Vaccination - Assignment Example

Ethical Dilemma in Vaccination and Autism s In human history, in order to prevent the severity of disease infection vaccines were developed. Lombard, Pastoret, and Moulin (2007) argue that vaccination entails the giving of an antigenic material with an aim of stimulating a person’s immune system so that the body develops adaptive immunity to pathogen. The Centers for Disease Control suggest that children 0 to 6 months of age should receive 28 doses of vaccines. However, there are no federal regulations in the United States that mandate vaccination.

Contrarily, most of the states have a requirement of particular vaccination for kids who are entering public learning institutions. On the contrary, in West Virginia and Mississippi there are no laws that mandate vaccination. To that effect, some parents choose not to vaccinate their children because they believe that it may result in autism. Advocates of immunization claim that the government should not intervene in personal medical choices. The opponents of vaccination claim that the immune system of the children can deal naturally with the majority of the infections.

The Mayo Clinic pointed out that natural immunity is more complete than a series of vaccines. Some guardians usually do not want their children to be vaccinated because the process of vaccination introduces foreign particles in the children’s immune system resulting in side effects like autism (Plotkin, 2006). More to the point, the flu vaccine have been found to contain thimerosal that is packaged in multi-dose vials. When the health workers draw individual doses, they leave the vaccine susceptible for to contamination each time the rubber is punctured.

The presence of this preservative in the vaccine was found by (Andrew & McCarthy, 2010) to cause autism. An introduction of mercury in the body affects the nervous system resulting in autistic like symptoms. It causes the dysregulation of the immune system of the child affecting neurodevelopment. Autism signs are evidenced (Mesmere, 2007). Even with introduction of the pre-filled syringes, certain medical that find it expensive still the thimerosal as a preservative. The 1998 Lancet paper reported that immunization is not safe.

Parents of the 8 out of 12 whose children were studies asserted that 14 months after receiving the combination measles-mumps-rubella vaccine the kids exhibited symptoms of autism. Moreover, Plotkin, Gerber, and Offit (2009) argue that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine allows the entry of encelophalopathic causes autism by damaging the intestinal lining. The researchers also posit that the simultaneous administration of various vaccines to children fades their immune system. Even though various studies have pointed out that vaccination prevents the occurrence of a disease, there are minimal studies on effect of vaccines on autism.

In this perspective, there are no studies that have been conducted on the relationship of autism in the unvaccinated and vaccinated children and the study including only certain vaccines. This creates a gap in information since these studies are also difficult to conduct as a result of the ethics of studying unvaccinated children (Plotkin, Gerber, & Offit, 2009).However, the proponents of vaccinations share the evidence that vaccination is considered as one of the safest as well as greatest health developments in the 20th century.

They assert that illnesses, such as polio, smallpox, diphtheria, and whooping have been tackled by means of coming up with vaccinations. As a consequence, millions of children have been saved. The advocates of immunization also argue that the negative impacts of vaccines are seldom reported. Nonetheless, the opponents of vaccination as evidenced in various literature triggers problems like autism. Equally important, the Center of Disease Control and American Academy of Pediatrics, as well as the World Health Organization came to a conclusion that there is no relationship between autism and vaccines.

In spite of numerous studies showing no correlation between vaccine and autism, there are still very many people remain unconvinced. Jenny McCarthy, an actress, went to the Oprah television show and made claims that she believed that a certain vaccination led to her son’s autistic condition. Various political figures in America have also made similar claims that there is quite strong evidence that certain vaccines are the causative agents of autism. In my opinion, the issue of vaccination remains debatable, but I think as there is no correlation between vaccines and autism.

Currently, there is a lot emotion that surrounds the issue of autism. It has led to the engendering a lot of fear in clinicians and parents as well. More dilemma is created as the testing of the scientific testing are difficult to comprehend. This makes it hard to separate good science and bad science. The misunderstanding between the scientific community and the society further magnifies the social process of talking about if vaccines cause autism. ReferencesAndrew, W., & McCarthy, J. (2010).

Callous Disregard: Autism and Vaccines -- the Truth Behind a Tragedy. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Lombard, M., Pastoret, P., & Moulin, M. (2007). "A brief history of vaccines and vaccination." Rev. Off. Int. Epizoot. 26 (1): 29-34.Mesmere, B. (2007). New Autism Research Developments. New York: Routledge.Plotkin, S. (2006). Mass Vaccination: Global Aspects - Progress and Obstacles (Current Topics in Microbiology & Immunology). Berlin: Springer-Verlag and Heidelberg GmbH & Company.Plotkin, S., Gerber, J.

, & Offit, P. (2009). “Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses.” Clinical Infectious Disease , 48 (4), 456-461.