My Research of Advantages and Disadvantages of Vaccination

SRP First Draft

Introduction

Vaccines are a medical advancement that allows for people to be immune to a certain virus for a period of time, whether it be for a few months or a few years. Vaccines improve the safety of the general public because there is less of a chance that something harmful can spread and therefore less of a need for vaccines after the fact. However, there is a growing opposition to vaccination due to the serious side effects believed to be caused by it. I believe that this assumption needs to resolved because it poses a threat to the general safety or society by not putting a limit on the potential for a virus or disease to spread.

With the amount of physical contact people have with each other, it is easy for a virus or disease to spread. When the amount of people vaccinated versus those not vaccinated are taken into account, it isn’t easy for a virus to spread, but it isn’t impossible for it happen. As someone who has taken public transportation everywhere for at least the past 4 years, I am not comfortable with the fact that some people choose to not be vaccinated. Although I am not necessarily at risk, I understand that this group of people is the reason why more and more vaccines need to be developed each year due to the rate of evolution of viruses and diseases both common and rare. I feel that this should be seen as a problem because it would improve the safety of the public.

The harmful side effects of vaccines are generally myths. There has not been one verified case of autism caused by vaccination, which seems to be the most common belief of anti-vaccination supporters. Although not the only believed side effect of vaccination, the group of people that refuse vaccination also tend to refuse it for their children. This is a problem because they allow viruses to spread not only through themselves, but through those who have weaker immune systems and can be easier harmed because of it. Even if a majority of the public is up to date on their vaccinations at all times, the minority negates this because they cause the need for yearly updates by not putting a limit on the spread. Although someone is immune this doesn’t mean that they aren’t carrying a virus.

Given that we are free to make decisions on our own, it would be hard for the government to force vaccinate the entire population. However, as a solution, It could be harder for those without proper requirements to do things in general. Although it would seem a bit ridiculous to many, we already need to have up to date vaccinations in order to attend school and the only way to get around that would be for a religious exemption. It could be a solution to ensure that the individual exempt is not falsifying information just to avoid having themselves or their children vaccinated in the hopes that everyone else is vaccinated and that it won’t have much of an impact.

Research

In a journal entry from the Journal of Child and Adolescent Behavior, Written by Sarah Crawford at the Department of Biology at Southern Connecticut State University, the journal covers a scientific model that observes potential causes of Autism Spectrum Disorder, and how the model is useful to predicting the causes, “as it suggests that, rather than attempting to identify a specific causative agent linked to ASD, the combined risk factor profile should be evaluated in population studies in order to specify more accurately the limits of pre- threshold exposure”, meaning that all potential causes should be taken into account, and not just something like a vaccination. In the journal, Crawford describes autism as “autism spectrum disorder” because it had been determined that “the term is somewhat ambiguous”.

In a report that displays the anti-vaccination attitude in social media, the authors argue that lack of vaccination threatens public safety by “reducing the likelihood of disease eradication” and analyses the behaviors of twitter users that display anti-vaccination attitudes, stating that “those with long-term anti-vaccination attitudes manifest conspiratorial thinking, mistrust in government, and are resolute and in-group focused in language”. Written by individuals from Microsoft Research, Georgia Institute of Technology, and University of Texas at Austin.

In a paper that discusses the current state laws on exemption from immunization or vaccination and why they pose a risk to the public,the author argues that there should not be a way for people to endanger those around them by refusing immunization, stating that “vaccinations are critical to the control and eradication of deadly infectious diseases”. This could contribute to my argument because the author states arguments that align with the goal of my project.

Interview

For my this part of the research project I wanted to interview someone who has been around long enough to see stories of vaccines in the news and who could also provide personal experience on the subject. Given this, I decided to interview my grandmother because she had all 5 of her children vaccinated up until they could decide for themselves. This is important for the basis of the interview because a majority of the myths on vaccines are things that would show over time. From the interview, I know that I need to determine what exactly the public fears about vaccine besides that they may cause a mental disability. The reason why this subject is important to me is because I feel that public safety should be necessary, so I feel that it would also be important to determine the possible dangers that the unvaccinated pose toward the rest of society. Another thing that I feel would be important to research are the side effects that vaccines could cause, but that wouldn’t permanently debilitate the body. This is because it may be that some fear vaccines for minor side effects and not just because of the major ones. From the interview it is clear that I also need to perform research not just on the potential and definite dangers of vaccines, but the potential and definite advantages of vaccines so that I can work to disprove the general fears, which is a sort of secondary purpose of this project.