Bussard

Brooklynne Bussard
ENG 1201.511
Nathan Helmers
8 November 2016
Detailed Standpoint on Vaccination

Fever, red rash, apneic events, and possible death make for quite the laundry list of
symptoms when you are researching preventable diseases. These symptoms could be a living
nightmare for any parent, so why do some parents choose not to protect their children from these
diseases? Is this all a hoax or scare tactic used by the healthcare system to convince us of whats
best for our children? How effective are the vaccines that we administer every year throughout
the country? After some detailed research, I strongly agree that requiring mandatory vaccinations
is a small price to pay in terms of cost, immunity and overall health in our homes and
communities nationwide.
Growing up, I recall going to my family Dr. around age five and receiving my boosters
and crying like a small baby. It was quickly painful, yet short-lived part of growing up. As an
adult in a society where we now question everything, vaccination is becoming more and more of
a debatable topic. I see friends from high school post on Facebook about holistic health methods
along with anti-vaccination propaganda. Common concerns or arguments made against
vaccination include the following; They can lead to autism, mandating vaccination is a violation
of a persons right to choose, they seem like a way for pharmaceutical companies to make a lot
of money, and they contain toxins. These all seem like valid points so I wanted to take a look into
each claim and find out how much truth they hold.

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According to Dr. Marquez, a contributing doctor to The Journal of the South Dakota State
Medical Association, This belief of vaccines being harmful has led to fear and decreased
immunization rates in spite of sound scientific evidence supporting the safety of vaccines and
their lack of association with autism, developmental disabilities or other medical disorders.
(Marquez p46) Parents are now fearing vaccines and as a result, there are gaps being created in
communities where anti-vaccination practices are prevalent. This proved true in of June 2010
when the state of California declared a whooping cough epidemic. An article written by Nancy
Shute in 2013 from National Public Radio states, [whooping cough] sickened 9,120 people, [in
2010] more than in any year since 1947. Ten infants died (Shute) Also, in the 1980s,
pockets of unimmunized children in the U.S. led to a resurgence of measles that caused 11,000
hospitalizations and 123 deaths. More recently in 2008, the largest outbreak of measles in over a
decade in the U.S. occurred. The difference in 2008 is that the outbreak was a direct consequence
of purposeful refusal to vaccinate, in contrast to prior outbreaks where issues like programmatic
deficiencies or increased disease importation from other countries played a major role.
(Marquez 47)
Hundreds of lives taken due to negligence of vaccination is so painful, especially when
they could have been preventable. Many people argue that vaccines are ineffective because of
severe reactions and they do not provide a one hundred percent cure or prevention of the disease.
This is partially true, Vaccines are highly effective in preventing disease from 90 to 100 percent
effectively. Furthermore, when children who have been vaccinated contract a disease, despite
being vaccinated against it, they usually have milder symptoms and less complications than an
unvaccinated child with the same disease. (Marquez p46) Although vaccines may not be one

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hundred percent effective, they are extremely close. As a parent, reducing the risk of infection,
and the severity at a ninety percent chance that seems logical to make.
The continuation vaccination in the United States and the development and research that
has evolved our vaccines over the past two and a half decades has done more than save lives, it
has prolonged lives. Dr. Marquez shares that, Four diseases that once killed thousands of
children have been eliminated: (smallpox (1949), polio (1979), measles (2000) and rubella
(2004) (Marquez p48) If vaccines were a hoax or were not effective, how could these results be
possible?
In a basic sense, medicine has evolved greatly over time. Along with that, disease has evolved
greatly over time. It is important to continue to administer vaccines against diseases that we have
already eradicated and continue to booster them for new strains and develop new vaccines for
diseases that are new. In Shutes article she states, When the number of people vaccinated drops
below 95 percent, a community loses herd immunity to highly contagious germs like pertussis,
and babies and other unvaccinated people can get sick. (Shute) In an article published online by
Mothering magazine, Primary care physician, Lauren Feder MD states, Although pertussis
numbers remain high even with vaccines available, what is known is that immunity from
vaccines wanes over time, which can result in increased incidence among adolescents and
adults.17 In addition, many children and adults are carriers of pertussis while showing no
symptoms of the disease. This shows that we must adapt and improve our vaccines over time
and continue to administer or booster them as we age to make sure protection is available.
Vaccinated or non-vaccinated peoples can be placed at large risk when unvaccinated pockets
have an outbreak. This can make vaccinated children ill and more dangerously, create a new

