Vaccine Safety
Disease eradication comes from prevention, but on the individual level, it becomes a risk. For the future benefit of humankind we vaccine. Diseases that plagued our grandparents are known existent and illness we suffered as children have become deadly.
Past History
The Rotary club has been busy trying to eradicate Polo from the world. They are close because of their effort to vaccinate the world, but it is creeping back because of the fear of vaccines. Smallpox occurred frequently, many died from tuberculosis at the first of 20th century, and no one thinks about getting the diseases today. Vaccines account for this change.
Baby boomers can share their stories of having measles, but measles disappeared from the children’s population with a vaccine. The problem that faced the American Indians when pioneers moved west is now affecting the Caucasian population. The Caucasian population had received natural tolerance to the disease over decades of children’s exposure to the disease. It was not such a minor disease for the American Indians. They died at a higher rate.
Today some have stopped taking the measles vaccine because of the past stories of measles being a minor disease, but the tolerance no longer exists in the population because of the absence of the disease. Rubella is causing deadly harm to pregnant woman because of the lack of tolerance and reluctance to take vaccines.
Individual Risks
Vaccines have a risk and it causes parents to weigh the risks. Without taking the vaccine, the children risk the return of polio, whooping cough and many other diseases if they do not give their children the childhood vaccines. In addition, the parents might be subjecting their children to a rare reaction to the vaccine. The rare reaction can leave their children as disabled for life. It makes parents wonder if they really need to take the vaccines since they never hear of the diseases anymore, but it is because of the vaccines that the diseases have become nonexistent.
Autism has increased over the years. I in 150 children receive the diagnosis as autistic. Research says vaccines did not cause the increase, but many parents still claim the autism occurred because of the added frequency of vaccines in children. This has caused some parents to neglect vaccinating their children. Diseases have been increasing in areas without the vaccines. Parents make the choice for their individual children, but cannot be sure the choice was right with either decision since some choices will affect their children’s future generations.
Vaccines have caused concern. The choices parents make affect themselves and everyone around them.
