...I am a pacifist by nature. After spending the weekend attempting to come up with a controversial topic that I am passionate about, I was utterly stumped. About an hour before the Sabbath ended, before I could start actually writing this paper, a friend was over and she told me she was not planning to vaccinate her children. Her reasoning was that her mother had an adverse reaction to some vaccination, and she doesn't want to risk it with herself or her kids. I disagreed with her and told her she should not use this minimal amount of information to make such a drastic decision. There was a high possibility that her mother had simply had an adverse reaction it to this specific vaccination, and would be okay with other ones. The chances that she herself would have the same reaction was not great enough to justify not getting any vaccinations! Not vaccinating her children was absurd! And just like that, I had my topic....
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...important to clear the air. Vaccines are safe. Vaccines are necessary. People should absolutely vaccinate their children unless their kids are either too young or allergic to the ingredients. The effects of not vaccinating children are profound. Despite the scientific consensus that people should vaccinate their children, an increasing number of people are refusing to do so. It is important to examine how vaccines work. First of all, vaccines work by stimulating the body's immune system to better combat some of the most dangerous infections. The immune system produces antibodies when exposed to an invader. These antibodies persist for long periods of time and help to fight off an infection if the body sees the infection a second time. Unfortunately, these antibodies don't help much during the first infection. This is where much of the damage is done. Therefore, medical research invented vaccines. These take weakened infections or proteins from infectious diseases called antigens. It is important to note these vaccine components do not cause any deadly infections. They are merely portions of the infection or a weakened form of the infection. These vaccines train the body to fight off the infection if...
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...the cause of autism in children. There have been past articles who have blamed levels of mercury in infant routine vaccines to be responsible for infants developing autism (Lord, 2011). Some parents are having second thoughts about their infant’s routine vaccines and opting not to vaccinate their children at all. Infants are put at high risks and are prone to getting serious and deadly diseases. The fear of having an autistic child is blinding the parents from the true problem, which is not vaccinating their children and making them vulnerable to more serious life threatening diseases. Vaccines aren’t the only thing that exposes us to mercury, there are certain foods we eat that also have some amount of mercury in them. Fish, for example, is known to have mercury, yet we still eat fish and don’t blame fish for autism instead we blame vaccines. Doctors actually recommend pregnant women to cut down on the amount of fish intake or to simply avoid fish during pregnancy. Furthermore, if vaccines were made to help infant’s immune system to get stronger and keep them from being vulnerable to certain deadly diseases, then why would parents blame vaccines for autism? Parents should be educated about vaccines, the...
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...Chamberlain College of Nursing Week-4 Ethics Paper May 29, 2016 While some parents see vaccination as a medical necessity others see it as endangering their children. This is one of the main problems that first time mother face. Example when I became a mother I was confused when I was asked about vaccinating my child. Like many people I did not fully understand the benefits and side effect of vaccination so I only agreed because I was told it was good for my child. On the other hand, I did my own research online and majority of what I came across talks about why not to vaccinate your child. Studies as show that vaccination prevent childhood diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough and chicken pox. While some may say that vaccination is the best way to protect our children some will also argue that injecting chemicals to our children is not safe. Over the years I have come across many people that believe that vaccinating their child was the cause of their children autism and other behavior problems. Working on the autism units in a mental hospital for children we often come across patients that are strongly against vaccination and sometimes medications because it is believe that adding what was not created in the body to the body is dangerous and only makes their child worst. Some parents believe that refusing to vaccinate their child is their chose (which it is) and that it only affects their child; sadly, it is not true since vaccination are based on...
