Jonah Rosen

English 110

Amanda Hadlock

October 21, 2018

The life Behind Vaccinations

Have you gotten your flu shot yet? Such a common question that is asked just about

every year by many people. People either get two different answers. A resounding “yes”! Or the

indifferent “no”. Everyone has different beliefs and values about the use of vaccinations. Some

believe that they are the only way to eliminate diseases and illnesses, while others believe that

they can cause you more harm. According to Webster’s Dictionary, the definition of a vaccine is,

“a substance used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against one or

several diseases, prepared from the causative agent of a disease, its products, or a synthetic

substitute, treated to act as an antigen without inducing the disease”. This definition may be a

little confusing, so I learned it as simply injecting the actual disease into your body to help build

up your body, so that when you do come in contact with that disease your body knows how to

properly fight against it. Many diseases can cause lots of damage to you, or even kill you. That is

why getting these vaccinations are so important. You may think that this problem is still not

relevant in today’s world, but in early 2018 there was a mumps outbreak that was caused to a

small number of people not being vaccinated. People often forget about how harmful some of

these diseases are and do not realize the effects.

During this whole semester, my English class has been learning about unity and

community and the importance of being unified as one. We have learned about communities
where people simply do not care about the people next to them and the people they see every

day. While doing research regarding vaccinations, I continued to see and read the same thing. It

said, regardless of the amount of people that get vaccinated the ones that do not get vaccinated

are the ones who cause the most damage. People are doing such a disservice by not getting

vaccinated and are directly negatively affecting those who did get vaccinated. Even just one

person not getting vaccinated can cause problems, as they can easily get sick and transfer it to the

people that actually got vaccinated. When people think of vaccinations they immediately think

about the flu. That is not the only vaccination people should get. There are many vaccinations

like: chicken pox, small pox, meningitis, and many more. I am very passionate about this topic as

my mom is a nurse and see’s many cases of people getting very sick and dying because they

have gotten one of these diseases.

Those that do not believe in vaccinations are entitled to their beliefs and that is okay, but

when their beliefs can cause harm to other around them, that is when there is problem. Today

people are always worried about themselves and not their community which is sad. Love your

neighbor as you love yourself is a line that speaks to me regarding this topic and I hope it does to

you too. In my opinion, I believe everyone should get vaccinated as it keeps people healthy,

promotes a unified community, and allows people to live a good life.

About every day you hear on the news someone dying from gunshots or from a car

accident. What you do not always hear is someone dying from a disease like measles, chicken

pox, or meningitis. These are what people call the silent killers. They appear very slightly and do

not show many signs, until it is too late. Just because they are silent, does not mean that they are

less harmful, just not as important to people and do not bring about the most attention. According

to ImmunizeUSA.org, vaccines save more lives than seatbelts do to children and older adults
(TIP TALK!). Why are people putting the need of putting on a seatbelt over getting vaccinated?

It is because of the media that glorifies and portrays the negative effects of not wearing a

seatbelt. There are not many cases where you hear or see something about a vaccination over a

horrific crash. Even though they both have the same outcome. What would happen if the media

started to help doctors and start to propose that vaccines are good for you? Well they tried that

and look at these results. Vaxopedia found that there are 2 to 3 million less deaths a year in the

United States, just because people decided to get vaccinated (Vaxopedia). Most post people said

that the reason they got vaccinated was because they saw an ad on their social media. That is

very sad. People base their health and wellbeing on whether they see an ad on one of their

accounts. We are in a new generation. One where the only information that matters is what is

seen on media and news outlets. To increase the number of people getting vaccinate the media

must also shine a light on the severity and importance of people getting vaccinated.

The media cannot be the only source of “promotion” of vaccines. Doctors must stand for

what they believe in and create a way to get their patients to get their vaccines. While doing

research I found that there are doctors who are signing forms allowing children to be absent for

vaccinations. In her journal, Soumaya Karlamanga explains, “"People are getting fraudulent

exemptions," Pan said in an interview.”If we continue to see abuses, then I think there should be

some thought as to how to address it.... People need to realize this is about the safety of their

kids” (Karlamanga). The health of someone’s child should never come before the personal

beliefs of anyone. People’s lives are at risk. Not just those that are not getting vaccinated, but

more so for those that are getting vaccinated. Just because someone is vaccinated does not mean

that they are immune from getting a disease and getting sick. It decreases the chances, but there

always will be a risk when others put their beliefs ahead of the safety and health of others.
Doctors of all people should be the ones to know that and preach that. By hearing that doctors

are going against what they have been taught, and what they believe is astonishing to me. They

are just doing it because of the paycheck they will get in the end. It is time for these doctors to

practice what they preach and explain to parents what they learned from all these years in school

and everything that they know is true. It is sad to see that doctors that are getting caught writing

wrongful exemptions are not even getting in trouble. In the journal “Parents turn to Doctors to