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strain of the virus that is more potent than what current vaccines will allow for. There is nothing
more concerning than not having a cure.
To argue at this point to vaccinate to be better safe than sorry is only a mild point. Lets
look at the cost effectiveness of vaccines. Are the pharmaceutical companies really looking to
just take our money? According to Marquez, for every 1$ spent on vaccination [it] saves the
public $6.30 in medical costs from having to treat unvaccinated diseased individuals. (Marquez
p49) Hospitalizations and increasing health insurance claims brought in for preventable diseases
only increases insurance premiums and financial burden that is already carried on the back of the
American population. Prevention is apparently most cost effective.
Knowing these points, why do parents still choose not to vaccinate? Administering the Tdap
vaccine in pregnant women is a common practice. This vaccination provides the mother and
baby with antibodies and early protection against the disease. In a medical article about vaccine
attitudes in pregnant women, Dempsey claims, [Tdap administration] is especially important
for mothers living in poverty and from racial and ethnic minority populations as these groups are
at increased risk of having a pertussis-affected infant. As a nation, are we lacking in minority
education? Dempsey also states, Important variations in attitudes were apparent, with Spanishspeaking women significantly more likely to have concerns about the vaccine's safety and
efficacy than English-speaking women. This study indicates that among this high-risk population
acceptance of Tdap vaccine during pregnancy is high. However, our results suggest that it may
be important to modify information conveyed about the safety and importance of Tdap during
pregnancy based on individual level factors such as language or acculturation. (Dempsey) In
Dempseys study, 82% of the 316 women surveyed had planned or had already received the
vaccination but 63% of these women were concerned about safety and reactions. This

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information shows that healthcare providers and practitioners need to take the time especially
with minority groups to educate them and answer questions and concerns to help bridge the
vaccination gaps in our communities.
In a study conducted by Walgreens in conjunction with a Womens hospital over the
course of four years, an educational program was setup in regard to the Pertussis vaccine. The
pharmacy and doctors focused on educating and informing the mothers and working collectively
to see what results would be produced or if there would be any change at all in vaccination
numbers. Mills reports that, In the pre-study period (December 2008-November 2010), there
were 31 Tdap vaccinations administered at the intervention pharmacy (mean=1.3/month); during
the study period (December 2010-November 2012), 2045 Tdap vaccinations were administered
(mean=85.2/month). During the study period, the estimated Tdap vaccination coverage per live
births was 8.1% in the intervention pharmacy versus 5.5% in the comparison hospital-campus
pharmacies (p<.001). (Mills) This evidence shows how far a little education can go with a
vaccine community. If more doctors and pharmacys used this approach especially in areas with
low vaccine coverage, I feel this would better safeguard the overall health of all Americans.
In conclusion, I firmly believe requiring mandatory vaccinations is worth the small number of
adverse reactions that are rarely seen. To continue to thrive as a population and as a country, we
must learn to adapt and change with our environment. This means that diseases are evolving and
so should our medicine. If we choose to just opt out of vaccinating we are living in the past and
not doing our part to better health standards for our children and future generations. The cost of
vaccination and preventitve care is fractional compared to hospitalizing and treating these
diseases. The number of diseases alone that we have eradicated in the past 60 years is amazing.
Just imagine what can be done in 60 more years. With further medical advancement in

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vaccinations we could increase life expectancy and possibly eradicate more diseases. I believe
requiring mandatory vaccinations is a small price to pay in terms of cost, immunity and overall
health in our homes and communities nationwide.

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Works Cited

Carrillo-Marquez, Maria, and Lisa White. "Current Controversies in Childhood

Vaccination." South Dakota Medicine: The Journal Of The South Dakota State Medical

Association Spec No (2013): 46-51. MEDLINE with Full Text. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.
Dempsey, Amanda F., Sarah E. Brewer, Carter Sevick, Jennifer Pyrzanowski, Sara
Mazzoni, and Sean T. O'Leary. "Tdap Vaccine Attitudes and Utilization among Pregnant
Women from a High-risk Population." Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics 12.4

(2016): 872-78. MEDLINE with Full Text. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

Feder, Lauren, MD. The Truth About Whooping Cough- Mothering. Mothering.
Mothering, 07 Oct. 2015. Web. Web 16 Oct. 2016
Mills, Brittany, Leonard Fensterheim, Michael Taitel, and Adam Cannon. "Pharmacist-led
Tdap Vaccination of Close Contacts of Neonates in a Women's Hospital." Vaccine 32.4
(2014): 521-25. MEDLINE with Full Text. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.