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Savannah Veazie

Mrs. Jackie Burr, Instructor

English 2010

13 April 2018

Herd Immunity:
Choice vs Moral Responsibility

Landon Carter Dube was only six weeks old when he lost his life to a vaccine-

preventable disease commonly known as whooping cough. Landon, who was called by his

middle name, Carter, was five weeks old when he went into the doctors on January 15, 2010. His

parents were apprehensive as Carter had recently started spitting up his formula and getting very

fussy when being put down for bed at night. The doctor instructed them to switch the formula

they were feeding Carter which did not seem to help and just a few days later, Carter’s mom

checked his temperature to find that he had a high fever of 100.1 degrees. When taken back to

the pediatrician, nurses were troubled by Carter’s breathing rate and immediately sent them to

the hospital where he was diagnosed with Pertussis and passed away just thirteen days later on

January 28, 2010.

(Landon Carter Dube at seven weeks old.)

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Pertussis or whooping cough is an extremely contagious disease and is often fatal for

newborns. The symptoms can include: severe cough, congestion, sneezing, vomiting, fatigue,

difficulty breathing, fever, and more. There is a vaccine that significantly decreases the risk and

negative consequences of pertussis but sadly, in the last eight years, there have been between

10,000 and 50,000 cases of pertussis in the United States every year. Carter Dube was too young

to receive the DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis) vaccine as this is typically administered

at 11 years old. Perhaps if more people around Carter were vaccinated, creating herd immunity,

he would not have contracted the disease and might be a health eight year old today.

Unfortunately, whooping cough isn’t the only vaccine-preventable disease on the rise.

There are a large number of diseases becoming more prominent since the “anti-vaxxers”

movement and forteen that have been specifically expressed as concerns by the Center for

Disease Control (CDC). Among these forteen is pertussis and other diseases such as diphtheria,

chickenpox, mumps, rotavirus, rubella, hepatitis, tetanus, and polio; all avoidable by an

immunization. (para. “For Parents”) Vaccines save lives. Yet, over three million people die every

year from vaccine-preventable illnesses. So If there are so many diseases that can be prevented,

and we have the tools to do so, why do so many people still die from these avertible illnesses?

Why are parents not immunizing their children?

Research proposes an answer to these questions by showing that parents typically don’t

vaccinate their kids because of one of three reasons; their religion or personal beliefs encourage

them not to, they think that vaccinations cause autism, or they think that the chemicals in the
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shots are too harmful for a babies weak immune system. While all of these are valid concerns

that parents have, there is a tremendous amount of research that has gone into disproving these

fears. Research also shows how vaccines save lives like in this infographic:

(Infographic on vaccines created with Piktochart, an online graphic maker.)

According to Phoebe Day and Rebekah Diamond, both pediatric physicians in Michigan,

“our current system asks physicians to accept vaccine refusal with impunity because it is a matter

of personal belief.” (Convince “Anti-Vaxxers” of Science) they go on to explain that when

parents refuse vaccines for their children, they are forcing doctors to abandon their obligation to

not only their individual patient but also, referring to herd immunity, “their duty to protect and

promote the health of all children.” They believe that vaccines should be mandatory. If a parent

claimed to not believe in carseats and refused to get one for their child, their child would be

taken away from them and they would have a fine of five hundred dollars and could potentially

face jail time, should their child die in a car accident. Vaccines should have the same laws as car

seats and medical exemptions should be the only legal way to refuse vaccines.
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As for vaccines causing autism, that is one hundred percent a myth. Several years ago, a

what seemed to be legitimate, study came out that linked autism to vaccines. This study caused

an uproar in society and a major decrease in immunizations, parents were scared of what they

were hearing and rightfully so. The United States Health Department has since put a lot of

money and other resources into researching this link and has found absolutely no evidence. What

they did find was that the doctor that put out the original study had only five study subjects, all of

whom were autistic and had been vaccinated as a child. This means that his data was so small

and biased that it has been completely disproven and he can no longer practice medicine. Correct

research has actually started to show that autism develops in utero, long before a baby ever even

has a chance to be vaccinated.

The third more common fear that parents often have is that vaccines are too harmful for a

babies weak immune system. This myth seems very real because babies are so small, it makes

sense that their bodies can’t handle much and they can get sick easily. Babies can in fact get sick

relatively easy, however, not from vaccines. Even if they received all fourteen scheduled

vaccines at once, it would only use just over 0.1 percent of their immune capacity. Based on the

antibodies present in the blood, a baby would actually have the ability to respond to around ten

thousand immunizations at one time. Babies are a lot stronger than they look.

In reality, immunizations are safe and the myths surrounding them are just that, myths.

Vaccines are a child’s right- to be safe and healthy, there is no proof linking them to autism, and
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babies bodies can handle them. Some children can not be immunized because of medical

reasons, such as cancer, and they rely on the people around them to be immunized for protection

against very serious illnesses. Lauren Wittwer, a registered nurse at Primary

Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah expressed that, “babies don’t have their own immune

systems and so their communities have to provide their immune systems, and the same goes for

any kind of immunocompromised population, like kids with cancer, or adults with cancer,

anyone who needs a transplant will be on immunosuppressants for the rest of their life.” She also

believes that “it’s almost selfish [to refuse vaccinations]” (Personal Interview) When you look at

how many countries are too poor to even offer vaccines, society becomes very selfish-looking

when they refuse a life saving “tool” that is readily available to them. If a child can be

vaccinated, they need to be because this creates herd immunity which is the best step towards

eradicating disease.
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Works Cited

Adashek, Jacob. "When Herd Immunity Is the Only Protection." American Journal of Public

Health, vol. 106, no. 6, June 2016, p. 965. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2105/AJPH.2016.303150.

Danziger, Phoebe Day, and Rebekah Diamond. “We Can't Convince Anti-Vaxxers of Science.

We Need to Mandate Vaccination.” Slate Magazine, 25 July 2016,

www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2016/07/vaccination_shoul

d_be_mandatory_but_it_isn_t.html​.

deStefano, F. and R.T. Chen. "Autism and Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccination: Controversy

Laid to Rest?." CNS Drugs, vol. 15, no. 11, Nov. 2001, pp. 831-837. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=5500871&site=ehost-live.

“For Parents: Vaccines for Your Children.” ​Centers for Disease Control and Prevention​, Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 Dec. 2016,

www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/diseases/child/14-diseases.html.

“Why Vaccinate?” ​:: Vaccinate Your Baby : Preventing Disease ::

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www.vaccinateyourbaby.org/why/victim_story_carter.cfm.

Wittwer, Lauren. Personal Interview. 04 April 2018.