Essay On Vaccination

It Isn’t Just About You: Why Child Vaccinations are Necessary From 1964 to 1965, the rubella virus led to life threatening illnesses in around 20,000 newborns; these babies were plagued with deafness, blindness, heart disease, and/or mental retardation. (Ballarlo and Sprague). Now, because of vaccines, rubella has been eradicated and is no longer a life-threatening problem. Vaccinations have been used worldwide to prevent life-threatening diseases. Dr. Edward Jenner developed the first vaccination to cure smallpox; he did so by “injecting a dead or mild form of a virus or bacteria into the body in order to stimulate production of antibodies” (Lee and Carson-Dewitt). In case of infection later, these antibodies would provide additional protection. In the 18th century, smallpox was spreading rapidly; Jenner was able to create a vaccination to save lives by using cowpox, a milder version of smallpox. Due to this discovery, vaccinations are now used all over the world to immunize children and adults from life-threatening diseases and to help prevent epidemics. However, some parents are against giving their children vaccinations. Although many adults think that the government should not regulate health care, parents should not be able to restrict child vaccinations because vaccines do not cause autism, they are safe, and they save lives. The greatest controversy regarding vaccine safety surrounds the conviction that there might be a link between MMR vaccines and autism; however, studies prove that the correlation is nonexistent. Autism is a mental condition that causes difficulty in communication and making relationships with others. The MMR vaccine is an immunization which “protects against, measles, mumps, and rubella [and is] typically administered...when a child is between twelve and fifteen months old” (Ballarlo and Sprague). Some parents withhold vaccines from their children because they falsely believe that vaccinations can cause autism. However, there have been many studies that debunk this claim. “In 2009 the U.S. federal court reviewed 939 medical articles…[and] found the evidence was ‘overwhelmingly contrary’ to the theory that autism is linked to MMR vaccine…” (“Evidence Shows Vaccines Unrelated to Autism”). There is a reason why parents believe there is a link between vaccination administration and autism. The symptoms of autism start to appear around the age of 18 to 24 months in children, which is a few months after vaccinations are usually administered (“Vaccines”). This could account for why some adults think that there is a link between vaccines and autism. Vaccines are not the root of autism; they have been proven time and time again to be safe. Vaccinations for children have been tested extensively and been proven safe for the public. A major concern among parents is the presence of mercury within some vaccines. Many studies have seen no correlation between autism and thimerosal, “a mercury-containing compound [that] has been used since the 1930s as a vaccine preservative in vials…” (“Evidence”). Thimerosal is immediately thought to be dangerous by some parents, because of its mistaken alliance with mercury. In current day vaccines, thimerosal is only found in influenza, in trace amounts (“Evidence”). Mercury in child vaccines has been limited to small amounts that are beneficial to the patient. In 2004, data from Sweden, Denmark, the U.S, and the United Kingdom was examined by the Institute of Medicine’s Immunization Safety Review Committee; they proved that there is no proof of a relationship between mental illness and vaccines with thimerosal (Ballarlo and Sprague). While vaccinations do inject a portion of the live virus, the risk of actually contracting the illness is infinitesimal. According to one calculation, the smallpox vaccination has a “fifteen in a million” chance of transferring the virus onto a …show more content…
They play an essential role in keeping America safe and functioning; without vaccines, the population would not be healthy. It has been proven that autistic symptoms have no direct correlation with child vaccinations. The ingredients of vaccines are not harmful to children, and the chance of contracting the illness after vaccination is infinitesimal. Vaccines have been shown to save countless lives and eradicate illnesses; they are a necessity in today’s society, where epidemics are ravaging worldwide. Child vaccinations are not harmful, and every child needs to be immunized to stay safe. Every parent should have their child vaccinated against harmful