The Trouble of Vaccines

More than 3 million people die from vaccine-preventable diseases each year. Approximately 1.5 million of these deaths are in children less than 5 years old (Children's). Those children never had a choice in their parents decision. These children were never able to make a difference in the world.They weren't even old enough to learn how to ride a bike. Their parents decided for them to not listen to the doctor and not vaccinate them. Vaccines are small injections of a substance. Then the immune system learns how to fight off the disease. So that when you are infected you're body knows how to fight back. Without Vaccines, children wouldn't be introduced to the disease until it's too late and they are already infected and unable to fight back. CDC spokespeople have come out and said that vaccines are the most effective protection against most diseases caused by viruses, because antibiotics do not work against such infections (Immunization). Antibiotics do not work on the viruses, such as a cold and flu, because they are changing and evolving all the time. When a child is infected with a disease the only thing you can do for them is wait and give them plenty of fluids. These infections usually last 7 to 10 days of suffering that could have been easily prevented. While it can be against some religious beliefs , vaccines should be mandatory for everyone in the United States because it is necessary to keep infection rates low, it saves time, money, and lives, and it is the safest way to get everyone immunized.

        First, vaccines should be mandatory for everyone because it is necessary to keep vaccinating so the diseases don't have a chance of coming back. Ordinary people will hear of a virus being eradicated in the united states and think that they do not need a vaccine because it will never come back, but this mentality is very wrong. Vaccines for certain diseases will always be a necessity. Just because it is wiped out in America does not mean that it is wiped out in a different country  (U.S. vaccines protect).  Diseases have the ability of traveling across borders because of the increase of international trade and global travel. People are introducing new diseases to the countries that they are visiting. Epidemics and pandemics are becoming a worldwide danger because these countries are not able to combat the disease (Issue). When a patient is emitted into the hospital and the doctors are trying to diagnose them, one of the background history questions is, have you been to a foreign country lately. They ask this because they know that not every country in vaccinated for everything that we are. If an american is not vaccinated for a disease that is no longer a threat to the US, they could be infected once they travel internationally to a country with the disease. Against popular belief, the polio disease has not been completely eradicated. Because parents think it has, they choose not to vaccinate against polio to try to get rid of at least one shot for their babies.  If parents stopped vaccinating their children for the polio vaccine then they risk making their child susceptible to polio. Polio is a virus that can lead to walking disabilities and even death (Centers). It is still a prevalent disease in 4 countries around the world and if those people travel then they will spread it to the people who are not vaccinated.

Another reason why they are necessary is because by getting a vaccine people are contributing to community immunity. This is when enough people get a vaccine that it helps protect the others that are unable to get an immunization (U.S. vaccines protect). Some people with immune deficiency diseases are unable to receive certain immunizations, but because of community immunity they will not have to worry about an outbreak. Some people think that because of community immunity that they do not need to get a vaccine because they figure everyone else will protect them. But this is simply not true, if everyone had the same mentality then community immunity would not work and those people will the immune deficiency would be at a much greater risk of becoming infected.

        Additionally, vaccines can save parents time, money, and their children's lives. Each year, about 85 percent of the world's children receive vaccines that protect them against tuberculosis, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and measles. These vaccines save about 2.5 million lives (Children's). By giving these children their vaccines, it is preventing then from becoming infected and is helping the other non immunized children because the illness never has a chance of surviving in a community of protected people. Without these vaccines, a child could be more susceptible to becoming ill because their immune systems are so weak. They do not know how to fight anything off, but with a little help from vaccines their bodies will make their own antibodies and be able to recognize certain diseases and know how to fight them off. Before the vaccine for measles was released just about every American was diagnosed with measles. Once someone was infected with the disease they would most likely contract other illness such as ear infections, pneumonia, or diarrhea that can lead to a quicker death (Centers). Measles were a very common thing back then compared to know and it had very high death rate. The start of vaccines really changed the illness rate of measles. With the introduction of MMR in 1988 the infection rate went plummeting from up to half a million children to near zero. (Darzi).

Vaccines could have the potential of saving millions of women's lives also. Human papillomavirus is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases. It affects around 20 million Americans. Most cases go unnoticed but some cases report genital warts and even certain cancers. The most prevalent related disease to HPV is cervical cancer, which kills nearly 4,000 women each year in the united states (HPV Vaccine). A lot of times no one knows that they have HPV so they are having unprotected sex and giving it to other people and can result in fatal cancers.  I see what cervical cancer can do, says Maurie Markman, the vice president for clinical research at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. I see the pain, The suffering the importance of preventing it I can't possibly overstate(HPV Vaccine). Markman is saying that HPV should always be prevented because it can cause so much hardship in a person's life and one of those ways is to get the vaccination. However, Some people argue that because the HPV vaccine helps prevent a common STD then girls will consider that a licenses to have premarital sex. But this is simply not true. It is like saying that if you give a child a tetanus shot then they will run around on nails barefoot (HPV Vaccines). Just because a person in vaccinated for something does not mean they will run wild with it because there are still other STD they can contract.  Also these women may not be having the unprotected sex willingly. Studies show that thirteen percent of all women in the U.S. will be sexually assaulted. So a women who is sexually absent could be assaulted and contract HPV (HPV Vaccines). These women who are being sexually assaulted are already going through one nightmare and the HPV Vaccine can help prevent another.

        Vaccines are not just saving a patient's life, they also save children and their parents time and money. Without an immunization a child could get sick from the germs at a school which would cost then time learning and their parents time at work because they would have to stay home to care for them. The child and parent would then have to travel to the doctors office, pay a copay, pay for the recommended medication, and miss out on a whole day of work and school. However, with a vaccination the child would have never gotten sick and never miss out on valuable school time (Vaccines for kids). It is way easier to go to the doctor for a quick shot then to have to go every single time you become ill from an easily preventable illness. It costs about $50 to fully immunize a child in the developing world against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, polio, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Children's). Whereas, a copay with insurance can be upwards towards $40. You are getting the best bang for your buck by getting immunizations because with them you won't have to pay the copay because you have little chance of becoming sick.

Cite this page