Vaccinations
by Ryan Picollo
What are vaccines?
Vaccines are a type of medicine that prevents deadly sicknesses like polio, measles, and chicken pox. Vaccines are given to babies through shots, and there is a debate on whether or not you should vaccinate your child.
Have the number of cases gone down?
Yes! Ever since vaccinations have came out, they have been bringing the amount of cases down. In fact, Emily K. Brunson stated, "Polio cases declined by 99 percent." This is a humongous drop in the amount of cases there were before the vaccination.
How easy is it for a person to get infected that hasn't been vaccinated?
It really depends on what disease it is. If a disease isn't airborne, then a non-vaccinated person won't have as good of a chance of getting the disease. If the disease has become airborne, all it takes to infect a non-vaccinated person is a cough from a person who is infected. For example, Marc Siegel states that, "measles is a highly contagious disease with an attack rate of 90%, meaning that an infected person has a 90% chance of spreading it to someone else in close contact."
How can vaccines hurt kids?
There are some cases of Adverse Reactions. An adverse reaction is when a recently vaccinated person gets severely and or mildly sick because of the vaccine. Emily K. Brunson states that "more severe adverse reactions, such as vomiting, high fever, seizure, brain damage, or death, are possible for some vaccinations."
What have experts said about vaccines?
Andrew J. Mirelman: "In the first few years after the introduction of this vaccine, the cases of H. influenza type b disease in children under the age of one year fell by 65%"
Emily K. Brunson: "When a sufficient number of individuals in a population are immune to a disease, as would occur if a large proportion of a population were vaccinated, herd immunity is achieved."
Jeffrey Kluger: "In 1952 there were 57,879 cases of paralytic polio in the U.S. By 1961, just six years after the vaccine was introduced, the number was 1,312- a 98% reduction
Emily K. Brunson: "When a sufficient number of individuals in a population are immune to a disease, as would occur if a large proportion of a population were vaccinated, herd immunity is achieved."
Jeffrey Kluger: "In 1952 there were 57,879 cases of paralytic polio in the U.S. By 1961, just six years after the vaccine was introduced, the number was 1,312- a 98% reduction