My view on modern medicine and vaccinations is very
indecisive and changes almost everyday. Some days I take an osteopathic opinion
because I fee like what people put into their bodies should be holistic and
natural. When I see commercials on TV about a medicine that someone should take
that has a million and one side affects is frightening. It makes me question
why we should be taking this medicine if “in some cases causes death.” But, on
some days I take an allopathic opinion because I still get vaccinated annually
for different types of diseases and I’m fine. It makes me wonder if the only
reason parents are thinking vaccines are harmful to their children’s health is
because the children are too young to be getting serious vaccines.
Herd
immunity is a big discussion in this video that sways my opinion. Herd immunity
occurs when the vaccination of a significant portion of a population provides protection
for individuals who have not developed immunity. Herd immunity is important in
a Public Health standpoint because if there is a significant amount of people
vaccinated from life threatening diseases, then there will technically be less
outbreaks of that disease because a majority of them are vaccinated.
I
feel like vaccinations have become a very personal decision within the last
decade because of all the side affects that come with vaccinations in this day
and age. I personally believe that families are the only ones who have a choice
in whether or not their children will be vaccinated against a disease. But, I
also feel like it’s the public health official’s job to inform the families
with as much information as possible before they make their decision whether or
not to vaccinate their kids. Families should not feel coerced.
In
today’s world, I think the social media has a huge affect on whether or not
parents decide to vaccinate. If you search “side affects of vaccines” on YouTube,
you would find a wide array of people who have claimed to have serious side
affects from being vaccinated. While it can’t be proven just yet, I have to say,
I have started to side with the media at some points during this video, because
everybody is starting to claim they changed after receiving a shot.
If physicians would like to
increase the amount of people getting vaccinations, there really needs to be
more research and education from people claiming to have developed autism from
vaccinations. At this rate, I wouldn’t vaccinate my child against anything if I
thought he/she would develop autism afterwards. Serious research needs to be
done on this issue before physicians can even think about people giving their
children vaccinated against diseases without any resistance.
You did a good job in putting your own perspective of why parents may not want to vaccinate their children, as well as explaining why herd immunity is important. I do, however, think you should have summarized the article at some point to have factual data from the video to back up your opinion.
ReplyDeleteI can see why you may agree with the standpoint that others have about not vaccinating their children, but it does not seem that the right solution would be for physicians to research the correlation between autism and those vaccines since the video said that there have been several studies done by epidemiologists that support there not being any connection or any reason that shows causation between the two. Most of the "media" coercion that states autism is caused by said vaccines is based purely on opinion and emotion, so possibly taking the research already found and educating families in that way would also be a helpful solution.
Laura,
ReplyDeleteI understand from your answer to the first question that your personal opinion on the issue of vaccination may not be solidified yet. However, how did this video influence your opinion, and can you offer an example of that influence?
You explained herd immunity properly.
When you consider why vaccines are different, remember that vaccines have just as much to do with personal responsibility as the health for the public. Imagine yourself not just as an individual, but as a leader of a health department. How would you feel if your population decided not to get immunized. Does this concern you in your role as a health officer at all?
For number four, social media is certainly one reason a child might not get immunized, but what are some other reasons?
For the last question, I agree that the biomedical community might need to do more research, but what about the public health community? We do not generally do laboratory research, but are rather charged with health for the public. What message should we bring to the community about vaccines...should be recommend for them, or against? It's hard to know what to do when we don't yet have all the answers. This is the responsibility and hardship of public health.
Erin