Avoid Vaccines”, it states “In addition to the complaint that launched the Sears investigation,

more than 50 others have been filed against physicians who are accused of improperly writing

exemptions in the last three years, according to the medical board. Roughly half have been

investigated and closed without any disciplinary action, while the others are still pending”

(Karlamanga). These doctors are giving children a greater risk of getting sick and causing many

problems. They should be held accountable for every kid that gets sick and injured from

preventable diseases. There needs to be some sort of change to keep our communities safe and

clean.

One important step for doctors to take to increase vaccination rates, is to stop trying to

educate parents about vaccination. Instead, make it an automatic thing at every visit to avoid any

confusion or laziness. In his scholarly journal William Wan states,

“In the face of such challenges, a common reaction among state health departments is to

mount new education campaigns. But Wednesday's report suggests that focusing on

education and persuasion usually fails to make much difference. Instead, the study

concludes, doctors and health officials should focus on indirect behavior modification —

actions like automatically scheduled vaccination appointments, phone and text reminders

from doctors' offices and monetary incentives from employers” (Wan).

People have become consumed with so many facts and statistics that sometimes it is better to

just know the bare minimum. Instead of providing information that does not mean much to

parents, it is better for doctors to just give these children vaccinations and not say too much

about it. In an article on CNN it states, “Human motivation is a tricky business. No one ever

wants to be frightened into action, and even less do we want to be muscled into doing something

-- even if that something is the "right thing to do" (Scutti). Nobody likes being told what to do, or

how to live their life. Parents also do not like being told what to do, or how to raise their

children. It sounds bad but giving parents less information is sometimes better as studies have

shown. Also giving people incentives to get their children or themselves vaccinated creates an

increase in those who get vaccinated. This incentive system only works for those who get

vaccinated and remain healthy. This will in return positively benefit them in the future and they

will be glad they did it.

As time moves on we need to start to realize that our children are the future. The way

they are raised and the things they are being taught are exactly what is going to be transferred

from generation to generation. It is important to start teaching them good habits and showing

them what is good for them now to keep our future bright. In her recent journal, Lena H. Sun

reports, “A second report, on children entering kindergarten, also showed a gradual increase in

the percentage who were exempted from immunization requirements” (Sun). Even with this

being just a gradual increase that does not shy away from that fact that numbers are increasing.

With time those numbers will multiply, and we will soon be at a point where everyone is not

vaccinated. If we can increase the number of children that are getting vaccinated, we can

hopefully create what is called an “Herd immunity”. In the journal “Should Vaccines be

Mandatory”, Matt Welch describes, “This brings us to the important issue of "herd immunity."
Herd immunity works when most people in a community are immunized against an illness,

greatly reducing the chances that an infected person can pass his microbes along to other

susceptible people” (Welch). For this to work a majority of the population has to be vaccinated

and immune to these diseases. With the trend our population is on now, it is not looking good for

us. While it is good for everyone to get their shots and become immune to these dangerous

diseases, it would still work if we can make it so that a majority of people become immune we

can help out the rest that are not.

Though I have mainly been speaking about problems regarding vaccinations in the

United States, this is also a very big issue for those in other countries facing the problems. Those

of which could be worse due to lack of economy and medical supplies. According to a CNN

report, “Given the changing trends regarding increased vaccine hesitancy and refusal and

consequent disease outbreaks, some countries such as Italy are introducing more mandates," said

Heidi Larson, an anthropologist and director of the Vaccine Confidence Project and associate

professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine” (Scutti). The government is

looking out for the best interest of these people. They are not trying to create a system that

allows them to have complete control over someone. All they want is to keep their citizens

healthy and safe. By creating these mandates which basically make people get these vaccinations

regardless of beliefs, they hope that it will eliminate the threat of disease and other sort of

illnesses. Government officials in France explained, “If parents refuse the mandatory vaccines,

the main consequence will be that their children would not be accepted in schools, nurseries,

etc.," Jourdan wrote in an email (Scutti). These measures may seem wrong to you, but in fact it is

very effective and justified. Children have very weak immune systems and as you know touch

and put everything in their mouth. They spread illnesses very quickly and get sick very fast. In
order to put a stop to children getting very sick France decided to make it mandatory for them to

get their shots before attending school. Which is where almost all kids get sick. With the US

being such a powerful nation, it is important that we help those nations around us who need it.