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...(Mumps, measles, rubella) shot but as of the 1900’s it has been removed. Research has been conducted on these issues and studies have shown vaccinations to be safe. In this publication from the American Academy of Pediatrics which is a well known organization that is dedicated to the health of children I find an extensive amount of data that supports my theory of vaccinations being beneficial to children. They have compiled studies from a lot of sources in order to prove that there is no harm in vaccinations. Buttenheim, Alison, PhD., M.B.A., Jones, Malia, PhD., M.P.H., & Baras, Y., B.A. (2012). Exposure of California kindergartners to students with personal belief exemptions from mandated school entry vaccinations. American Journal of Public Health, 102(8), E59-E67. Retrieved from; http://search.proquest.com/docview/1039278619?accountid=158639. Personal Belief Exemption (PBE) from mandated school entry vaccines in California have increased over the past decade. More than 7000 kindergartners in California attend schools with PBE rates greater than 20 per 100, including 2700 kindergartners with PBEs. Infectious disease outbreaks in the state may be associated with the aggregation of intentionally unvaccinated children within schools. This information while very informative of the PBE rate in California, the research showed the highly populated areas of children with PBE’s, and examples of children that are not vaccinated spreading an...
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...Bioethics Ramona (Campbell) Haggard Bioethics, by definition, is the ethics of medical and biological research. There are a number of bioethical issues that are being carefully addressed as they arise. Some are easily remedied and some still remain very controversial. In this paper we will explore the use of genetic trait testing, access to genetic information as well as the issue of vaccinating or not. With regards to bioethical related data the accessing, storing, gathering, and sharing medical data for the purpose of using the data for the scientific purpose of research is still a controversial issue in the scientific community. There is no basic problem with sharing medical data electronically, with the implementation of EHR, electronic health records. However, there is yet to be formal ethical guidelines established for the use of this data in the biological sciences community. There have been guidelines introduced for developing ethical principles with the ultimate goal of winning over the scientific community to incorporate the use of this data into their existing code of ethics. The scientific community has an obligation to share this data, if permitted by the patient, for research purposes. It also can be a major factor that could increase the trust of the public with regards to scientific research. Society also had concerns about employers having access to genetic information. (Duke & Porter, 2013) With the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of...
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...THE USE OF VACCINES Vaccines have been considered instrumental in making the world a healthier environment for children and adults alike; however, vaccines do impose some health risks. It is important for all parents to consider both the benefits and risks of vaccines when deciding whether or not to have a child vaccinated. Vaccines are made up of products that stimulate a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, protecting the person from that disease. They are usually administered through needle injections by mouth or sprayed into the nose. They are made up of small amounts of weakened or dead versions of bacteria, viruses, or other antigens that stimulate the immune system to create antibodies that prevent future infections from the disease. There are fourteen vaccine-preventable diseases that are considered potentially serious and have been routinely vaccinated against; these are: Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Meningococcal, Rotavirus, Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis (Whooping Cough), Polio, Hepatitis A and B, Pneumococcal disease, Varicella (Chicken Pox), and Haemophilus Influenza Type B (HIB disease). Not long ago, these diseases disabled and killed millions of American children but because of the United States high compliance with childhood immunization schedules, these diseases have now become very uncommon (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015). Immunization is a subject that evokes very strong opinions...
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...what is causing autism in our children today. It is believed that autism is a genetic disorder, and that there are environmental factors however we are not yet sure how they are related. The “conspiracy theory” suggests that vaccine makers are withholding the truth about these vaccinations mainly the measles, mumps and rubella MMR. In London in 1998 a gastroenterologist named Andrew Wakefield published a study in a prestigious medical journal Lancet that linked the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism in children. Mr. Wakefield’s ethics were questioned due to the manner in which he carried out his research. In a ruling, the General Medical Council, ruled that Wakefield acted dishonestly and irresponsibly during his research and had no regard to his human study subjects (Harrell, 2010). Mr. Wakefield carried out test such as colonoscopies and spinal taps; these tests are invasive and can have ill effects on children. Wakefield was also accused of paying children at his son’s birthday party to give blood. Mr. Wakefield also failed to mention that he was being paid by the lawyers representing the parents who thought their children were injured by the MMR shots (Harrell, 2010). Twelve years after the study was published The Lancet retracted the paper. A statement published in the British medical journal states that several elements of the paper it published by author Dr. Andrew Wakefield and his colleagues are incorrect. The original paper by Dr. Wakefield and his coauthors...
