There has been a great debate on vaccination. For individuals against the vaccination, there is dependency on herd immunity, which is the belief that having a large percentage of the population vaccinated, that the spread of certain diseases can be stopped, thus protecting the unvaccinated individuals (Hockenberry & Wilson, 2015, p. 196). The vaccination for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) are given together in a single dose at ages 12-15 months and then again at 4-6 years. While vaccination has changed the face of medicine, there have been rare, adverse effects of the live-virus MMR vaccination such as fever and febrile seizures (Feenstra, Pasternak, Geller, Carstensen, Wang, et al. 2014). After receiving the initial vaccination around 14 months of age, 5-15% of the children have an adverse reaction at least five days after receiving the vaccination. These “adverse reactions” include fever and rash (Kemmeren, van der Maas & de Melker, 2010). There is no way to predict who the vaccination will effect, making vaccination an extremely difficult decision imposed on parents. Until there is a definite system that can formulate what population is at risk for the adverse effects of vaccination, I believe that people should not be required to receive vaccinations. Measles is a viral infection that presents initially as malaise and fever, followed by a cough, Koplik spots and conjunctivitis.
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This infection is transmitted via respiratory droplets, with the replication of viruses occurring in the bronchial and tracheal epithelial cells. After the incubation period (2-4) days, the measles virus enters the localized lymphatic tissue. Before the appearance of the rash, the virus travels to different organs (Gans & Maldonado, 2016). Mumps, the second aspect of the MMR vaccination, also spread by respiratory droplets. Common symptoms include fever, malaise, anorexia, and headache. Parotid gland swelling frequently occurs 48 hours after the initial symptoms. Parotitis is caused by the virus directly infecting the ductal epithelium. The testes, eyes, ovaries, pancreas, joints, central nervous system and kidneys have also been reported as infection sites (Albrecht, 2015). Rubella (German measles) is a viral infection that enters the body via the nasopharynx or the respiratory epithelium. The virus is spread via aerosolized particles from an infected person. Once the virus enters the respiratory epithelium, it begins to duplicate and spread to the lymphatic system (Edwards, 2016). Research performed by Feenstra, B., Pasternak, B., Geller, F., Carstensen, L., Wang, T., et al. (2014), consisted of conducting genome-wide association scans looking for a correlation between the MMR vaccination and febrile seizures. The results of this study indicated that there are two main loci associated with an adverse reaction of febrile seizure after MMR vaccination. These two loci consist of the immune system genes IFI44L and CD46. This research indicates that there is a specific gene that predisposes individuals to febrile seizures after receiving the MMR vaccination. Prior to receiving the MMR vaccination, individuals should be tested for the genes linked to the febrile seizures caused by the vaccination by (Feenstra, B., Pasternak, B., Geller, F., Carstensen, L., Wang, T., et al., 2014). A study was performed on the adverse reactions experienced by nine-year-olds following the simultaneous vaccination of dT-IPV and MMR in the Netherlands (Kemmeren, van der Maas, & de Melker, 2010). The parents of the nine-year-olds were sent home with two questionnaires following the initial vaccination of their children. The first questionnaire inquired about the local (rash, swelling, pain) and systemic (fever, nausea/vomiting, headache) adverse reactions during days 1-7 following vaccination and the second questionnaire assessed the systemic reactions during the 8-21 days following vaccination. Of …show more content…
The school has a waiver that parents can sign, signifying that their children did not receive vaccinations because of their religious beliefs. However, there are individuals requesting that all children be vaccinated because of the children that cannot receive vaccinations, such as those with immunodeficiency disorders and those with cancer. There was a frenzy related to the correlation between autism and the MMR vaccination because the symptoms of autism first occur in the same time span that children begin receiving vaccinations. However, this ‘theory’ was disproved by Mrozek-Budzyn, Kieltyka, Majewska, and Augustyniak (2014) when the study found there was no correlation between children’s cognitive development and the exposure of MMR
This infection is transmitted via respiratory droplets, with the replication of viruses occurring in the bronchial and tracheal epithelial cells. After the incubation period (2-4) days, the measles virus enters the localized lymphatic tissue. Before the appearance of the rash, the virus travels to different organs (Gans & Maldonado, 2016). Mumps, the second aspect of the MMR vaccination, also spread by respiratory droplets. Common symptoms include fever, malaise, anorexia, and headache. Parotid gland swelling frequently occurs 48 hours after the initial symptoms. Parotitis is caused by the virus directly infecting the ductal epithelium. The testes, eyes, ovaries, pancreas, joints, central nervous system and kidneys have also been reported as infection sites (Albrecht, 2015). Rubella (German measles) is a viral infection that enters the body via the nasopharynx or the respiratory epithelium. The virus is spread via aerosolized particles from an infected person. Once the virus enters the respiratory epithelium, it begins to duplicate and spread to the lymphatic system (Edwards, 2016). Research performed by Feenstra, B., Pasternak, B., Geller, F., Carstensen, L., Wang, T., et al. (2014), consisted of conducting genome-wide association scans looking for a correlation between the MMR vaccination and febrile seizures. The results of this study indicated that there are two main loci associated with an adverse reaction of febrile seizure after MMR vaccination. These two loci consist of the immune system genes IFI44L and CD46. This research indicates that there is a specific gene that predisposes individuals to febrile seizures after receiving the MMR vaccination. Prior to receiving the MMR vaccination, individuals should be tested for the genes linked to the febrile seizures caused by the vaccination by (Feenstra, B., Pasternak, B., Geller, F., Carstensen, L., Wang, T., et al., 2014). A study was performed on the adverse reactions experienced by nine-year-olds following the simultaneous vaccination of dT-IPV and MMR in the Netherlands (Kemmeren, van der Maas, & de Melker, 2010). The parents of the nine-year-olds were sent home with two questionnaires following the initial vaccination of their children. The first questionnaire inquired about the local (rash, swelling, pain) and systemic (fever, nausea/vomiting, headache) adverse reactions during days 1-7 following vaccination and the second questionnaire assessed the systemic reactions during the 8-21 days following vaccination. Of …show more content…
The school has a waiver that parents can sign, signifying that their children did not receive vaccinations because of their religious beliefs. However, there are individuals requesting that all children be vaccinated because of the children that cannot receive vaccinations, such as those with immunodeficiency disorders and those with cancer. There was a frenzy related to the correlation between autism and the MMR vaccination because the symptoms of autism first occur in the same time span that children begin receiving vaccinations. However, this ‘theory’ was disproved by Mrozek-Budzyn, Kieltyka, Majewska, and Augustyniak (2014) when the study found there was no correlation between children’s cognitive development and the exposure of MMR