8294141

Ms. Hammersley
AP English III
29 April 2015
Vaccines: Beneficial to Everyone
Since 1885, when Louis Pasteur created the first vaccine, vaccines have saved the lives of
millions of people from many once common and deadly diseases. Mandatory vaccines have always been
a controversial issue; it was the central issue in court cases such as Jacobson v. Massachusetts and Zucht
v. King. Doctors and pharmacists all recommend children receive their full vaccination schedule as
vaccines are essential in preventing diseases that can be fatal for children. Nevertheless, because of
various outside influences, many parents believe that vaccines are harmful to their children, and thus
choose not to vaccinate them. Contrary to those beliefs, vaccinations are extremely beneficial to
public health and should be mandatory for all children.
Before the anti-vaccine movement, generally most children were vaccinated against deadly
diseases such as measles. Such diseases affected hundreds of thousands of people, killing hundreds.
According to Centers for Disease Control [CDC], before 1963 (when the measles vaccine became
available for public use) there were more than 500,000 reported measles cases (qtd. in Siegel). This
demonstrates just how many people were affected by the disease and also attests to the success of the
measles vaccine. Measles was virtually eliminated by the year 2000. Millions of children's lives were
saved from this devastating disease due to the effectiveness of the vaccine campaign. Many parents knew
that it was necessary for their children to receive the vaccine in order to protect them. Unfortunately, as
time passed, various influences have made parents skeptical of vaccines.
One factor that has proved detrimental to the pro-vaccine movement is the opinion of different
celebrities who have voiced their concerns about vaccines. These celebrities had no evidence to validate
their concerns and their opinions were quickly rebuked after the release of them. Nevertheless, these
accusations about vaccines are still affecting parents decisions about vaccines. For example, Robert F.

Kennedy Jr. wrote an article in which he argued that the Simpsonwood CDC Conference was spent
discussing how to cover up the damaging data in which recent studies found links between thimerosal
[an ingredient in vaccines] and speech delays, attention-deficit disorder, hyperactivity, and autism (qtd.
in Should Any Vaccines Be Required for Children?). Because of Robert F. Kennedys trustworthiness,
many people believed what he wrote. He had the ethics to be discussing this issue as he was involved in
government; therefore, he should know what government organizations were discussing. Despite the
eventual deletion of the article and an investigation by the US Senate Committee on Health that declared
Kennedys allegations were groundless, many parents are influenced by claims similar to Kennedys.
One particular claim that has been discussed ever since its publication is the claim that the
measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is linked to autism. This claim was made in 1998 by
Andrew Wakefield, M.D. in a UK medical journal, The Lancet. Wakefield claimed that the Rubella
virus is associated with autism and the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine...has also
been implicated (qtd. in Should Any Vaccines Be Required for Children?). This claim is extremely
similar to that of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s claim about the link between an ingredient found in vaccines
and autism. Wakefields allegation was immediately debunked by various investigators such as Brian
Deer, an investigative reporter, who published 36 articles disproving Wakefields claim. Furthermore, the
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality conducted a report that found there was no link between
measles mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines and autism (AHRQ). Eventually, Wakefield was stripped of
his medical license. Nonetheless, many anti-vaxxers (as they are nicknamed) base their arguments on
this claim. A reason that so many people believe this false report is that they wish to find the cause of
autism. When a respectable doctor says that the MMR vaccine is a cause of autism, parents are quick to
renounce vaccines altogether, becoming apprehensive of what other diseases vaccines may cause. As a
result, more and more parents opt out of vaccinating their children.
Despite the efforts of the government to persuade parents to vaccinate their children, many decide
otherwise. This is a result of a distrust of Big Pharma, the multinational pharmaceutical corporations that
manufacture vaccines, as well as the government and science institutions (Parker). Many people believe