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...rates. A wealth of evidence exists to prove that vaccinations are safe, effective, and increase public health. The scientific and medical communities, by a vast majority, support the use of vaccinations and are desperately attempting to get vaccines to third world countries and end massive generations-long death tolls attributed to preventable diseases. The diseases that these vaccines prevent had been eradicated in the United States and Western Europe for decades. Why, then, are people willing to allow their children to go unvaccinated in first world nations? Cognitive dissonance may hold the answer to this question. Ian and Linda Williams are educated parents in Auckland, New Zealand, who refused to vaccinate their son, Alijah. This decision would be life-altering. The family was caught up in the recent anti-vaccine movement, promoted heavily by celebrities like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Jim Carrey, and Jenny McCarthy - one of the most famous opponents to vaccine use. This paper will delve into the shocking story of one family’s regrettable decision to not vaccinate their child and the possible social psychological phenomena that led to their decision. What is Cognitive Dissonance? Cognitive dissonance theory “assumes that we feel tension, or a lack of harmony, when two simultaneously accessible thoughts or beliefs are...
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...Excelsior College Author's note This paper was written for MLS 500: Graduate Research and Writing taught by Dr. Kyla Hammond Most healthcare professionals and leaders attribute vaccination as the single-most important reason for increasing the health of the human population during the past one hundred years. As a result, required immunizations are common in the U. S. and other developed countries. However, there is a segment of society who argue against vaccination due to worries that immunizing negatively impacts future health. More and more information is becoming available that presents allopathic vaccination in an ugly light. (Sharma, 2003) For the past century, vaccines for diptheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella, polio, and now more recently, hepatitis B and varicella have programmed our immune systems to be powerful protectors of our health. Compulsory state immunization laws have increased the U.S. immunization rate to 77%, the highest ever. (Largent, 2012) Despite high immunization rates, there is an underlying progression of a movement of parents questioning whether the vaccines are contributing to health conditions such as autism. Contributing to the uncertainty are occasional anecdotal accounts of parents with children who experience adverse reactions. Fear causes many parents to entirely forego vaccines for their children. Regardless of mandatory school vaccine laws for school children, physicians can exempt children from vaccines due to a medical reason...
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...Analysis of an Ethical Dilemma From Current Events Ethical dilemmas are everywhere in healthcare. They range from whether to vaccinate children to life and death issues. They cover the lifespan from birth (or I should say conception, as abortion is a big one) to death (no matter what age that may occur). For the purpose of this paper, I purposely stayed away from life and death issues. I have a strong moral and ethical stance on allowing patients to die with dignity. Keeping patients alive or giving treatments to prolong life without quality is so against my morals. If the patient chooses to become a DNR or refuses "recommended" life sustaining treatments, they should have the autonomy to do so. A recent example in the news is the death of Steve Jobs. Now that he has passed away, everyone and their brother are saying that he was a difficult patient. They say he refused lifesaving treatments and surgeries. This is easy to say now that he has passed. We cannot go back now and do a Whipple on him to compare how much longer he would have lived. Whipples are extremely involved procedures and can lead to many complications, with no guarantee of prolonged life. Monday morning quarterbacks are a dime a dozen. The ethical issue that I choose to use for my paper is the recent dilemma of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for boys. Vaccinations in general have always been on the list of ethical topics in healthcare. From parents of newborns who believe in the false link between...
