Pros And Cons Of Vaccines

Vaccination Complication “Childhood vaccines are one of the greatest triumphs of modern medicine, indeed, parents whose children are vaccinated no longer have to worry about their child’s death or disability from whooping cough, polio, diphtheria, hepatitis, or a host of other infections” (Ezekiel Emanuel). Vaccines are used to prevent specific diseases in a population and provide immunity in individuals. They have been proved effective many times over and have succeeded in keeping communities safe from certain diseases. Although some people are against them because of safety concerns, vaccines actually play a vital role in public and individual health. Vaccines are arguably the most successful medical invention in history. First of all, …show more content…
Vaccines provide defense against incredibly serious diseases, many of which are deadly and almost always contagious (Basics). Not only do vaccines protect individuals from completely preventable diseases, they lower the probability of an outbreak in a community. They are also undoubtedly effective! In fact, most childhood vaccines produce immunity 90-100% of the time (Basics). People don’t need to worry about if the vaccinations will harm them or their children because all vaccines have to be approved by the FDA before being administered in the USA, and to ensure that they are safe, they undergo many tests and trials. The more people that are vaccinated, the less likely it is for there to be an outbreak of a contagious disease (Basics). If no one is immunized, then the disease will spread throughout the entire community. If only some people are immunized, the disease will still spread to some of the community. But if most of the community is immunized, then the spread of the disease is significantly lessened. If someone chooses not to vaccinate him/herself or their kids, they are deciding to expose themselves and their children to contagious diseases that are 100% preventable (Veronese 5). Vaccines exist to prevent people from contracting contagious and cruel diseases. If vaccines are available and there are no health concerns, everyone should be administered …show more content…
Antivaccinationists claim that vaccines cause autism spectrum disorder (Overview of Vaccines & Autism). ASD diagnoses have been increasing since the early 90’s, which is around the same time vaccine use was increasing. Before 2002, a preservative called thimerosal was used in vaccines. Because more vaccinations were being used, this meant heavier does of thimerosal being put into people bodies. Antivaccinationists claimed that thimerosal was damaging to the central nervous system- however these claims were not backed up by any scientific evidence- and any study linking Autism and vaccines has been disproved. After 2002, thimerosal was removed from routine vaccines and so Antivaccinationists expected the number of ASD diagnoses to drop, but there was not even the slightest change in the rate of increase. This proves that Autism and thimerosal are not linked. Another myth was that the simultaneous administration of multiple vaccines weakens the immune system (Overview of Vaccines & Autism). There is no proof that spreading out the administration of vaccines is more effective than giving multiple vaccines at once. Besides, vaccines are doing exactly the opposite of weakening the immune system- they’re preparing it for attacks from dangerous diseases. Another claim that has been made is that