that the large pharmaceutical companies purposefully put dangerous chemicals and substances into the
vaccines to make more people sick. The more people that are sick, the more money the corporations will
make. Some skeptics conceive that the government is not telling the public everything that goes into the
vaccines. They also suspect that the government is not telling them all of the dangerous effects of the
vaccines. Claims such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s add fuel to the fire. By telling the public that a trusted
government organization is secretly discussing how to cover up certain findings about vaccines adverse
effects, Kennedy only gave the public another reason to distrust the government. Because of Kennedys
claim about the government, some people, especially parents, will still be suspicious of government
activities when a government organization finds his allegations to be baseless.
Many parents are skeptical of what goes inside vaccines and thus inside their children. The
ingredients found in vaccines (thimerosal, formaldehyde, and aluminum) can be harmful in large
quantities but they are not used in harmful quantities in vaccines. There is more aluminum in breast milk
and infant formula than there is in vaccines (Should Any Vaccines Be Required for Children?). One
reason parents are leery of the ingredients of vaccines is that the ingredients can be harmful in large
quantities. This gives them a reason to label vaccines as extremely dangerous and harmful to their
children. When the pharmaceutical companies, the government and the doctors all attempt to reassure
suspicious parents by telling them the ingredients are not harmful, they still have a strong distrust for the
companies, the government and the doctors. Because of the parents distrust of the doctors and the
government, parents question vaccines when they are told to administer them to their children. The
director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr. Paul Offit said that
children are supposed to receive more than 20 vaccinations during their first few years of life to prevent
disease that most people do not see, using biological fluids most people dont understand (qtd. in
Wallace). Many parents also dont know what the ingredients that go into the vaccines are, thus making
them even more hesitant to administer them to their children. A lack of education about the components
that make up vaccines as well as the vaccines themselves causes parents to become hesitant in
immunizing their children.

Another fear that parents have about vaccines is the possible adverse symptoms that vaccines can
cause. Regarding the symptoms of vaccines, The Vaccine Adverse Events reporting system has received
reports of about 6,000 serious side effects following administration of the MMR vaccine since 1990.
Compare that with the nearly 10 million doses of the MMR vaccine given every year, according to the
CDC (Siegel). These side effects are extremely rare and affect only a small percentage of children. There
have only been 6,000 cases of serious side effects in 25 years. Out of 250 million doses of the vaccine
given out to children, 6,000 of those doses resulted in serious side effects. Based on these statistics, the
likelihood of a person being harmed from a vaccine is extremely unlikely. It is better for parents to protect
their child against a disease that has a higher rate of complications occurring than to protect their child
against a vaccine that protects against such diseases.
Because of vaccines, previous generations along with the current generation have been lucky
enough to not have experienced fatal vaccine-preventable diseases such as polio and measles. William
Shaftner, who chairs the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University, stated, We have
become prisoners of our own success. Nobody knows what measles is. ...The mothers were vaccinated.
They never saw measles. ...The mother is clueless and so the child goes unvaccinated (qtd. in Parker).
Because the parents and the grandparents have never experienced measles firsthand, they do not know of
the terrible effects of the disease. Most of them believe that since they have never had the disease and
they have never known anyone to have had the disease, they feel that it is not an immediate threat to their
child. On the other hand, vaccines are common in everyday life and due to parents knowledge of some
of the adverse symptoms of the vaccines they see vaccines as the real enemy. Rather than protecting their
children from the invisible enemy that are diseases, parents would rather protect their children from the
visible enemy, even if it means exposing them to the diseases. Due to parents lack of a proper education
about vaccine-preventable diseases and the vaccines themselves, they prefer to not believe that they are at
risk for these diseases. By properly teaching parents about these once common diseases, they may realize
that by not giving their children vaccinations, they are putting their children at risk for diseases such as
measles.

