Ever since the 18th century humans have safely and effectively protected people from diseases through the use of vaccines. Back then, vaccinations were considered a miracle whereas today they have caused a lot of controversy and are seen by some as a curse. Some people think vaccines are beneficial and necessary to prevent deaths. Others think vaccines are the worst possible thing to put into someone’s body. Among parents/people’s biggest fears is the possible link between vaccines and other dangerous side effects or developmental problems.
Additionally, while the adjuvants used in vaccines may improve immunity they may also create other health concerns and problems. There is also safety concerns about the long term problems with putting something foreign in people’s bodies and all these things put together has created what we have come to know as the vaccine debate. Diseases have been around for as long as humans, and even before. Back in 400 BC, Hippocrates, the father of medicine, described diseases that are common to us now.
Before vaccines were created people tried a method of variolation to try and immunize people against smallpox by trying to infect people with a mild case of smallpox and hoping they become immune. We have come leaps and bounds from variolation, and have a safer, more reliable way of immunizing, and that is through vaccinating. Vaccines have proven to be generally reliable, but as all humans do, we became suspicious. In the history of vaccinations, there has only been a few recalls to date and they were handled before people saw the effects of the product.
The most recent recall was in 2013 and it was a recall of the vaccine Gardasil, which is used to prevent HPV. “The company had concerns that a small number of vials might have contained glass particles due to breakage. No health problems were reported relating to this recall other than known side effects that can result from any vaccination, like arm redness and soreness where the shot was given” (CDC par. 1). Although there was a recall it was caught by the company before anyone was affected. Parents are concerned about giving young children that many shots in the first years, even months of their lives.
We are led to believe that vaccines are safe to give because all vaccines must go through extensive testing by the Federal Drug Administration. According to the Department of Health and Human services, vaccines must be deemed safe in order to be considered “A vaccine must go through extensive testing to show that it works and that it is safe before the FDA will approve it. Among these tests are clinical trials, which compare groups of people who get a vaccine with groups of people who get a “control” (e. g, either a different vaccine or placebo). A vaccine is approved only if FDA determines that it is safe and effective for its intended use. (HHS par. 4).
People choose not to vaccinate themselves and even their children for a number of reasons, making the susceptible to some very fatal diseases. Vaccinating is supported by most doctors, pharmaceutical companies, and even the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention. Currently there are no laws making it mandatory to be vaccinated, however in order to enroll children in public schools they need to be up to date on their vaccinations. In some cases there are medical, religious, and sometimes even philosophical exemptions to having to be vaccinated.
In Maine we have seen in the recent past a case where a child was taken into custody by the Department of Health and Human Services and vaccinated against his parents’ wishes. An article in the Bangor Daily News says “The mother refused to vaccinate the child… and denied him antibiotics” (Farwell par. 1). All but one of the judges in this case said it was constitutional to make sure the child got his immunizations, and even ordered that the mother makes sure he seeks medical attention for the rest of immunizations before he would be returned into her custody.
Although it is not illegal for parents to refuse vaccinations for their children, if the child is not getting the vaccinations and medical treatment necessary to be healthy the state can step in, and it would be considered constitutional regardless of the reasons that the parent decided to opt out of vaccinating their child initially. Vaccinations have been determined to be very important for all people from very young infants to the elderly and all in between. A very popular vaccine for the elderly is the Zostavax vaccine.
It helps prevents shingles which can cause a painful rash all over people’s bodies. As you age the risk of getting shingles, and having long term pain from it increases as you get older. It is recommended that by at least age 60 you should have gotten vaccinated from shingles, and there is no maximum age to get vaccinated. You only need to be vaccinated once and it could prevent a lot of pain and suffering. An article written by Meg Haskell, published in the Bangor Daily News informs the older public what vaccines they should consider, “With only a few exceptions, the basic guidelines from the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and prevention include an annual flu shot for all adults, a vaccine against shingles at age 60 or older and a twopart vaccine against pneumococcal disease at age 65 or older” (Haskell par. 2).
The vaccination rates in Maine have been bad for adults and children alike. An article written by Kevin Miller for the Portland Press Herald states “Maine has the eighth-highest opt-out rate among the 45 states represented in the CDC data” (Miller par. 2) Vaccinating is important for people of all ages and all walks of life. Although vaccines have proven to be safe, people still have their concerns.
One of the concerns that has arisen throughout the years is the link between Autism and vaccines. Some of the ingredients of the vaccines seem to have some rather questionable ingredients, one of which being thimerosal. Thimerosal is used as a preservative in vaccines, which prevents germs and bacteria from growing in the vaccine, if there was bacteria in the vaccine it could cause illness and could even cause death. People are worried about thimerosal because it has mercury in it, however the CDC says we should not worry, “Some types of mercury, like mercury in some kinds of fish, stay in the human body and can make people sick.
Thimerosal is a different kind of mercury. It doesn’t stay in the body, and is unlikely to make us sick” (CDC par. 2. ) It has been proved to be safe, and throughout much testing there has been no link between thimerosal and autism. As of 2001 thimerosal has been removed from all childhood vaccines except from the flu vaccination, however upon request there is doses with no thimerosal if that is a concern. Another concern people have is the adding of adjuvants to vaccines. Adjuvants are used to ensure that the body creates an immunity to the disease. Some of the adjuvants put into vaccines in the United States contain aluminium.
Aluminium is found naturally in air, water, and in our food, however the addition of adjuvants into vaccines has people concerned. Some people think that a good reason not to vaccinate is because people have their own, natural ways of immunizing themselves. Dr. Kurt Perkins wrote an article for Health Impact News explaining why he would never vaccinate any of his children, and this was one of his arguments, ‘With building immunity, it’s a natural process. With that natural process, your body uses many defenses. The first layer of defense is your skin. You also have a respiratory system that also aids in defense.
You cough, you sneeze, and you blow your nose in attempt to expel the potential invader. ” (Perkins par. 2). Although Dr. Perkins is correct immunizing goes far beyond just what your body can do for you. When Polio first showed up all kinds of people all ages, all backgrounds were at serious risk of contracting it, because their bodies were not immune and they could not create immunization from Polio naturally. Even though many government agencies, doctors, pharmacists, and average people urge others to vaccinate, some are still very much against it, whatever their reasons may be.
With the exception of a few problems in the past vaccines are very safe, and would not be on the market if they were harmful. If there has ever been a problem with a vaccine, we have grown as a nation, and even a world and learned from the mistake. We have the technology to protect people from all types of things, but those who refuse to vaccinate are putting the rest of us at risk. Vaccines have been around in one form or another for a very long time and we still use them to this day, that should say something about the importance of vaccinating, and urging everyone around to get vaccinated as well.