Vaccinations are Beneficial to Society
Vaccinations have become a heated topic in the United States because there are different groups and their opinions on whether vaccines are good or bad. Like with all the other technological advances in medicine there are risks. People are different genetically and respond differently. People have to decide if they want to vaccinate for themselves and their children or to take the risks and not vaccinate. Stated by the CDC on the Measles Vaccination, “ One dose of MMR is about 93% effective at preventing measles when exposed to the virus, and two doses are about 97% effective." The measles are still common in other countries and it is a contagious disease in third world countries. With all the traveling done around the world, disease has the potential of spreading quickly. For example, the recent outbreak in California, there are growing numbers of people contracting the measles. Studies have shown by the CDC that 45% of the patients who contracted the disease were not vaccinated. There is a greater to risk to disease when not vaccinating than actually vaccinating.
There are two states in the U.S. who are not having the measles outbreaks, West Virginia and Mississippi. An article in Newsweek by Amy Maxman identified that both states have laws that require children entering Kindergarten have to receive their vaccinations before being aloud to go to school even if the parents have different personal or spiritual beliefs. Not like other states that still have cases of contagious (preventable) diseases. This is beneficial to everyone, through herd immunity. If majority of the population is vaccinated, then hopefully those who aren’t vaccinated or too weak to become vaccinated are protected.
Vaccinations protect those who have weak immune systems and don’t have the ability to get them. Like a baby or a small child with a compromised immune and one simple cold could kill them.
With less people getting vaccinated. There are holes in the community immunity. As seen with the recent outbreaks, if we don’t get an handle on this now, there could be more problems in disease spreading and risks where vaccinations won’t work anymore
There are going to be risks to vaccinations. People are differently genetically and scientists can’t tell which person will have the reaction and the one that won’t. That doesn’t mean people have to risk other people lives and their own because of what someone wrote on the Internet. In quoted from The Effects of Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy Theories on Vaccination Intentions :“The Lancet in 1998 concerning a possible link between the MMR vaccination and the appearance of autism”. It has since sparked a theory that all vaccinations will cause autism. That is not the case and since then the article was retracted and the research done by the author was discredited. However, there are still people who believe vaccinations cause autism.
Alex Newman and Rebecca Terrell suggested that the MMR shot is causing more deaths and sanitation has brought the numbers of cases of the Measles down. While sanitation is helping to prevent disease, vaccinations is still the major reason to why disease is lower in the U.S. than in third world countries (where people do not have access to modern medicine).
The benefits do outweigh the risks of vaccination. There is a greater chance of survival through childhood than the children who do not get vaccinated. As pointed out, there are cases of adverse reactions to vaccines. There are going to complications with anything in modern medicine. But people need to look at the bigger picture. There are less deaths when people are getting vaccinated than people who are not getting vaccinated.
