Issue proposal

Vaccinations till this day have prevented fatal diseases from spreading and reoccurring in the United States. We can all agree that most of us who that are taking this course right now at UTA, have gotten some sort of vaccination to be allowed to attend here. As an aspiring pediatric nurse, I have always agreed with doing anything possible to stay healthy. I currently work in the mother and baby unit at a hospital, and witness first hand, parents refusing to vaccinate their newborns. Furthermore, I have had numerous discussions with multiple experts in the pediatric field, nurses and pediatricians. I have gotten their view points and expertise on the background of vaccinations. Working at the hospital I have various sources to acquire the knowledge I currently uphold. The hospital contains a book filled with each vaccination and everything you need to know about the vaccinations provided by the Centers of Disease Control(CDC). In addition, I also have access to health care data bases and textbooks strictly focused on infants and their care.

I am not going to get to scientific here and drowned you with medical terms. However, I am going to lay out the basics of what current knowledge I acquire. Within twelve hours of an infant being born, he/she is required to receive the Hepatitis B vaccination. Hepatitis B is a severe disease that affects the liver, if not vaccinated it can lead to illness or death. A parent can refuse to receive the Hepatitis B vaccination. The reason for receiving the Hepatitis B vaccination is that this virus that can live in the mother’s body for a long period of time without showing any signs or symptoms. This virus can be spread through birth, thus since the infant’s immune system is significantly underdeveloped it is a safety protocol to vaccinate them with this first. Furthermore, after birth, children go through a series of major required vaccinations till the age of 12. There is a certain schedule a pediatrician will recommend for the parents to follow for the vaccination dates, there is at least thirty- two vaccinations a child will receive by the time they are 12(CDC, 2010).

On the anti- vaccine position, the side effects these new parents fear are the chances of their children developing autism, down syndrome or any disability. A creditable doctor, Dr. Brian Hooker’s released an article claiming that the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination had a scientific link to autism. Parents of these unborn children began to question the detrimental effects of vaccinations. Furthermore, a nurse on my unit has a son with autism, she claims the pregnancy and labor had no complications, however after her child had received a vast majority of the vaccines, she began to see a change in his behavior. Her son was no longer reaching the cognitive milestones. He is currently five and still has not spoken a word and is anti- social. She is a firm believer that we as humans do not know enough information about the infant brain and the severity of their immune system, thus believes that vaccines do cause detrimental cognitive development, and has decide to not vaccinate her other children.

I have strong opinions and ideas about the topic of childhood vaccinations, however there is still questions I have to answer to have a powerful and resourceful argument. Here are a few: what are the pros and cons of vaccinations? How well do doctors know what vaccinations do to an infant’s immune system? Is there a scientific link between cognitive development and vaccinations? Is it necessary to vaccinate children with immunities that are eradicated from the U.S? Why do other doctors ridicule Dr. Hookers research findings and strongly believe it is invalid information? I would answer the first question by saying that there are only benefits to vaccinations, they have ceased most lethal diseases in the United States. Furthermore, have protected humans from coming to contact from deadly diseases, it’s made America safer. To find more information about this I would look up statistics of death rates from lethal diseases in America, and the CDC website. As for the second question, I believe that doctors and pharmaceuticals do not know all the possibilities of the side effects of vaccinations since the infant’s immune system is inadequate, I would use articles regarding the infant immune system. As for the third question, the brain is the most complex organ in the human body, so it is impossible for someone to truly comprehend the complexity of what the brain can and cannot interfere with. Next, I would say, yes, it is necessary because if new parents stop vaccinating children it will put their children and future individuals at risk. For the last question, scientist that are pro vaccination state that “antivaccinationists try to imply that the current vaccine schedule somehow “overwhelms” an infant’s immune system and leads to autism by some unknown and undemonstrated mechanism” (Orac, “Brian Hooker Criticizes a Vaccine Safety Study”). This quote emphasizes the fact that there is no real science behind his findings, just his own interpretation and beliefs.