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Gina Curran
S00788889
Professor James
English 1010 S-14
9 August 2014
Vaccines: Are They Truly Necessary?
Working as a Medical Assistant the last nine years has opened my eyes to the vast range
of medical needs the world desires but is lacking. I have worked in many fields of health care
from the fast paced ER to the demanding Medical Surgical unit, to the organized ICU and then
the unpredictable OB/GYN office. Currently, I am employed with the State Health Department
and it is a challenging job but one of my favorites. We see and treat many different patients
from the young infant to the frail geriatric population and everything in between. The health
clinic also treats the largest population of those with low income insurance or no insurance at
all. What is truly amazing is the amount of Refugee patients we see every week, at least
twelve, and the clinic provides them with their first physicals once they arrive to our country. I
give in an average week up to 100 vaccines or more to all of our patients.
Vaccines are no longer a taboo in our country and most people get vaccinated and are
up to date on their shots. Most schools require every student to be vaccinated and if a student
is not vaccinated, they are not allowed back to school until their vaccines are up to date. That is
the same for most colleges and employers in the United States. In fact the State of Utah is
mandating that all of its employees be vaccinated against Hepatitis B, Chicken Pox, Measles
Mumps and Rubella and Tetanus before the end of September this year. If you cannot show
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proof, you must be re-immunized. There are those however who feel the risks of vaccines far
outweigh the benefits and they choose not to immunize. These parents choose to home school
their children because they are not allowed in public schools and those who are not immunized
work for places that do not require immunizations for employment.
Since the 1980s it has been feared that a percentage of perfectly healthy infants who
received their immunizations developed autism after getting their injections. This caused wide
spread concern, especially with the combined vaccines and the other substances in the vaccines
besides the vaccines themselves. According to the CDC (Centers of Disease Control) the time
autism is diagnosed is generally the same time infants under 2 years old receive a set of their
immunizations. Other ingredients such as mercury and aluminum which preserve the vaccine
have been a cause of concern because they are a toxic additive.
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If they are toxic, then how
can they be healthy for the body? There have been many publications and medical journals
written on the risks of autism and vaccines but the idea that vaccines cause the disease has
never been proven. There have not been enough studies done to prove this but it is a great
concern for many parents and it makes the choice to vaccinate their children a difficult one.
Another risk that alarms a parent making the decision whether to give their infant the
Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis (TDap) vaccine, is the increased risk of Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome (SIDS). It was thought that in some cases an infant who received the vaccine, one to
two days later suddenly died from SIDS. It was very hard to prove this theory however due to
the fact that given the age range of the risk of SIDS and the number of infants given injections
at that same age, it was impossible to correlate the evidence. The numbers were to staggering
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to record.
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With the current education about SIDS and putting a baby to sleep on its back or
side and not its stomach, the rate of SIDS deaths has dropped dramatically.
Finally another example of the fear associated with vaccines is the risk of having a
febrile seizure after the injections are administered. It is common to get a slight fever after
receiving the injections but according to the CDC this risk is small, and while a seizure is very
frightening to witness most febrile seizures are harmless and once the fever goes down with
Tylenol and Motrin the child will not even remember the incident and will be back to normal.
Fever, muscle cramps and a rash at the injection site are the most common side effect of the
vaccines.
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These are normal since you are introducing a foreign substance into the body after
all and do not cause any harm.
It is true that there are many risks to consider when one gets vaccinated and it is
important to get all of the facts, both good and bad. According to a news report by CNN news
on August 1
st
of this year, over 20,000 journal articles were reviewed by the Medical Journal of
Pediatrics and they stated that children should be vaccinated against all diseases, period.
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The
review states that there is no tie between the rise of children being diagnosed with autism and
vaccines as the cause. The CNN report goes on to say that, vaccines are one of the most
successful public health achievements of the 20
th
century.
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Because of vaccines, diseases that
once killed thousands have all but vanished in those populations treated, for example Polio and
Diphtheria.
It is interesting that even with the success of vaccines many people are still choosing not
to vaccinate and in those populations diseases that once were gone are now on the rise.
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California in 2010 saw a rise in the numbers of whooping cough cases due to the fact that
people were not getting their TDaP injections.
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Just this last year it was also reported that a
large number of children were coming down with the measles which also can be prevented
with the measles vaccine. The measles outbreak has been concerning to health care officials
because until the year 2000 it was believed that the measles was eliminated completely in the
United States.
The Department of Health and Human Services states that vaccines licensed and given
in the United States are safe and effective and by making sure we are vaccinated it saves
billions of dollars annually in this nations health care costs. According to the DHHS the polio
vaccine became available in 1955. In 1954 there was a reported 1,879 deaths caused by polio.
Since 1991 there have been no deaths or reports of the polio illness and like small pox, polio
has been eliminated from the United States.
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It is wondered then, why do people not feel it is
important to vaccinate? The number of lives saved due to vaccines is staggering and I feel this
should be greatly taken into consideration when one is questioning the constructive outcome
of vaccines.
I have a very strong opinion regarding vaccines. I feel they are very important. I have
seen first-hand working in the medical field over the years the benefits of being immunized.
While working in the ICU unit in Wyoming I assisted with the care of an elderly man dying from
the effects of Influenza. It was such a sad thing for his family to witness and knowing that it
could have been prevented by this patient getting his flu vaccine that year was heartbreaking.
Also while working in the ER we saw many children in the winter months suffering from
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whooping cough. As a mother there is nothing scarier than the sound a baby makes when they
have whooping cough. It is a helpless feeling not being able to help your child breathe. I would
go home at night and hug my children, thankful that they were healthy and strong.
The Health Department is where I have gained my true respect for vaccines and their
importance in curing so many diseases. Like I stated in the beginning of this paper, I see many
Refugee patients at the clinic, refugees who come from all over the world looking for a better
life. Places like Africa, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Korea and Iraq just to name a few. Almost all of
these refugees have never had one immunization their entire life. It is our priority to make sure
they are not infected with any contagious diseases by doing many lab tests and to get them
current and keep them up to date on all of their immunizations. So far, for the most part the
immigrants are very healthy physically. It is my job to keep them physically fit by giving them
their immunizations. It has been surprising however the number of immigrants who once we
have received their blood work results, tested positive for Hepatitis B. The positive patients
are then sent for treatment but wouldnt it be great if vaccines were prevalent around the
world. Just think of all the lives that would be saved.
It makes me angry at times that we live in a country where we have access to vaccines
and yet many still choose not to get immunized. It scares me that the measles have made a
come-back in California and Ohio where there are large populations of people who choose not
to immunize. Disease travels and these people are in public places risking exposure to the
public population. Polio and small pox have been eliminated as risk, but if people continue to
not immunize their children these diseases will come back and what a sad day that will be.
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Works Cited

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; CDC 24/7: Saving Lives, Protecting People.
www.cdc.gov/vaccines

2. Fox 2now, CNN; Child Hood Vaccines are Safe. Seriously.
www.fox2now.com/2014/08/01/childhood-vaccines-are-safe-seriously-2/

3. Department of Health and Human Services; Statement on Risk vs. Benefit of
Vaccinations; by, David Satcher, M.D., PH.D. August 3, 1999.
www.hhs.gov/asl/testify