For example, we need to help bring medical vaccines and medicine to countries who are need of

economic help. We must bring doctors and nurses overseas to help administer these vaccines.

Every little bit helps, and all of this would help create a healthy world. This is a worldwide issue

that is affecting everyone, and by creating laws and rules for people it is only promoting the

wellbeing of everyone.

Throughout this paper I have been writing about why I believe that everyone should be

required to get vaccinated. Like in every situation, there are always two sides. In this situation

there are people who believe that vaccinations should not be mandatory. They do provide some

very strong points which make this such an interesting topic. Many people believe that as

citizens of the United States, we are granted “free will”, and by mandating vaccinations you are

taking away people’s right to free will. In her journal Barbara Loe Fisher writes,

“Like freedom of speech and press, the legal right to exercise freedom of conscience and

religious belief is embodied in the U.S. Constitution. Internationally, these freedoms are

considered basic human rights belonging to all people in every nation. So, too, the legal

right to informed consent to medical risk taking is defined as a human right and is the

centerpiece of the ethical practice of modern medicine” (Fisher).

This is a very good example as to the justification of not getting a vaccination. Americans pride

themselves on the values of freedom. By making people do something that they do not agree

with and do not believe in, is stripping away an important freedom they have. Some others
however believe that vaccinations will actually increase the chances of getting sick. Barbara Loe

Fisher continues and says,

“Vaccines are pharmaceutical products that carry a risk of injury or death. There are

genetic, biological and environmental high risk factors that make some people more

susceptible to vaccine harm, a fact Congress acknowledged in 1986 in the National

Childhood Vaccine Injury Act when it shielded vaccine manufacturers from civil

liability” (Fisher).

There is some research to suggest that there is a possibility that some vaccinations can have a

negative effect on you. But, the evidence is not proven and has not shown links between the two.

In order to use this as a reasonable excuse there has to be strong evidence supporting the claim

and in this case there is not. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and being able to research

and examine the other side of this topic, helped improve my knowledge on the topic and be able

to create a strong argument.

Love your neighbor and as you love yourself. Very common phrase used and very well

known. Loving you neighbor means taking care of one another and being able to care for those

you love. Doing everything in your power to keep others safe and healthy. This topic ties into

that perfectly as getting vaccinated and staying healthy will only improve and help those around

you. Being in a community requires people to come together as one. Holding each other

accountable and acting as a whole rather than individuals is what it is all about. Let’s take a stand

and not let diseases and illnesses beat us in this race against them.
 Works Cited

Fisher Loe, Barbara. “Children Should Not Be Required to Get Vaccinated to Attend
School.” The Vaccine Reaction, 19 Oct. 2017, thevaccinereaction.org.

Karlamanga, Soumaya. “Parents Turn to Avoid Vaccines. “Los Angeles Times, 13 Jul.
2018, pp. A.1. SIRS Issues Researcher.

Scutti, Susan. “Encouraging Vaccination around the World.” CNN, Cable News Network,
2 Jan. 2018,

Sun, Lena H. “Small but Growing Number of U.S. Children Not Getting Vaccinated..”
Washington Post, 12 Oct. 2018, pp. A.3.

“TIP Talk!” 4 Striking Statistics about Vaccination - The Immunization Partnership,

www.immunizeusa.org/blog/2015/february/19/4-striking-statistics-about-
vaccination/.
“Vaccines Statistics and Numbers.” VAXOPEDIA, 10 Jan. 2018,
vaxopedia.org/2018/01/10/vaccines-statistics-and-numbers/.

Wan, William. “People Can’t Be Educated into Vaccinations, But Behavioral

Nudges Study Finds. “Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2018, pp. 1-7. SIRS Issues
Researcher.

Welch, Matt, et al. “Should Vaccines be Mandartory?” Reason, Apr. 2014, pp. 18-26.
SIRS Issues Researcher.