Argumentative Essay on Vaccines: A Global Phenomenon Free Essay Example

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The Controversy Surrounding Child Vaccination

Child vaccination has been a major current topic of controversy. The main causes of parent refusal of vaccines are negative risks that are supposedly tied to child vaccinations; these potential risks connected with child vaccination are often common misconceptions. Vaccines have been proven to save the lives of our children while still being completely effective and safe, with the quantity of ingredients used; vaccines also prevent future potential outbreaks of deadly infectious diseases of younger generations.

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“ Argumentative Essay on Vaccines: A Global Phenomenon ”

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The creation of the smallpox vaccine in 1796 created a global phenomenon in present times. This introduction of vaccines, dating back as far as over two centuries ago, gave people the first ever available opportunity to potentially prevent deadly infectious diseases for themselves and their children.

Although throughout the years vaccines have scientifically proven their effectiveness, parents still hesitate to vaccinate their children. With that being said, a parent's main concern involving the vaccination of their children is if the potential serious and sometimes fatal side effects are worth the risk.

Thus causing various amounts of controversy over the effectiveness, safety, risks, ethics, and morality of vaccines. Aside from all the negative controversy, discussions have been made pertaining to whether there should be federal laws mandating vaccinations for adolescents. Although self-explanatory, the benefits that come from vaccination are tremendous. Vaccines alone have not only kept our beloved children healthy, but have saved the lives of millions since they were first introduced, back in the 1790s. Most vaccines that are distributed out to children are proven to be approximately 90-99% effective when preventing diseases.

While the results of an effective vaccination is not a 100% guaranteed, if a child who had received proper vaccination were to get the targeted disease, their symptoms are known to be less serious opposed to a child who hadn't been vaccinated at all.

Understanding the Science Behind Vaccines

Vaccines keep our children healthy by introducing certain molecules from the pathogen (the disease) into their immune system in hopes of triggering somewhat of an immune response within the body itself. Vaccines are basically attempting to train your immune system to recognize these pathogens and fight them off. The molecules from the targeted pathogen are primarily inserted within the body to build a stronger sense of immunity for our children's developing immune system. The immunity created by a vaccine is the body’s natural defense when fighting disease and infection. All in all immunisation protects us, our families, and our communities. All ingredients found within vaccines play a vital role when helping build a strong immune system for your child. Formaldehyde, thimerosal, and aluminum, are ingredients often found in vaccines, although threatening to our bodies in large quantities when microdosed for the usage in vaccines, there's no harm to children. Doctor Paul Offit stated that children are often exposed to more hazardous and life threatening bacteria & viruses through normal daily activity than through the act of vaccination. In fact, when mothers breastfeed their children, it has been proven that children are exposed to larger quantities of aluminum by the intake of breastmilk and infant formula than by vaccination. Each ingredient within a vaccine either play a crucial role in making the vaccine, triggering the immune system when helping build immunity, or just simply ensuring that the final result of the vaccine is not only safe but effective.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) prioritizes the safety of vaccines by running multiple test trials for each vaccine before released for public use. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires all vaccines to go through a strict & thorough process before administering new vaccines. Vaccines must be tested and tried for a minimum of 10 years+ before they are licensed, after they are rigorously monitored by not only the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for safety reasonings. After all the testing and trials done for a single vaccine, there should be no questioning whether if it is safe for your child or not. Each of the ingredients used within vaccines work hand in hand in order to trigger your child's immune system into developing immunity against diseases. Without the proper vaccination of children there would be potential global outbreaks of infectious diseases that are prone to children, such as measles. Children must be vaccinated in order to have a sense of immunity against infectious diseases. Vaccines completely protect children in situations of potential outbreaks. Due to new advanced medicine, future and younger generations can be protected against more infectious diseases than ever before. Diseases that once affected or took the lives of many children are no longer common within the United States due to proper vaccination. For example, smallpox, once took the lives of every 3 out of 10 infected.

In present times the smallpox vaccination eliminated the disease globally. If every child in the United States were to be properly vaccinated there would be a substantial decline in infectious disease among children around the country, resulting in a healthy generation. Critics on vaccination tend to drill on the point that vaccines aren't proven to be 100% effective, so does this mean that natural immunity might be the better and safer alternative. Vaccines although not 100% effective they highly decreases your child's chance of contractioning the given disease. When I say this I mean that when your baby is first born their immune system is weak and not fully developed which ultimately puts them at greater risk for contracting infections. Some infections that are prone to children may be fatal and sometimes deadly, thus the positive benefits subsequent from a vaccination should be taken advantage for the well being of your child's health. Critics also tend to dramatize the point that children's immune systems are often too young and vulnerable to receive vaccination, and that vaccines may be too “overwhelming” for their premature immune systems. Thus affecting the decision on a child's parent or caregiver. Multiple studies have been done by major medical organizations to guarantee vaccination safety for children. A child is immediately vaccinated with its first dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine at birth. As the child grows older the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends and encourages that your infant receive a given number of other vaccines at as little as 12 months of age.

Although vaccines are distributed frequently among children at varying premature ages, there has been no proven data that it has a negative effect on their developing immune system. Vaccines were primarily created to help strengthen your children's growing immune system from a relatively young age in order to better their health. Ultimately since there has never been a direct study or evidence proving that vaccines may be “overwhelming” for a child's developing immune system, thus making the critics point unreliable. Critics often bring up the fact that since vaccination has improved and even eradicated some diseases that what's the point of making our children get vaccinated anymore.These types of common misconceptions caused by critics of children vaccination will be the sole reason of a potential global deadly infectious disease outbreak within the younger generation. On a daily basis new discoveries of disease outbreaks around the world are being reported, including within the United States. Disease that have thought to be eliminated by vaccines are making a comeback worldwide due to the fact that people are being vaccinated as they once were. If critics continue to drill this into the minds of parents we will have a global outbreak of an infectious disease.