Vaccines
By Nick Farrell
Pro Vaccines
Pros
Amanda Paulson said people are verily likely to get sick by not vaccinating and still at risk if they alter or delay the vaccination schedule.
Karen Kaplan says in the recent Measles outbreak in Disneyland, after sending an Infectious Disease team of specialists to study the outbreak, that only 62% of those people exposed were vaccinated. To have adequate herd immunity there must be a 96-99% vaccination rate.
Stav Ziv says some fear vaccination secondary to Dr. Andrew Wakefield's now discredited study claiming a link between MMR and autism. This link between MMR and autism has be discredited on numerous occasions. Dr. Andrew Wakefield had a flawed study of 12 developmentally delayed children in the study, and still recommended vaccinating but suggesting giving MMR separately. What was later found out was that he had a considerable amount of stock in the vaccine company whom manufactured MMR separately, and he would gain approximately $800,000 and was obviously a conflict of interest and he is no longer able to practice medicine in Great Britain. Several thousand children have died or had complications from not vaccinating out of the fear brought on by this horrible, unethical flawed study.
Marc Siegel says fear Measles not vaccines. Statistics show that you are more likely to die or suffer severe complications from Measles than from a vaccine.
Liz Szabo says kids may get more needles today but less antigen load that the few shots given in the 1960"s and 1970's. Many of the vaccines are no acellular and offer protection without the side effects and are ironically safer than ever and easier on the immune system with less bacterial and viral load in the vaccine than before.
Cons
- Amanda Paulson states parents deserve to be education and have a meaningful dialogue with their doctor. Parents feel they should have the right to decide what medications and whether or not to vaccinate.
- Mary Jo Perry states vaccines might not be safe for all children. "A one size fits all vaccine mandate" could possibly bring complications.
- Helen Brangwell states that although the numbers are small, parents need to be able to exempt their children from vaccines if they or a loved one suffered from vaccine complications.
- Few children are allergic to gelatin, and this is in vaccinates, and should be exempt from future vaccines if they have a documented allergic reaction to the vaccine.
In summary, over 10% of families Nationwide have decided to not vaccinate their children. Because of this there has been a spike in very serious and deadly diseases that are vaccine preventable like Measles and Pertussis. Many of the non vaccinators believe vaccines may cause autism or other complications. Others have a family history of not vaccinating or vaccine complications. A small yet growing number of people not vaccinating is a problem. Some people are immunocompromised, such as transplant patients and are unable to be vaccinated while under treatment, and are more susceptible to contract vaccine preventable diseases. Newborns don't receive vaccines until two months of age, and don't have immunity for pertussis until they have received the primary series at 2,4 and six months of age. People whom study vaccines, pro-vaccinators and doctors are trying to establish mandatory vaccination laws without personal exemptions. Most schools require certain vaccines for entrance into kindergarten and seventh grade. Education and understanding of how vaccines work, and recognizing they are safe is paramount for parents to take into consideration. There is a strong unfounded anti-vaccine movement creating heavy resistance and often misinformation in this controversial topic.