This
video definitely influenced me about the way I view vaccinations. Before, I though of vaccinations just a
routine thing. The nurse would
come into the doctor’s office, list off the vaccines I was due to get, and then
she inject me with the vaccination.
Vaccines are medical marvels.
Vaccines ended the outbreak of the fatal disease polio. And today, there are now SIXTEEN
diseases preventable by vaccinations.
However, some people, specifically people in Ashen, Oregon, do not
exactly see the benefits of vaccinations.
The parents, hesitant of vaccine side effects, choose not to vaccination
their children. This could
possibly lead to an outbreak of a disease that hasn’t been seen in years. There is a concern that a major
outbreak of a fatal disease will come from the lack of immunization. Many doctors and medical professionals
have expressed their concern.
Although there are some side effects that come with the vaccination, I
feel like the pros outweigh the cons.
There have only been some cases of people affected by vaccinations in
detrimental ways. But vaccinations
do an amazing job at prevent deadly diseases. I have always gotten the vaccinations that doctor
recommended to me, now I have been influenced to make sure I get my
vaccinations.
Herd
immunity is when the majority of a population becomes immune to a disease via
vaccinations, the remaining small percentage of the population without
vaccination become very unlikely to get the disease. However, if the percentage of immunity in the population
falls too low, outbreaks are very likely.
Herd immunity requires a large percentage of the population. Nowadays, with backlash against
vaccines, the percentage of the population needed for herd immunity might fall
below the goal percentage and could cause an outbreak.
Public
health decisions usually only affect the person that makes the choice. However, in the case of vaccinations,
this public health choice affects others surrounding this person as well. This is shown in herd immunity. Although I strongly believe in
vaccinations, I do not believe doctors or other health officials should be
responsible for making the decision to vaccinate children. I believe that the parents have the
responsibility to make their children’s health decisions. I think the doctors and health
officials job is to show the parents the benefits of vaccinations and the harm
not getting the vaccination. Letting
the government control vaccinations, there is then the question how far can the
government go in controlling our health choices and will they even be
considered choices anymore? The
parent is responsible for their children in all aspects, including their health
choices.
Children
might not receive vaccinations because their parents choose not to get them
vaccinated. These parents begin to
question why their children need these vaccinations for diseases that do not
exist. These parents never saw or
experienced the diseases now preventable by vaccination. There is also concern that autism in
children can result from a vaccination.
Parents with that concern would not get their children vaccinated. People also decide not to listen health
officials because they financially benefit from people getting vaccines.
I
believe that we should lawfully require people to get a vaccine. People are allowed to have their own
opinion and choice concerning their own health. However, I do believe we should increase the rates of
vaccinations. We should do this by
implementing policies that require children in schools to get certain vaccines
in order to attend. Also there should be requirements for children to get
certain vaccines to participate in sports. Sports and schools are where the majority of children are
and it will allow a whole generation to become vaccinated.
I think you forgot to add a summary of the video but the first question pretty much covers the whole thing. You do a good job of explaining the dangers of parents who are choosing not to have their children vaccinated. You do talk about the conflicting views of vaccines as personal health issues, which most parents have, and vaccinations as a societal duty, which public health specialists have. I would maybe make it clear that this is where the bioethics conflict between the community being served and the administration that is serving it. Regarding reasons why children might not receive vaccinations, you might also want to add that some children have mental illnesses that make it dangerous for them personally to have vaccinations which is why herd immunity is important. Your suggestions about how to raise vaccination rates are good but I think they are already part of public health policy. Perhaps suggest new ways to advocate vaccines that will change the way parents think of vaccines as both an important precaution for their child and for society as a whole.
ReplyDeleteZoey,
ReplyDeleteYou did a good job with question one and two. Your description of herd immunity is right on. In number three, you say, "Public health decisions usually only affect the person who makes the choice." Then you go on to say that vaccinations are different in that they affect other people. I challenge you, though, to really think about public health as a whole discipline. Public health actually works to affect a population, so I disagree that it only affects the person who makes a choice (examples are environmental health issues, second hand smoke, everyone in society paying taxes to cover medial expenses of the obese, etc) You're very much correct that vaccines affect the population. For the last question, it's interesting you mention mandating a child get vaccinated who is in school. What about kids who are home schooled or in private schools?
Erin