Second Rs Essay

Running head: ANTI-VAXXERS 1

Anti-Vaxxers: A Threat to National Health Ashlynn Booth Allen Community College

ANTI-VAXXERS

2 Anti-Vaxxers: A Threat to National Health

“The Center for Disease Control (CDC) defines vaccination as the injection of weak disease-causing agents that help the body develop immunity against specific infectious diseases” (Vidula, 2017, p. 491). Vaccinations are crucial to keeping the nation free from an outbreak of many infectious diseases. In the recent past, as an increasing number of false claims against the benefits of vaccinations have arisen, parents have opted out from getting their children vaccinated; these parents—and others against immunizations—are known as ‘anti-vaxxers.’ As more and more American parents choose not to immunize their children, they are singlehandedly bringing back the epidemic of deadly, infectious diseases. Vaccinations are an amazing, lifesaving invention that almost singlehandedly stopped the spread of infectious diseases. Interestingly enough, they have been described as one of the “10 great public health achievements” by the CDC (Haberman, 2017, p. 484). However, in recent years, parents have begun to refuse immunizations for their children, causing many previously thought extinct diseases to reappear into the U.S. Additionally, health professionals agree that the reappearances of infectious diseases are a direct result of anti-vaxxers refusing to immunize their children (Haberman, 2017, p. 483). The increased chance of getting a disease does not scare many parents, but it should. Haberman (2017) stated that “in 2014, there were 644 cases [of measles] in 27 states,” which powerfully shows the direct effect of non-vaccinated children on society (p. 483). In fact, “the CDC predicted that if people did not receive the MMR [measles, mumps, and rubella] vaccination, 2.7 million individuals would die from measles every year” (Vidula, 2017, p. 439). An additional fact to really help show the importance of vaccinations is that “95% of a population has to be vaccinated to efficiently protect a community;” otherwise,

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“90% of people who come into contact with a disease will contract it” (Haberman, 2017, p. 483) (Carson, 2017 p. 502). Although parents who chose to not vaccinate their children do it because they think that they are helping them; parents are not fully aware of the fact that they are hurting the children more than helping them. They are choosing to put the children in a world where public health is not a given thing. The reason that many parents began to choose not to vaccinate their children is because of a British doctor, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, who published “bunk” findings in 1998 correlating the MMR vaccine and autism (Haberman, 2017, p. 483). Even though many people know that those findings have been proven wrong, and that his medical license has been taken away, they still believe that immunizations cause autism. There are thousands of parents in the U.S. who genuinely believe that vaccinations will hurt their child, but that is because Wakefield’s fake study is not the only thing that worries parents. There have been many more studies that try to claim the harmfulness of immunizations. This “harmfulness” comes from a mercury compound, thimerosal, which is used to preserve vaccinations (Vidula, 2017, p. 494). These studies led by Levitsky (2004) found that “at high exposures, mercury may ‘cause neurological damage, the presence of organic mercury in several common vaccines aroused particular concern’” (Vidula, 2017, p. 494). These false studies have destroyed the credibility of vaccinations. Although the majority of parents still get their children vaccinated, because of these studies, more and more parents every year choose not to get their children their shots, which will cause an epidemic of deadly, infectious diseases, similar to a world before vaccinations. Besides health related reasons, there are many other reasons that parents are voting against immunizations, and they are considerably selfish. Even the slightest thought of going

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without shots should be punishable by a fine or some consequence just because of the pure selfishness and dangerousness of it—unless there is a legitimate reason. According to Ben Carson (2017) all U.S. schools have vaccination requirements because a personal decision should not affect other people (p. 502, 503). Besides the bunk studies that ‘showed’ the danger of immunizations, there are social reasons, too. Most importantly, religion plays a giant role in the choice against vaccinations: “since vaccinations are against their religious beliefs, Christian Scientists often file for religious exemptions from compulsory immunizations” (Vidula. 2017, p. 496). Others believe that their individual and family rights take precedence over their “social responsibly to public health,” believing that it is unreasonable to risk their children’s lives for the sake of public health; additionally they believe the concept of “herd immunity,” which is the belief that if enough of a population is vaccinated, then there is no chance for an outbreak (Vidula, 2017, p. 496, 497). Anti-vaxxers have started an unnecessary war between the people and the health industry, targeting a very useful health tool. Consequently, many pediatricians and family doctors refuse to see patients who have not gotten vaccinated or do not plan to get vaccinated (Saunders, 2017, p. 504). Over the past couple of decades, parents have begun to not get their children vaccinated, which will directly result in deadly, infectious diseases becoming a threat to public health in today’s world. Parents have been choosing against vaccinations for many reasons, most of which are false accusations. The main reasons are because of false health studies that were published about 20 years ago. One of these studies link the MMR vaccine to autism and another links a preserving agent, thimerosal, to neurological damage. Both of these were found inaccurate and their authors were stripped of their medical license. Other nonmedical reasons include religious beliefs and the fact of selfishness. American parents need to realize the immense amount of

ANTI-VAXXERS danger that is caused by not vaccinating their children. Immunizations should be a requirement for all newborn babies, unless there is a medical reason which does not allow the child to get their shots.

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6 References

Carson, B. (2017). Vaccinations are for the good of the nation. In Kirszner, L. G. & Mandell, S. R. (Eds.), Practical argument: A text and anthology (502-503). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. Haberman, C. (2017). A discredited vaccine study’s continuing impact on public health. In Kirszner, L. G. & Mandell, S. R. (Eds.), Practical argument: A text and anthology (483485). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. Saunders, R. (2017). Pediatrician: vaccinate your kids—or get out of my office. In Kirszner, L. G. & Mandell, S. R. (Eds.), Practical argument: A text and anthology (504-506). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. Vidula, M. (2017). Individual rights vs. public health: the vaccination debate. In Kirszner, L. G. & Mandell, S. R. (Eds.), Practical argument: A text and anthology (491-501). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.