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...Change? ISIS? Al Qaeda? The North Korean Army? No It is in fact a collective of people far closer to home. You work, learn and eat with them every single day. They are uninformed and dangerous..their name? Anti Vaxxers. Yes, the biggest threat to our society is in fact these seemingly innocuous modern hippys. Anti-Vaxxers choose to expose their children to deadly preventable diseases because they believe that those vaccines cause autism. This makes sense because you know, autism is transmitted through things like kissing, sharing toilet seats, and getting vaccinated against diseases that could have wiped us all out except they didn’t because some kick-ass motherfucker...
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...When I was six years old, my mom asked me, how about eating a hamburger outside? and I answered “Yes!” and went out with her. But instead I went to a public health center, not fast food restaurant and got vaccinated. It was very painful and I cried. Many people may have an experience like me. However vaccinations help us not to suffer from a certain health problem and lead to an advantageous response to infection. We have had many inoculations decades such as polio, measles, tetanus, diphtheria, etc. As a person of South Korea, I have had many vaccinations. It plays an important role in living healthy. Therefore, I think that all nations should be mandatory vaccinations because it would protect individual and the nation’s health. According to Health Affairs, a journal about healthcare and health policy, a vaccine was attempted for the first time by Edward Jenner who was a doctor from the United Kingdom in 1796. During this time, smallpox spread throughout the UK. Meanwhile Jenner discovered that ranch workers milking cows everyday didn’t catch well the disease. There was a disease, cowpox that is similar to smallpox but a weaker form. When a person contracted cowpox, he or she could endure well than a person who caught smallpox and wasn’t stricken with smallpox anymore. Inspired by this realization Jenner invented the smallpox vaccine after some experiments using cowpox virus. Since then the term ‘vaccine’ began to be used by Louis Pasteur who has been called “microbial father”...
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...Tichina Berryhill Professor Rouse English 102 26 September 2015 The Vaccine Debate During the last ten years or so, there has been a debate on childhood vaccinations. This debate all started from the acquisition that vaccines cause autism. Since the debate, many parents have been skeptical on whether or not they will get their children vaccinated. From the negative comments that are going around from highly respected people new parents doubt vaccines importance to the world. Parents are concerned, which they should be, about if vaccines are beneficial or harmful to their kid’s health? Some claim that vaccinations are needless and unsafe. With the misleading information in parent’s ears they are stuck with the big question. Should I vaccinate my child? Since this vaccine debate, “about 40 percent of American parents today has chosen to delay certain vaccines or outright refuse to allow their children’s physicians to vaccinate their children with one or more of the recommended or mandated vaccines” (Largent). As the rates of being vaccinated go down, it is putting not only that child in danger but also the whole community. Diseases that were once gone are on the rise.” A 2013 study published in the journal Pediatrics reports that California’s worst whooping-cough outbreak, which infected more than 9,000 people (Rothstein)”. Also “the CDC reports that from Jan. 1 to Feb. 28, 2014, 54 people in the U.S. have reported being infected with measles” (Sifferlin)...
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...Unvaccinated Children: Should they be allowed in public schools? Assignment 5: Persuasive Paper Part 3: Possible Disadvantages, Answers, with VisualsYour Name Lisa Teitler Eng 215 March 13, 2016 Unvaccinated Children: Should they be allowed in public schools? Today’s vaccinations are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in order to ensure their effectiveness and safety to the general public. Currently there are no federal laws which mandates vaccination, but there is a vaccination requirement per state for children entering school. The chart below details which vaccines are mandated for public school by several states: Children who are not vaccinated have a greater chance of death than children who received the required vaccinations. The safety of vaccinations is in questioned by many, asking if they are safe for children to receive. They are safe and should be required for children since those vaccinations help prevent illnesses, lower the risk for some diseases and it might even cause financial growth. There are several advantages of receiving the recommended vaccines. One advantage is that they are designed to put foreign antigens into the body so the body will produce antibodies to fight it off. The body will produce two types of immune responses when an antigen is introduced in order to ensure total immunity from the disease. Vaccines ensure that children get immunity from diseases instead of contracting them. Having immunity is a major advantage...
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