Introduction
Vaccines are long since being used to prevent the spread of contagious disease all over the world and it is because of these same vaccines that we have been able to eradicate a number of diseases including measles. This means that these vaccines are in fact effective against these diseases, and they have been lending a hand in keeping our children healthier than they would be otherwise. Despite that, there are many parents in the country who opt out of having their children vaccinated, and this is because they have their reservations regarding the risks that these vaccinations may lead to in their children. All of the US states save for Mississippi and West Virginia allow Religious exemptions from vaccines while 20 of the 50 states also permit philosophical exemptions, a point noted by the Center for Disease Control. Studies reveal further that the States, which have easier exemption procedures, mostly have more children escaping vaccination compared to states where getting that exemption is harder in comparison.
Our body has the natural ability to remember the disease that it has encountered before so when the same virus enters the body once again, it takes lesser time for our immune system (The body’s defense system which protects it from disease) to fight and eliminate the virus the second or the third time around. Vaccines use the same defense mechanism of the body to protect it against future attacks. This is because these vaccines contain either the parts of the microbes that the body recognizes as the disease or the whole microbes that have been inactivated or made weaker so that they do not harm the body. Through the injection of these disease germs into the
body, these vaccines prepare the body against future attacks so that when the real threat arises, the immune system recognizes and kill off the germ more speedily.
There are many approaches that are employed for the production of vaccines, and every one of these approaches derives results different from the other. The first one of these techniques involves the weakening of the virus. The impact of such weakening is that these viruses reproduce very poorly when they are injected into the body. Examples of these types of vaccines include the measles vaccines, that of the Spanish Influenza, oral polio, and the chickenpox. The benefit of producing the vaccine through the use of this technique is that one or two doses of the vaccine could improve immunity and have effects that could last for a lifetime.
Another strategy of virus production involves the killing of the virus and the benefit of this type of vaccine is that it does not result in even half the side effects that could be brought about by the disease itself and this property also means that the vaccine could be administered to people who have weak immune systems. The third approach that is used for the synthesis of the vaccines involves the use of only part of the virus. The part of the virus that is used is the protein that the body’s immune system uses as a mark of identification and warns the body of the existence of the disease thereby resulting in an immune response. This type of vaccine could also be given to a person who suffers from a weak immune system, and three doses of the vaccine could have long-lasting impacts.
These vaccines could at the end of the day cause more than a few problems, and because of the way they are produced, there is always room for error. This is the reason why parents should have the right to decide whether or not they want their children vaccinated.
Benefits of vaccinations
A number of experts, as well as the World Health Organization, have proven that the use of vaccinations is far safer when compared to therapeutic medications. These vaccinations during the present time have proven far safer than they were in the past. These vaccines are the reason why we have been successful in eradicating smallpox. The trouble, however, is that complete eradication of any health tribulation is no easy task, and it requires the administering of the disease vaccinations to a very major portion of the population. However, even if a disease is not successfully eradicated, it can be eliminated in a specific region through the use of these same vaccinations. Another benefit of vaccines is that in some cases, it can protect against a disease even when it is administered after exposure to such disease. Examples of such diseases include rabies, hepatitis A, B measles, and varicella. There is also the remarkable benefit that these vaccines present to the society. Estimates have shown that vaccinations prevent very close to 6 million deaths each year. In the Unites States alone, there has been a 99% decline in these health problems the vaccinations against which have been widely recommended.
In addition to the benefits that the users of vaccines have for the society and in the prevention of some of the preventable diseases, the use of these vaccines is especially advantageous for the young children. These vaccines could protect the young children from
serious illnesses and complications of these ailments. These vaccines could prevent complications that may include consequences like the amputation of arms or the legs, limb paralysis, hearing loss, and sometimes even serious outcomes like brain damage and death. Also, there is still a number of diseases that even though are preventable but could still prove as threats for these young ones and protection against these ailments could be possible only the use of vaccinations for these health problems. The most significant drawback of not getting vaccinated is that these children who are more prone to preventable illnesses could also spread these viruses to other children around them and cause the spread of a disease that could affect a huge part of society.
Reasons why vaccines could be unsafe
The greatest risk that we seem to be playing with when it comes to the use of vaccines involves the fact that the pharmaceutical companies have proven in the past few years that they cannot be trusted. They have been misrepresenting health information with the intent of earning profits and one example of this over the past few years has been the use of hormonal replacement therapy for women who are going through menopause. These women were administered the treatment with the promises of reduces the risk of heart attacks and of cancer. The reality, however, reflected figures that pointed in completely opposite direction of the claims that these companies were promising. Research studies that were carried out later showed that women who were getting the hormone replacement therapy were increasing their chances of breast cancer by close to double, the risk of strokes had increased by 41 percent, and the likelihood of heart attacks went up by 29 percent.
Another health risk is evident in the fact that these vaccines are mostly laden with strong and sometimes harmful chemicals which many parents may be worried about having injected into their child’s body. The alternative fact that points towards the dangers of vaccines are the reaction of other countries on the matter and the consequences of the choices that they later made. Through the year 1975, Japan raised the minimum age of the children to whom these vaccinations could be administered to 2 years and following this decision, the infant mortality rate of the country declined to considerably low levels. The move was of such benefit that now; Japan’s infant mortality rate is the third lowest in the world. For the purpose of comparison, US ranks number 33 in terms of its infant mortality rates. There have also come out more than a few vaccines that have shown very harmful results and for this reason, have been discontinued. So our track record in this respect is not exactly squeaky clean.
Expressing an opinion
There was once a time when diseases like measles, small pox, cholera and many others were claiming the lives of thousands of children in the world. Today, fortunately, we have defeated many of these diseases to the point of extinction, and they are no longer as big of a concern as they used to be a long time from now. Immunizations could also save the time as well as the money because it could protect from a number of problems that might later demand hospitalization and also a lot of pain. All of these benefits say that vaccines actually do protect from disease, and it may be worth our time and money to have our children immunized.
But like we discussed earlier, there are also a number of worries that come with getting immunized. People have often complained about having allergic reactions to these vaccines which have been seen to result in rashes and itching and sometimes, there could even be swelling of the injection site. These injections are also likely to cause more severe allergies that mostly manifest in a matter of minutes following the injection of the vaccine and person might, in this case, face difficulty breathing, and sometimes even in collapse.
With all of these factors, making a choice for all of the parents is not a reasonable way out, and this is why the discretion of this choice should only be left to these parents. What we can however do is we can provide them with all the information that is necessary for reaching a reasonable decision. These parents should be made aware of both sides of the story before they can make a decision for their children. There is no denying the fact that no other person in the world could make a better decision for the children compared to the parents themselves.
Conclusion
We have been able to eradicate smallpox completely, and we could make such optimistic progress in the future as well. The problem, however, is that when making that choice, we would be depriving the parents of applying for exceptions of vaccinations for their children, and this would not be fair to those who have genuine reasons not to get their children immunized. We could, however, succeed a little better at elimination or eradication of a number of health problems if we can prove to the parents that getting vaccinated is better than getting treatment for the disease. What could help even further would be for the companies to be a little more transparent regarding the risks of vaccinations so that the practice could be trusted a little more and the fear that many parents have could be dealt with at least to some extent.
List of References
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NHS Choices. (2014, April 04). Benefits and risks of vaccination. Retrieved from NHS Choices: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/pages/benefits-and-risks.aspx
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vaccineinformation.org. (2016, March 06). Vaccine Basics. Retrieved from Vaccine Information: http://www.vaccineinformation.org/vaccines-save-lives/
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