HS 305 Section 01: Research Methods

Unit 5 Assignment

Vaccinations are defined as medical substance that is injected into a person or animal to protect against a particular disease. They are a preparation of killed, living attenuated, or living fully virulent organisms given to produce an immune or increase immunity against specific diseases (Vaccine, 2014). When babies are born they have a limited immune system that is achieved through antibodies received through their mother’s milk. However this immunity dissipates after the first year of life and therefore vaccinations are necessary to maintain immunity.
In recent years there has been some controversy over the safety of vaccine components and whether or not the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine (MMR) causes autism. Although no official link has been found numbers of unvaccinated people are increasing. This causes diseases that were once well controlled to re-immerge. An example of this is what happened in Japan when pertussis vaccinations were reduced after rumors spread about it not being necessary an unsafe. After three years of decreasing vaccinations in 1979 Japan suffered an epidemic of pertussis with over 13,000 cases reported and 41 deaths. In 1981 country officials reinstated the vaccination program and the number of cases and related deaths began to decline (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014).
The number of measles cases in Japan is once again on the rise. As of 2013 the number of confirmed measles were 207 cases leading to an 11% incidence rate per 100,000 total population. This has more than doubled in the past year. According to the latest measles report from the World Health Organization the current incidence rate is 44% (World Health Organization, 2014). The research problem for this mock proposal is “Is this increase in MMR cases caused by a decrease in vaccinated