Vaccinating Saves Lives

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate is a question that parents ponder every day and the big problem is whether or not there is a right answer. Some people believe that vaccinating causes problems such as Autism while others believe that it is the best decision for their family. The thing with vaccinations is that there is no in between, you are either for vaccinating or you are not. I believe that vaccines are extremely important and until someone can prove definitively that it is harmful to my children I will continue to vaccinate my children. The idea of vaccinating became taboo when a study was published by Dr. Andrew Wakefield in 1998. Over the course of the next 12 years it was proven that Wakefield falsified parts of his study and that of the 12 children in his study 5 of them had developmental problems before the study bean and 3 of them never even had autism. It was also found that Wakefield received more than $650,000 from lawyers that were involved in his study (procon.org, 2014). So to say that vaccinations are dangerous and cause autism is a little extreme considering the fact that the study that started the whole controversy was a complete fraud.

            While I do believe that vaccines are important and believe that most children should be vaccinated I also understand that some children should not be vaccinated. Like any other medication there are going to be children who have an adverse reaction to these medications. Both of my children are allergic to penicillin, my daughter worse than my son, but they both have a reaction so it makes sense for me to avoid penicillin and anything made with penicillin to keep them safe. Parents who have to face their child’s heath being put in danger just to give them a mediation should not vaccinate however, I believe that all other parents should not take this decision lightly. In developing countries where vaccines are not affordable children are dying of all kinds of sicknesses that can be avoided and here in America we take them for granted and try to avoid them for our children. In Africa, more than half a million children died from measles in 2003 and diphtheria, pertussis and Hib kill more than 800,000 children a year (Unicef, n.d). If we can stop this from happening by vaccinating our children doesn’t it make sense to get them vaccinated? I am a firm believer that it is our duty to vaccinate our children and parents who chose not to vaccinate for any reason other than a medical one are being irresponsible parents.

Procon.org., (2014). Andrew Wakefield and the Autism Controversy. Retrieved on September 1, 2014 from, http://vaccines.procon.org/#background

Unicef. (n.d). Why are children dying? Retrieved on September 12, 2014 from, http://www.unicef.org/immunization/index_why.html