Measles, a disease that had been virtually eliminated from the United States, made a comeback in
2014. An outbreak of the diseases started in Californias Disneyland and has spread to 10 other states.
According to the CDC, partially as a result of low measles vaccination rates, measles cases in the U.S.
reached a 20 year high in May 2014 (AHRQ). Despite the fact that the vaccine is not completely perfect
(some of the cases at Disneyland were children who had received the vaccine), if the children would have
received their vaccine, then they would have been less likely to have contracted the disease. The measles
would not have spread as quickly and as far as it did in this case. Furthermore, various serious
complications can arise from measles. One in every twenty children with measles gets pneumonia.
Approximately one in a thousand children will develop encephalitis, which can leave a child deaf or
mentally impaired. One or two in every thousand will die (Anti-vaccine Parents Boost Measles
Comeback: Our View). The consequences of getting vaccine-preventable diseases are far greater than
the rare adverse symptoms of vaccines. The chances of a child dying from measles is one in a thousand,
whereas, the chances of a child dying from a vaccines is one in a million (Anti-vaccine Parents Boost
Measles Comeback; Should Any Vaccines Be Required for Children?). One complication of measles
is that the symptoms are similar to that of influenza and it can take a week or two for an infected person
to experience such symptoms. In addition, measles is extremely contagious. Therefore, someone could
be spreading the disease without being aware of doing so. For the individuals who have received the
MMR vaccine, people who have contracted such diseases would be less of a threat to their health. To the
small percentage of the population that are unable to receive the vaccine due to medical issues, age or
parent refusal, such exposure to vaccine preventable diseases can be life threatening.
Another extremely deadly disease that is vaccine-preventable is pertussis, otherwise known as
whooping cough. It is imperative that parents vaccinate themselves against this disease because children
are unable to be immunized. Infants cannot be vaccinated against whooping cough, so their protection
depends upon the fact that most adults are immunized. However, as more people opt out, whooping
cough infections increase (Bailey). Naturally, as people choose not to be vaccinated against a disease, the
cases of the disease increase. When adults increasingly choose not to vaccinate themselves, they are no

longer just endangering themselves (even though whooping cough is significantly less dangerous to adults
than it is children), they are endangering their own children as well as the children around them. This is
extremely risky because of the fact that children are unable to be vaccinated and the fact that pertussis can
be fatal for infants. Because they do not see the damage and the effects of the diseases, parents are not
very concerned about them.
Ronald Bailey of Reason Magazine stated that ...being intentionally not vaccinated against
highly contagious airborne diseases is...like walking down a street randomly swinging your fists without
warning. You may not hit an innocent bystander, but youve substantially increased the chances
(Bailey). Bailey is saying that even though one may not contract a vaccine-preventable disease and give
it to someone else, the likeliness that it will occur has increased dramatically. It is always more beneficial
to take the safe route rather than risking anyone elses safety because when parents choose not to
vaccinate themselves or their children, they are not only endangering themselves, they are endangering
those that are around them. These people are taking advantage of something called herd immunity.
Herd immunity is essential in that it protects the general public. This immunity protects those
that cannot receive vaccinations such as infants and people with compromised immune systems. Herd
immunity is crucial in safeguarding those select few who cannot receive vaccines. Once this public
immunity is broken down by the parents who choose not to receive vaccines or give vaccines to their
children, the small percentage of people who are unable to receive vaccines are at risk. When the amount
of anti-vaxxers increases, even more people will be at risk. In the parents point of view, they are only
affecting themselves and their children by intentionally not vaccinating. However, they are breaking
down that herd immunity and thus are risking infecting vulnerable people with deadly vaccinepreventable diseases. Parents are increasing the chances of disease outbreaks such as the one that
occurred at Californias DisneyLand.
Furthermore, state laws encourage parents to not vaccinate by allowing them to opt out of
vaccines through refusing vaccinations for their children based on medical, religious or philosophical
reasons. Many parents take advantage of these laws, stating that vaccines violate their philosophical

