Vaccines: Risk Vs. Benefit

Hailey Williams

Professor Leslie Michael

English 101; 9:00 AM

October 22 2015

Essay #2- Word Count: 972

Vaccines: Risk vs. Benefit

        By the time a child reaches the age of 18, they should have received 69 doses of 16 different vaccines. A few of the diseases covered by these vaccines are Measles, Mumps, Chicken Pox, Polio, HPV, and Meningitis- all of which are contagious and extremely dangerous. In recent years, in television and articles, there has been an epidemic of parents/caregivers who believe vaccines should be a family’s choice. I believe along with that choice, the family choosing to not vaccinate should be quarantined from the remainder of the population. With the rise of technology and the influence of celebrities, such as Jenny McCarthy, parents are losing the bigger picture. The very people who are in control of protecting children, are putting them at risk for life altering, and life threatening diseases. The Center for Disease Control is not the enemy: These debunked myths that vaccines shouldn’t be given to children are.

        In today’s society, it is very unlikely to stumble across a case of polio, and there is one simple reason for that: Vaccinations. Polio is one of the first vaccinations children receive. According to St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, polio causes paralysis and death. I find it extremely reasonable to protect children against such a dangerous disease. One argument is why are we vaccinating against diseases that are so uncommon. In comparison, the same argument could be made, that if airplane mechanics do proper maintenance, then why do we have air masks, floatation devices, and a safety briefing at the beginning of each flight. All it takes is one time. It would take one child contracting polio, to start an epidemic if we were not vaccination children any longer. Giving parent’s, who have the emotional tie to the children, the option to choose something so serious, could be detrimental to the entire population. Children would no longer be missing school because of the common cold. Children would begin contracting polio, measles, mumps, rubella— which all take more than a week to recover from. One example of a wide spread cease of vaccination is the 1979 case of over 13,000 people catching whooping cough. Just 4 years earlier, Japan had vaccinated about 80% of their children and had no reported deaths resulting from pertussis. Suddenly rumors arose, that pertussis was no longer a threat and a drop in pertussis vaccinations became obvious. In 1976, only 10% of Japanese infants were being vaccinated for whooping cough. This cease of vaccinations resulted in 41 deaths.  Until a specific disease is completely killed off, everyone should be protected.

        Unfortunately our society is now based on modeling our lives off of celebrities. Jenny McCarthy, though in my opinion is a very great actress, is no medical professional. McCarthy’s anti-vaccination campaign is almost as crazy as Kanye West campaigning for presidency. Its two different worlds. It all began with her son, who is autistic. Autism, by definition from the Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health, is a complex developmental disorder distinguished by difficulties with social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and behavioral problems. One out of every hundred children in the United States are affected by this disorder. Coming from a family with an autistic brother, I understand the want for answers. McCarthy did her “research” and came to the conclusion that vaccinations caused her son’s disorder. There was one single study in England in 1998 that did claim there was a link between autism and vaccinations. Dr. Andrew Wakefield was the physician/researcher behind the project, but was stripped of his medical license due to false data in the research. So basically, the only study she could find was retracted, and had no actual basis. McCarthy appeared on countless shows, made a number of appearances on her book tour, convincing parents that vaccines were not safe and were causing more harm than good. As of May 9,2015, the number of deaths that could have been prevented by vaccines is at 9,020 and the number of preventable illnesses is at almost 150,000. These statistics arise the question: Do we really live in a society that fears autism more than deadly diseases? While McCarthy and other celebrities are partially to blame for the epidemic of ceasing vaccinations, parents should be educating themselves with medical professionals. Anti-vaccine campaigners also like to use the argument that with the increase of vaccinations, there has been an increase of autism. The actuality is that researchers and physicians are just finding more disorders on the autism spectrum. While it is true that a majority of these children have been vaccinated, there is also the other 99 out of 100 children who were vaccinated and show absolutely no sign of autism or any autism spectrum disorders (ASD).  While people that live with autism or ASD do lead somewhat challenging lives, it is not life threatening. With assistance, and appropriate treatments, the symptoms can improve and they can lead a fulfilling life.