Body of Research Paper

Yolanda Godbee Columbia Southern University

Introduction

Vaccinations is the process by which antigenic substances called vaccines are administered to the body to enable or boost the immune system of individuals against certain diseases or pathogens. The main aim of vaccination is to improve the immunity and prevent the vulnerability of individuals or their susceptibility to certain sicknesses and illnesses. There are two major perspectives of this study which is the pro side of vaccination and the con side of vaccination.

The pro side of vaccination is generally the benefits of vaccination administration, such as the safety created out of vaccination, the efficiency of the drugs and the cost of preventing illness rather than treatment of the diseases. The con side of vaccination, will be in terms of what other measures apart from vaccination are available to boost the immunity of individuals. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the con side against the pro side and find out which outweighs the other (Satakar et al. 2015).

The narrowed scope of this study is based on the emerging controversies surrounding the administration of vaccines. Despite the effectiveness of theses vaccines in preventing certain illnesses, the same vaccines pose health risks in terms of side effects. Diseases such as polio, Ebola, hepatitis A and B are prevented through vaccines but administration is the issue. The issue of drug preparation in terms of processes, procedures followed and ethical standards to govern vaccine preparation and testing is important to review. (Satalkar, Elger & Shaw, 2015).Vaccines are termed as medical failures in relation to ethical issues especially in preparation and testing

Literature Review

This section seeks to establish the contentious issues focused on by research on under immunization. The study will mainly focus on the vaccination of young children and the values that society has placed on the importance of vaccination. According to (Satakar et al. 2015) under immunization in children is an issue that has caused a lot of debate especially in understanding the importance of vaccination. This section seeks to understand those factors that cause vaccination to be more important than other prevention methods. Why preventing illnesses especially in children should be done by vaccination? What are those factors that cause a heavy insistence of vaccination? This are some of the questions that this section will seek to answer.

Development and administration of vaccines specific to certain illnesses in countries that are more prevalent is another contentious issue. The case study will focus on Poliomyelitis inactivated vaccine and the health care priorities, measures and vaccines created for Ebola workers.

General benefits of vaccination

Vaccination has been examined and established by various scholars as having more benefits compared to the risks. Vaccines have clearly prevented many illnesses in children as well as adults. One such scholar, (Satakar et al. 2015), has argued that, for vaccinations to be administered to any individual, thorough research is undertaken on the preparation and administration of the vaccines .The reason is establishing that it is fit for humans and expected results are achieved .

Documented success stories of the use of vaccines can be traced back to the year 1955 whereby the inactivated polio virus was discovered and administrated in the US (Paul et.al, 2003). According to statistics, cases of polio disease infection dropped drastically due to the effectiveness of the vaccine, ensuring that that the polio epidemic in the US was eradicated. The decline of reported cases of polio disease infection was a clear indication of the effectiveness of the vaccine (Paul et.al, 2003).

The importance and benefits of vaccination have strongly been felt in western African countries when the Ebola outbreak hit hard. Ebola vaccines has saved the lives of many individuals with success. The vaccine has proven effective when administered in the correct manner and through the right procedure. Ebola is a very dangerous disease that has the ability of killing masses of people due to the uncontrolled manner in which it spreads. (Satakar et al. 2015) Understanding was that it is a communicable and infectious disease that spreads like wild fire. Ebola vaccine has proven to be effective, especially when administered through the right channels and procedures and with such success other vaccines should follow suit.

According to researcher (Paul et.al, 2003) they found a negative relation on vaccination based on cons and pros of being vaccinated and not being vaccinated. The contrast is able to show the disparity and the huge benefits to be derived from vaccination (100-345). The findings of this research found out that the general public was misinformed or lacked information at all on the topic of immunization. Most of the people involved in the research, had depended on myths and hearsays of the cons of immunization. (Paul et.al ,2003 ) study proved that information needs to be passed on, to ensure that people make the best decisions based on facts unlike having a basis of uniformed opinions.

Benefits of vaccination of children

There are numerous benefits of immunization of children. Newborn babies are immunized as soon as they are born, to prevent them from contacting disease such as, polio which can be detrimental to their health and that of the community. Immunizing a child goes further than just saving the life of one child, but of a whole community. This is because when one child contracts a communicable disease, the chances of spreading the infection to others is high. Additionally, immunization helps the child develop good health and immunity to the disease.

Risks of Vaccination

The side effects to vaccination are common but some are medically termed as extreme conditions. Generally there will be swellings around the vaccinated area which soon goes away. The rare side effects of vaccinations, are allergic reactions that can occur when a baby or individual reacts to certain drugs. Anaphylactic reactions are very rare and should be reported immediately as they can be an indication that something is not right (Paul et.al, 2003).

Paralysis is one extreme condition that has been observed, the general cause is wrong and improper administration of the polio virus vaccine. This can be as a result of improper administration of the vaccine in the right amounts and treatment by untrained individuals. Vaccination should be administered by well-trained medical practitioners to help reduce the risk of certain side effects or ailments (Paul et.al, 2003 ) .Perspective or ignorance has been an issue especially in vaccination. Communities and some cultures have a negative perspective on vaccination manly because they are misinformed or not informed. Vaccination especially to such disease as polio is a necessity to reduce the risk of infection.

In conclusion, there are more benefits from the administration of vaccines compared to the avoidance or elimination of the vaccines. In the cases of polio vaccination, it has been proven that the epidemic would have been unstoppable had it not been for the vaccines. The same can be said of the Ebola vaccination (Satakar et al. 2015). Therefore the pros outweigh the cons of vaccination and hence vaccination is the best defense against most childhood diseases and infectious disease.

References.

Satalkar, P., Elger, B. E., & Shaw, D. M. (2015). Prioritizing Healthcare Workers for Ebola Treatment: Treating Those at Greatest Risk to Confer Greatest Benefit Developing World Bioethics, 15(2), 59-67. doi:10.1111/dewb.12079

Offit, Paul A. (2003). "Vaccine Risks Are Outweighed by the Risks of Not Vaccinating." Should Vaccinations be Mandatory? Ed. Noël Merino. Detroit: Green haven Press, 2010. At Issue. Rpt. from "Common Concerns about Vaccines." Vaccines: What You Should Know. 3rd ed.Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, IncOpposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 16 Apr.2013.