Although health organizations, doctors and scientists all agree that it is safe for people to be vaccinated, there is an increasing movement of parents who have chosen not to vaccinate their kids. Although parents may have conflicting views, both parties can agree on one thing, that is that they both love their kids just as much. It is important to look at facts and statistics to know what is best for the health and well-being of these children. The return of diseases and the death of young children best captures the American zeitgeist of anti-vaxxers who believe natural immunity is better as vaccinations can cause adverse affects.
First off, although vaccines do not deserve all the credit for the reduced rates of contagious diseases as sanitation, nutrition and antibiotics have contributed to this as well, it is still greatly needed. When there is an outbreak of infectious disease, the benefits of vaccinations cannot be denied. Many anti-vaxxers believe that natural immunity is better than immunity gained from vaccines and that hygiene and sanitation are responsible for decreased sickness. In some cases, this is true because when you get the actual disease and survive it, the body becomes familiar with that disease and knows how to fight it again in the future. This is similar to how vaccines work when placed in the body but instead, weaker strands of the disease is used. This is why there are problems seen with the natural alternative; it is dangerous. For example, to gain natural immunity from measles, the disease must be contracted and that would lead a person to face 1 in 500 chance of death from their symptoms. When the first vaccine for measles was made in 1963, the rate of infection was steady at about 400,000 cases per year. While hygiene and sanitation stayed pretty much the same, after a decade, infections dropped to only around 25,000 cases per year by 1970. According to CDC, Hib disease also went down from 20,000 in 1990 to 1,500 in 1993 after introducing the vaccine. People tend to forget how horrible it was in the past before vaccines. It cannot be denied that there are many benefits like protection to gain from vaccination and it outweighs the risk or adverse affects. A person cannot rely on hygiene and nutrition alone when it comes to diseases.
Second, another common misconception about vaccines is that it causes autism. This belief started when a British surgeon named Andrew Wakefield published an article in a prestigious medical journal called The Lancet. He discussed how vaccinations for measles, mumps, rubella or MMR was causing the number of children who have been diagnosed with autism to rise. His paper was fully discredited and retracted from The Lancet because of grave procedural errors and ethical violations. Despite this and Wakefield eventually losing his medical license, many people took the paper seriously. Many studies have been conducted but a link between vaccination and autism was never evident.
Third, many claim that vaccines contain unsafe toxins that can harm or even kill children. While it is true that some vaccines contain formaldehyde, mercury or aluminum, only trace amounts of these chemicals are used and the vaccines have been FDA approved. In fact, the human body produces its own formaldehyde from its metabolic system. There has never been any evidence of people being harmed by these low levels of mercury or aluminum. I have also provided this link to show why certain chemicals are used in vaccines. Vaccines are always tested individually to ensure that they are safe. According to the CDC, death is so incredibly rare that it is impossible to calculate. There has only been one death reported between 1990 and 1992. A severe allergic reaction to vaccines is also about 1 in 2 million injections. Children have been successfully vaccinated for many of years and there are no studies to be found about long term health conditions caused by vaccination.
Fourth, many believe there is no need for vaccination due to infection rates being so low in the United States. This is thanks to "herd immunity." When a large majority of a population is immunized, the unimmunized minority will be protected as well. This is a very important thing to think about because will always be many people out there like babies, pregnant women, old people and people with weakened immune systems that are not able to receive vaccines. If the number of people who are not vaccinated were to increase, they become a threat because it opens up a way for diseases to come back and spread. Another thing to consider is that international travel is rapidly increasing meaning even if a certain disease may not be in a country, it may be carried by another person traveling from a different country and thus the person who has not been vaccinated is placed at a high risk of getting infected by the disease when they are exposed.
The lives vaccines have saved should not be forgotten. It has protected many people around the globe and continues to do so until today from infectious and even deadly diseases. If people were to further continue down the route of not vaccinating their children, many diseases that have been eradicated in the past will come back and hurt the population.
Second, another common misconception about vaccines is that it causes autism. This belief started when a British surgeon named Andrew Wakefield published an article in a prestigious medical journal called The Lancet. He discussed how vaccinations for measles, mumps, rubella or MMR was causing the number of children who have been diagnosed with autism to rise. His paper was fully discredited and retracted from The Lancet because of grave procedural errors and ethical violations. Despite this and Wakefield eventually losing his medical license, many people took the paper seriously. Many studies have been conducted but a link between vaccination and autism was never evident.
Third, many claim that vaccines contain unsafe toxins that can harm or even kill children. While it is true that some vaccines contain formaldehyde, mercury or aluminum, only trace amounts of these chemicals are used and the vaccines have been FDA approved. In fact, the human body produces its own formaldehyde from its metabolic system. There has never been any evidence of people being harmed by these low levels of mercury or aluminum. I have also provided this link to show why certain chemicals are used in vaccines. Vaccines are always tested individually to ensure that they are safe. According to the CDC, death is so incredibly rare that it is impossible to calculate. There has only been one death reported between 1990 and 1992. A severe allergic reaction to vaccines is also about 1 in 2 million injections. Children have been successfully vaccinated for many of years and there are no studies to be found about long term health conditions caused by vaccination.
Fourth, many believe there is no need for vaccination due to infection rates being so low in the United States. This is thanks to "herd immunity." When a large majority of a population is immunized, the unimmunized minority will be protected as well. This is a very important thing to think about because will always be many people out there like babies, pregnant women, old people and people with weakened immune systems that are not able to receive vaccines. If the number of people who are not vaccinated were to increase, they become a threat because it opens up a way for diseases to come back and spread. Another thing to consider is that international travel is rapidly increasing meaning even if a certain disease may not be in a country, it may be carried by another person traveling from a different country and thus the person who has not been vaccinated is placed at a high risk of getting infected by the disease when they are exposed.
The lives vaccines have saved should not be forgotten. It has protected many people around the globe and continues to do so until today from infectious and even deadly diseases. If people were to further continue down the route of not vaccinating their children, many diseases that have been eradicated in the past will come back and hurt the population.