Adriana Cericola
Mr. Howell
AP English
12 December 2017
Junior Research Paper
Vaccinations should be legally required by the federal government for all American citizens, especially for those under the age of eighteen who’s medical decisions are made by a guardian. There are no laws stated in any of the fifty states requiring individuals to receive immunizations against preventable diseases and infections in the United States and the decision is left up to free will. Vaccines are safe, cost-effective, protect the world as a whole from a disease outbreak, and save the lives of children, adults, and future generations. Children predominantly need these laws to be protected from disease and infection when they do not have the ability to make the life-saving decision for themselves to be vaccinated.
Vaccines save the lives of children. As Matthew Herper, science reporter and graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University, states, “It's shameful that in the U.S. we're having disease outbreaks because of unscientific doubts about a technology that people elsewhere would love to have better access to.” A technology that, over a 20 year period, prevented cases of illnesses in an estimated 322 million children (CDC). Vaccines are 90-99% effective in prevention, including 16 different diseases in adolescents, and if contracted, the symptoms will appear milder. One factor drawing away from the use of vaccinations are the assumed side effects; a common worry among parents and patients. Though some may occasionally be serious, this is rare, and it is extremely difficult to even prove a side effect is in fact linked to the vaccine, leaving vaccines falsely blamed for numerous conditions. One case in point is the relation of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine (DTP) with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDs). Although the onset of SIDs often coincides with the first dose of DTP, this is merely due to timing. DTP is administered at two months of age; the same age at which the risk of SIDs is the highest, and no true scientific evidence linking the two, yet the myths of their relationship still are vastly believed. This misleading connection is similar to those of many other vaccines that appear to have serious side effects which in reality are unrelated (American Academy of Pediatrics).
The measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR) is commonly linked incorrectly to autism. Similarly to the DTP vaccine and SIDs, the correlation is due to the timing of the MMR vaccine with the age of diagnosis, as well as doctors reporting cases of autism better around the same time period as MMR was introduced. The vaccine is administered just before the peak age of onset of autism which is often identified in toddlers first from 18 to 30 months of age. The possible MMR-autism link was studied by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Immunization Safety Review Committee, an unbiased group of experts with no connections to pharmaceutical companies or vaccine promoting organizations, in both 2001 and 2004; both studies finding no evidence available to support the relationship between the vaccine and developmental disorder. This research was repeated by the American Academy of Pediatrics who reached the same conclusion, and subsequently, most authors who had originally reported studies of MMR being linked to autism retracted their support of their initial study (American Academy of Pediatrics). This research is backed further by the increasing evidence proving that autism is determined while the baby is still in the womb during pregnancy.
Vaccines create herd immunity. Each individual vaccinated is part of a greater whole that needs to prevent diseases as a community. Once immunizations reach a critical level, everyone in the vaccinated populations reaps the benefits. This occurs once enough people are immunized that even those too young or too sick to be vaccinated receive a significant amount of protection from disease. A scenario such as this can occur with the participation of all members in a community, but often is unable to happen due to the aforementioned fears of a possible link between MMR and autism. This has led to increasingly under vaccinated areas within the United States resulting in an outbreak of measles; a disease that had been almost eradicated in the US since 2000 (Weighing the Risks and Benefits), as well as mumps, pertussis, and haemophilus influenzae type b, which was once the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in kids under 5 (Heyworth); all diseases that vaccines had virtually wiped out in the United States for years.
As proven with measles for a period of almost fifteen years, vaccines have the ability to eradicate diseases. Although some may believe that if a disease has been eradicated then the vaccine used to prevent it should not be needed, but this is untrue. Diseases such as polio can be incubated for years without any symptoms and then be passed on to unvaccinated individuals. This allows it to be unknowingly transmitted to those who are unable to be immunized due to sickness or if they are too young.
The ingredients used in vaccines are safe in the amounts they are administered in. A lot of fear circles around potentially harmful ingredients such as thimerosal, formaldehyde and aluminum. These substances are in minimal enough amounts that they have no significant effect on humans in such small doses. Thimerosal is a preservative used in vaccines which is required for use in multi-dose vials of vaccines in order to prevent microbial growth. Numerous scientific studies in the United States as well as other countries have proven thimerosal-containing vaccines to be safe. All vaccines routinely recommended for young children are available without thimerosal as well as for adolescents and adults (FDA). Aluminum, another concern for parents, is added to vaccines to boost their effectiveness. Most experts believe the amount contained in vaccines is safe, and research has proven that children are exposed to aluminum in significant amounts in breast milk and infant formula; both of which are much more prevalent in childhood in the vaccinations (Heyworth).
If children are unvaccinated, diseases that could be prevented can leave a child affected forever or dead. When you have an opportunity to give your child up to a 98% chance of avoiding a disease like chickenpox that can lead to dehydration or pneumonia or a serious illness like whooping cough that can cause seizures, brain disease, and death, that’s a convincing reason to vaccinate (Healthychildren.org).
It costs less money to be vaccinated than to treat the disease that could have otherwise been prevented. It is also highly beneficial to the American economy as a whole.
Vaccinations should be legally required by the federal government for all American citizens, especially for those under the age of eighteen who’s medical decisions are made by a guardian. There are no laws stated in any of the fifty states requiring individuals to receive immunizations against preventable diseases and infections in the United States and the decision is left up to free will. Vaccines are safe, cost-effective, protect the world as a whole from a disease outbreak, and save the lives of children, adults, and future generations. Children predominantly need these laws to be protected from disease and infection when they do not have the ability to make the life-saving decision for themselves to be vaccinated.
Works Cited
American Academy of Pediatrics. "Weighing The Risks And Benefits." Healthychildren.Org, 21 Nov 2015, https://www.healthychildren.org/
American Academy of Pediatrics. "Vaccines And Side Effects: The Facts." Healthychildren.Org, 21 Nov 2015, https://www.healthychildren.org/
American Academy of Pediatrics. "Vaccine Safety: The Facts." Healthychildren.Org, 11 May 2016, https://www.healthychildren.org/
FDA, "Thimerosal in Vaccines," www.fda.gov, Mar. 14, 2014
Gholipour, Bahar. "Vaccination Has Saved 732,000 Children's Lives Since 1994." Huffpost, 2014, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Herper, Matthew. "Dear Jenny Mccarthy, Here's How Many Lives Could Be Saved Cheaply By Making Vaccines More Widely Available." Forbes.Com, 2014, https://www.forbes.com/
“Immunizations and Infectious Diseases: An Informed Parent’s Guide.” American Academy of Pediatrics, 2006.
Kelley King Heyworth, "Vaccines: The Reality behind the Debate," www.parents.com (accessed June 9, 2014)
"Who Should Not Get Vaccinated | CDC." Cdc.Gov, 8 May 2017, https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/