beliefs, therefore, their children will not be vaccinated. Many states are tightening these loopholes and
putting more restrictions on who can and cannot be exempted from vaccinations. These vaccination laws
should be maintained for medical purposes only. For the states of North Carolina, Ohio, and New York, it
is mandatory for children to be vaccinated in order to go to school (Should Any Vaccines Be Required
for Children?). This should be required in all states in order to protect any children from getting
preventable diseases. For example, if a student who was not vaccinated goes to school, they risk infecting
those who have not had a vaccination yet or are unable to receive vaccines due to medical reasons.
A way to prevent parents from choosing not to vaccinate is to educate parents. By educating
them, they will be aware of the consequences of their actions. Washington state has chosen this route to
decreasing the amount of anti-vaxxers when it tightened its restrictions regarding exemptions. Now
parents must speak with a physician to learn about the benefits of vaccines and the risks of exemptions
(Parker). This way the physician is certain that they did everything they could in their power to
encourage parents to immunize their children. Parent to parent education is the most effective way to
encourage vaccinations because of parents distrust of the government and doctors. If parents take an
active role in promoting vaccines in their community especially among other parents, the vaccination
rates are likely to rise in that particular community. Parents are more likely to trust the judgement of
other parents, making them essential in the promotion of vaccines. In addition, as people speak out
against intentionally not receiving vaccinations, social pressure will persuade other parents to vaccinate.
The social pressure of other parents in the community will also compel parents to immunize their
children. Parent communication is one beneficial and effective method of getting anti-vaxxers to comply.
Possibly the most compelling method of getting parents to vaccinate their children is through
government regulation. If the federal government made vaccinations mandatory for all children, then
most vaccine-preventable diseases would be virtually eliminated. Ben Carson, M.D., Professor Emeritus
of Neurosurgery at John Hopkins University, said regarding government regulation of vaccines,
Although I strongly believe in individual rights of parents to raise their children as they see fit, I also
recognize that public health and public safety are extremely important in our society. Certain

communicable diseases have been largely eradicated by immunization policies in this country and we
should not allow those diseases to return by foregoing safe immunization programs, for philosophical,
religious or other reasons when we have the means to eradicate them (Should Any Vaccines Be
Required for Children?). Regulations and laws should be mandated to protect all citizens of society.
There are certain measures that should be taken in a society to ensure the safety of all citizens. One such
measure is requiring drivers and passengers to wear seatbelts. Seatbelts protect people from getting
injured in car accidents and not wearing one could result in serious injuries or even death. Indeed, there
could be an instance that the seatbelt does not work, resulting in the harm of an individual; however, that
would be extremely rare. The same applies for vaccinations. Vaccinations protect individuals from being
harmed by deadly diseases. When a person chooses not to receive a vaccine risks contracting possible
diseases that may result in death. Seldom do vaccines not work and result in the harm of the individual.
If the government makes vaccinations mandatory, disease outbreaks can be avoided and the safety of
societys citizens is ensured.
Cuba is an excellent example of a country in which its government mandatory vaccination
schedule has been surprisingly successful. The socialist country has a 99% vaccination rate for all its
children, resulting in the eradication of 12 diseases with only 346 cases of Mumps in the year 2006
(Galindo and Reed). This is outstanding considering the fact that in most Third World countries, vaccinepreventable diseases run rampant. Cubas national immunization program is respected worldwide and is
used as a model for other Third World nations. For instance, compared with the U.S. in this chart, the
amount of cases in the U.S. in the year 2006 are far greater than the amount of cases in Cuba:
Disease

Amount of cases in the USA

Amount of cases in Cuba

Diphtheria

Measles

55

Mumps

6,339

346

Pertussis

15,632

Polio

Rubella

11

Tetanus (total)

41

Source: WHO vaccine-preventable diseases: monitoring system and Cubas National Immunization Program

By implementing a program similar to Cubas immunization program, most of these diseases would be
essentially eradicated. According to Dr. Lea Guido, the World Health Organization (WHO) - Pan
American Health Organization (PAHO) Representative in Cuba, the vaccination program has a high level
of organization, has had an impact at the level of the public health system itself, and is known and
understood not only by health professionals but also by the general public, who in turn become
spokespeople for broader education on the subject (qtd. in Galindo and Reed). By educating the public,
the public in turn educates others. When the public is knowledgeable about vaccine-preventable diseases,
they are not oblivious to these diseases; they are aware of the importance of vaccines in providing safety
for citizens in a society.
In conclusion, vaccines benefit childrens health as well as public health and thus should be made
mandatory by the government. By having parents educate one another, in addition to having the vaccines
be legally required, society will be able to overcome parents fears regarding vaccines. Furthermore, by
using Cubas national immunization program, the United States can strive to have healthy citizens
through protection from these various deadly diseases. A proper education coupled with social and federal
pressure will ensure the eradication of many vaccine-preventable diseases in the U.S.