Immunizations

Save Lives

Lauren Sargent October 2, 2016

Why is there so much

controversy in regards to vaccinating
children or not? Do you believe that
pediatricians would be vaccinating
children if they thought they would
cause harm to their patients? First of
all, the reason that Pediatricians are so
adamant about vaccines is to protect
their patients from developing these
diseases. Not to mention, there are so
many opinions and studies out there.

Why is there so
much controversy in
regards to
vaccinating children
or not?

How
many are
actually
accurate?
Besides, one

of the problems is parents often dont

look to the right sources when doing
research on vaccines. Furthermore, I
have worked in a pediatric office as a
medical assistant for over eight years
now. I have given thousands of
vaccines over the years and I strongly
agree that parents should continue to
vaccinate their children. Indeed, I
understand that there is a lot of
controversy regarding vaccinations.
Are vaccines safe? Do vaccines really
save lives? I would like to address
these questions and concerns and let
you consider the consequences that
will occur if children are not
vaccinated. Immunizations are vital to
society because they save lives, they
are safe, and they do not cause autism.
Parents care deeply for their
children and want them to be as safe
and healthy as possible. Some believe
that vaccines safe lives and prevent the
spread of disease, and some do not.
Some also believe that vaccines can
cause more harm then good. First of
all, I believe that is why parents need
to turn
Do vaccines save lives? Yes, to the
vaccinations definitely save
lives and will continue to
save lives as long as we keep
vaccinating our children.

right sources such as talking to their

pediatricians to receive the appropriate
information, call or your state or local
health department, call the CDC
(Centers for Disease Control)

activate and begin making proteins

called antibodies that locate the
infectious agent and create a counter
offensive (Safety and Prevention).

The organisms that invade the

In fact, according to Shot@life, a
body then may start causing some
United Nations Foundation partner
symptoms. Furthermore, sometimes by
organization, vaccines save 2.5
the time the immune system has started
million children from preventable
to build antibodies to fight off the
diseases every year, which equates to
infection it may be too late and a life
roughly 285 children saved every hour
threatening illness can result.
(Vaccines Pros and Cons). Did you
Moreover, after the antibodies have
pay
been created they reside in the
The CDC estimated that
attention to
blood stream ready to fight
732,000 American children were
the word
off any infections that may
preventable saved from death and 322 million
enter the body. As a result,
? These are cases of childhood illnesses were
the antibodies are able to fight
prevented between 1994 and 2014
diseases
off the infection even before
due to vaccinations (Vaccines Pros symptoms present
that kill
and Cons).
children
themselves. In addition,
and
immunizations are important
adolescents
because immunizations rely
when they can be prevented!! These
on antibodies to fight off infections, the
numbers arent just statistics; each
antibodies are abler go to work before
number represents a real human life.
a first infection develops (Safety and
Prevention).
How do vaccines work? Vaccines
protect us from becoming sick or
Do vaccines have any side effects?
deathly ill. When our body comes in
There are some possible side effects
contact with certain bacteria or
from vaccines. There is a chance that
organisms that invade the body, our
the person receiving the vaccine could
immune system works to combat
develop a fever, redness, soreness or
anything that may cause harm to our
swelling where the vaccine was
body. In addition white blood cells
administered. Although its rare, there

is a possibility of patients receiving

vaccinations developing a seizure
caused by fever. Although it is rare, it
has been reported by the CDC reports
that pneumonia can be caused by the
chickenpox vaccine, and a small
possibility exists that the flu vaccine
could be associated with Guillain-Barre
Syndrome, a disorder in which the
persons immune system attacks parts
of the peripheral nervous system, in
about one or two per million people
vaccinated (Vaccines Pros and Cons).
However, many studies are performed
before any vaccines can be licensed.
Not only are vaccines studied
before they can be given to patients but
the CDC and the FDA continue to
oversee all vaccines after they have
been licensed. Furthermore, the CDC
and the FDA monitor vaccines after
they are licensed because some rare
events can occur depending on the
patients medical history.
Further, certain populations may
not be sufficiently represented. In fact,
the FDA and CDC have 3 monitoring
systems, these systems can monitor
adverse events (health problems)
already known

to be caused by vaccines, as well as

detect rare adverse events that were not
identified during pre-licensure clinical
trials (Varicella (Chickenpox
The three monitoring systems
include the VAERS (Vaccine Adverse
Event Reporting System), VSD
(Vaccine Safety Data link), and the
CISA (Clinical Immunization Safety
Assessment
VAERS received
). In
25,000 reports of health
addition,
events that occurred after
the CDC
vaccination with the
and FDA
chickenpox vaccine [or]
evaluated
approximately 53 reports
patients
per 100,000 doses
who had
distributed (Safety and
received
Prevention).
the
chickenpox
vaccine from the time of May 1995
through December 2005. As a matter
of fact, In conclusion, vaccines have

been researched extensively and the

CDC and FDA would not allow
vaccines to be administered if they
didnt believe that it was safe.
Another reason why parents
decide not to immunize is because of
the controversy regarding vaccines and
autism being linked. Firstly, it is not
known what causes autism and the first
signs are manifested at 15-18months of
age. Furthermore, MMR is
administered when the patient is 15-18
months old and it has been thought by
some that MMR specifically causes
autism. The claim first began by
Andrew Wakefields study in The
Lancet in 1998 began the concern
about MMR vaccine and autism, since
the study was published, 10 of the 13
authors have retracted the findings
(MMR Vaccine and Autism). In
addition, in 2008.

Furthermore, many
generations may be effected
because parents now believe that
the MMR could cause autism.
The Lancet also renounced their claim
in regards to the MMR vaccine causing
autism.
Thus, it has been said The
Lancet retracted the study, citing
ethical misconduct on the part of
Wakefield, Journalist Brian Deer has
written several articles published in the
British Medical Journal, describing the
ways that Wakefields study was
inaccurate (MMR Vaccine and
Autism). Consequently, thousands of
children could be affected in regards to
the inaccurate claim by Wakefield.
Unfortunately, the publicity spread the
word about Wakefields claims and
then many people dont hear about the
claim being retracted. Wakefields
claim has caused many to not be
immunized and if there was to be an
outbreak many people could end up
with the disease.

Works Cited
Vaccines Pros and Cons. 2014. Web. 4
December.2014.
<http://vaccines.procon.org/#argument
s>
Safety and Prevention. Healthy
children. American Academy of
Pediatrics, 23 July 2014. Web. 2 Dec.
2014.
<http://www.healthychildren.org/Engli
sh/safetyprevention/immunizations/Pages/Howdo-Vaccines-Work.aspx>.
Varicella (Chickenpox). Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. 19
Mar. 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/va
ccines/varicella/>. MMR Vaccine and
Autism. Immunization. American
Academy of Pediatrics, 29 Apr. 2014.
Web. 2 Dec. 2014.
<http://www2.aap.org/immunization/fa
milies/mmr.html>.
MMR Vaccine. Vaccine Information
Statement. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, 20 Apr. 2012. Web. 2
Dec. 2014.
<http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/
vis- statements/mmr.pdf>.
Chickenpox Vaccine. Vaccine
Information Statement. Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention, 13

Mar. 2008. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/
vis-statements/varicella.pdf>.
Rotavirus Vaccine. Vaccine
Information Statement. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, 26
Aug. 2013. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/
vis- statements/rotavirus.pdf>.
Google Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.