side effects from getting vaccinated can, but are not limited to: Swelling of

vaccination site, common cold, headache, and fatigue. The side effects do vary from vaccination

to vaccination. It is extremely important to thoroughly read the information that is provided by

your healthcare provider.

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Vaccines and Autism: Are they linked?

Vaccine hesitancy is growing rapidly around the world. Vaccine hesitancy was started around the

18th century. Facts has been intermined with non facts making it very hard to decipher the truth

amongst vaccinations. People who question the purpose and efficiency of vaccines contribute to

the hesitancy. One of the most discussed topics regarding vaccines is whether or not they are

linked to diseases such as Autism. A publication of Wakefield et al article in 1998, many people

have been concerned about the MMR. (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine in particular.

Immunization rates quickly declined at a rapid pace causing a Measles outbreak in France.

Vaccine hesitancy is based on an individual’s knowledge and opinions. Autism is a serious

developmental disorder that impairs the ability to communicate and interaction, this impacts the

nervous system. Autism is recognized by difficulty with communication, difficulty with social

interactions, obsessive interests and repetitive behaviors. Signs of autism become obvious around

the age 2-3. Certain milestones should be reached at certain ages, if a child is not reaching

milestones it is reasonable to reach out to a healthcare provider who can diagnose the symptoms

accordingly.

Most of the time opinions rise over factual information and the general public is unsure how to

decipher the truths from the opinions. It is important for the general public to be informed of

known facts, rather than to let someone’s opinions succumb. It is very important to understand

that autism is caused by differences in how the brain functions, the ingredient that has been

studied specifically for the link to autism is Thimerosal. Thimerosal is a mercury based

preservative used to prevent contamination of multidose vials of vaccines. An example of a multi

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dose vaccine would be the MMR vaccination. Thimerosal was proven not to be linked to ASD in

children by exposure of vaccinations. Currently, however there are Thimerosal free alternative

vaccines readily accessible to the public although Thimerosal hasn’t been linked to ASD. Autism

is known to be genetically pre-linked to an individual. Meaning, a child could have genetically

inherited the ASD trait from the family tree. ASD has already indicated that genetics are majority

of the time the case concerning someone being diagnosed with Autism. “Parents who are older

when becoming pregnant have a higher risk to subject their child to have ASD, Boys are more

prone to having Autism rather than girls.” (Autism Facts and Figures, Autism Speaks)

“Although there has been an increased focus on vaccine hesitancy in recent years, the majority of

the individuals have an overall positive view of vaccines. According to a 2015 report, in the

United States, nearly 80% of respondents believe that vaccination is very or extremely

important.” (Feemster, 2018) This is an awesome accomplishment to be able to say the general

public does agree that vaccines are safe and effective regardless of the mixture of information

that is being perceived. With the help of understanding the basic concepts of vaccinations and

immunizations, We can maintain a secure and healthy world for individual’s to live in. 80% of

the population going through with vaccinations helps mandate the overall health of the general

public. If we can continue to be on the same page, and enlighten the general public of the facts

regarding immunizations and vaccinations we can help eradicate many more diseases. It is

important that we only trust and receive reliable information from health care providers.

According to Feemster, “Three-fourths of users trust information found on the Internet and only

sometimes or never evaluate the reliability of information from websites. “ A majority of people

run to Google for most of their questions and about three-fourths of the people believe and

interpret what they have read on the internet. Majority of people also find themselves turning to
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social media for answers and closure on their current questions or concerns. If the information

looks to be credible, we as people generally go with it. Social media can definitely distort the

image of many credible things such as vaccination pros weighing out the cons. Youtube is

known to distort the image of many things. Approximately one-third of videos on Youtube help

distort the image of vaccinations and provide false or negative connotations toward vaccinations.

We have to be very speculate when it becomes such a ordeal where the general health of the

public is being balanced. Vaccinations have recently circulated into political uproars, in the two

recent political elections, candidates have directly discussed them; often providing misleading

information in order to obtain the favorable and majority vote of the people. We as the general

public have to resort back to ourselves and locate credible and knowledge sources in order to

accumulate our own reasons and decisions. The easiest way to ensure you are receiving credible

information is to seek the knowledge of a healthcare provider. Often we are given handouts on

the vaccinations and side effects are children are receiving and not once do we actually take the

time out to read them. Most of the papers that are given to us are credible by the CDC, as their

logo is located on header of the paper. The CDC is very credible as most of the research

regarding vaccinations can be found through them whether it is the handouts or their website.

After researching vaccinations and whether or not they should be mandated. I have rest assured

that vaccines should be mandatory as the pros weigh out the cons. Vaccines are safe and

effective, Vaccines do help control the breakout of many diseases, and they are not linked to

diseases such as Autism; Autism is already a pre-linked genetic disease. It is important that we

continue to seek credible information regarding vaccines to help preserve the health state of our

society.
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Works Cited

“Autism Facts and Figures.” Autism Speaks,

www.autismspeaks.org/autism-facts-and-figures.

BARASCH, DOUGLAS S. "how safe are kids' vaccines?" Good Housekeeping, Sept. 2000, p. 82. General OneFile,
link.galegroup.com.db23.linccweb.org/apps/doc/A64975203/ITOF?u=lincclin_sjrcc&sid=ITOF
&xid=c6ad164f. Accessed 16 Oct. 2018.

Feemster, Kristen A. Vaccines: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press, 2018.

US Department of Health/ Human Services. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
14. August 2017. Web. 5. November. 2018

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Vaccine Basics.” Vaccines.gov, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, 11 Oct. 2006,
www.vaccines.gov/basics/index.html.

Sun, Lena H. "The moral differences between pro- and anti-vaccine parents." Washington Post, 4
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Dec. 2017. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A517320909/OVIC?u=lincclin_sjrcc&sid=OVIC&xi
d=c9a7f1a9.

“Vaccines ProCon.org.” ProConorg Headlines, 2004, vaccines.procon.org/.

"Vaccine Q&A." Maclean's, May 2018, p. 68. General OneFile,

link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A536922648/ITOF?u=lincclin_sjrcc&sid=ITOF&xid
=6ea1e1e4. Accessed 16 Oct. 2018.
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