Ashley Ramos

Aisha Sidibe

English 21003

10 October 2018

Say Yes to Vaccines

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a vaccine is a substance injected into the body that “stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, illness, or virus. “As simple as a vaccine may seem, a significant amount of controversy begins to arise when we introduce children into it. The power to vaccinate infants and children has fallen into the hands of their parents or guardians. Many reputable sources and parents state that vaccines do not serve a valid purpose and that the children can live healthy lives without having a single antigen injected into their body. However, we believe that vaccines protect children from harmful bacteria and diseases that would otherwise take over their bodies as quickly as they came.

Vaccines have helped children from all around the globe avoid harmful diseases that could have negatively affected their lives. For example, during the mid 20thcentury, there was a Diphtheria epidemic in the United States where the mucous membranes in a child’s throat swelled up, making it hard to breathe. Since the outbreak, the number of reported deaths has decreased from 15,520 in 1921 to 7,321 in 2014 due to the DTaP vaccination. [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]. The DTaP vaccine protects your child from this potentially serious disease. Current day, all doctors recommend that all children get the shot when they are born. This vaccine lacks side effects and lets children live normal healthy lives without complications.

As a child, vaccines were one of my most hated things to go do. My mother forced me every single year to get vaccinated. Meanwhile I did not see the importance of these sharp needles digging into my skin, my mother knew that vaccines were the right option for my overall health. Now, I am confident that her decision has protected me from many harmful diseases that I could have easily contracted if I were not vaccinated. Since I am vaccinated, I am allowed in a public-school system where I can participate in activities and not worry about contracting any diseases. This confidence that I have is not present for children whose parents reject vaccines because the CDC states that they are at higher risk to contract a vaccine-preventable disease.

Unvaccinated children can put others at risk. In relation to measles specifically, there has been multiple outbreaks that are traced to children whose parents choose not to vaccinate. According to Sarah Gylnn, a measles outbreak in 2008 “was traced to a child whose parents had chosen not to get him vaccinated. After bringing the disease back from Europe, he infected other kids at his doctor’s office as well as his classmates.” Although, parents like these are certain that the probability that their child contracting a vaccine-preventable disease is very low, it happens more often than not. Diseases can be contracted anywhere no matter how careful the parents may be. Harmful microscopic bacteria will almost always find ways to spread and affect populations. Unvaccinated children are easier to target, making them the reasons for specific outbreaks. If these unvaccinated children were vaccinated, there would be less epidemics and outbreaks that put many other individuals at risk.

Although some parents argue that vaccines make their children worse but also can cause fatality. We believe that vaccines do the opposite of this. There have been cases in which harmful ingredients such as aluminum were found in our everyday vaccines but, proven by the CDC that Aluminum salts were used to treat diphtheria in the 1920’s. An adjuvant which is an ingredient of a vaccine that helps create a stronger immune response in the body. Aluminum is known as an adjuvant which has been safety used for many decades. When using the aluminum in the DTaP vaccination, it allowed the body to strengthen the immune system because it was allowing small amounts of the inactivated virus or bacteria in the blood stream, so the body would be able to create antibodies. Opposing parents also argue that aluminum is used in some of our everyday vaccines which can cause neurological harm when too much of it is exposed to our body. However, neurological harm can only happen when the patient has aluminum toxicity which is an overdose of them chemical. One vaccination that has an aluminum adjuvant only includes 0.85 mg/dose. To overdose on aluminum enough to cause neurological harm your body would have to exceed 5 mg/dose. Vaccination do not include this much aluminum, making them safe for our bodies. When exposed to lower levels of aluminum our body will start to break down the chemical allowing a safe usage.

Parents ultimately have the option to vaccinate their children or not. It depends on their morals and what they believe is safer for their children. Vaccines have changed the medical field, positively and negatively, in more ways that we can count. Some parents believe that vaccines can cause harm to their offspring, meanwhile others believe that vaccines are beneficial to their child’s health and wellbeing. However, we now know that the decision to vaccinate should be enforced because they protect children from harmful bacteria and diseases and reduce the number of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases everywhere. Although uncertain to why parents have these preferences, we do know that it brings upon controversy into today within our population.

 

 

Works Cited

Children’s Hospital. “Global Immunization: Worldwide Disease Incidence.” Children’s Hospital

of Philadelphia, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 1 Dec. 2014.

“Diphtheria.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention, 15 Jan. 2016

Glynn, Sarah. “Unvaccinated Children Could Put Others At Risk.” Medical News Today,

MediLexicon International, 24 Aug. 2012.

Robert W. Sears, “Vaccine FAQS: Aluminum Information from The Vaccine Book,”

(accessed June 11, 2014).

“Toxic Substances Portal – Aluminum.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centersfor

Disease Control and Prevention, 21 Jan. 2015.

“Vaccines & Immunizations.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, 10 Mar. 2017.