Vaccinations

Herlyn Malinay

ENGL 1302

Dr. Pearman

7 December 2016

Vaccination

        With the ongoing debate about vaccines, I think it’s essential to know as much pertinent information about vaccines as possible.  Immunizations are the most effective way to reduce

incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases. (Groom, Hopkins). With the growing world and more technological findings of diseases, I propose that it is very important for parents to vaccinate their child on a regularly scheduled basis as well as adults. There are numerous findings on how vaccines have evolved to help maintain herd immunity and eradicated certain viruses and disease. I feel that parents need to be more informed by their physicians about vaccines so they won’t feel so hesitant. Vaccines have made its way into history dating back in the late 18th century by Dr. Edward Jenner. He tested his hypothesis by taking pus from a milkmaid with cowpox disease and inoculated it on a little boy. His projected hypothesis was a success and he coined his the first knowledgeable vaccine. The first large smallpox eradication effort was launched in 1950 with the goal of eliminating smallpox in the Americas. In 1958, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution calling for the global eradication of smallpox. (Belongia, Naleway). The many successes of these scientists have evolved and now there is access to many vaccines for preventative care. If we knew that vaccines can save lives, then why are there outbreaks mentioned out there? There are many people that don’t believe in vaccines or are vaccine hesitant. That is why vaccinations have been a lifelong controversy. I will introduce what vaccines are and the reasons to why people, especially children should receive them.

        Some of the reasons why people are hesitant about vaccines is because they don’t understand how they work. When germs invade the body they multiply and are called infection. Our body carries red blood cells and white blood cells. White blood cells fight off infection. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and CDC states that we have white blood cells called T-lymphocytes which are called memory cells that go into action quickly if the body encounters the same germ again (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)  Vaccines works the same way. They imitate an infection to create memory cells just in case the body encounters that infection again. With vaccines, they do not cause an illness, but they can cause certain common symptoms such as fever and body aches. There are many type of vaccines that can be given. The live-attenuated vaccines fight off infection such as MMR and varicella. Inactivated vaccines also fight off infection. An example of this is the inactivated polio vaccine. Toxoid vaccines prevent disease caused by bacteria that produce poisonous toxins in the body. Subunit vaccines are partial vaccines that include part of the virus such as the pertussis vaccine is part of the DTaP vaccine. It comes to my attention that most parents are hesitant or opt of vaccines because vaccines require more than one dose and know many parents who say that it is a system overload for their child. For some vaccines, primarily live vaccines, studies have shown that more than one dose is needed for everyone to develop the best immune response.  (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases). My advice to parents, especially new parents is to read, be educated, and ask questions about vaccines. It can ultimately save your child’s life.