So, what's all this fuss about infant immunizations anyway?

[Introduction: Provides an overview and defines the subject selected by the group]

By Andrea Clark

In May of 1796, an experiment was performed by Dr. Jenner which ended up developing the first vaccine. Smallpox, a worldwide pandemic at the time, was responsible for wiping out massive amounts of people. Through Dr. Jenner’s success and massive vaccination efforts, smallpox has been eradicated almost completely. Ever since Jenner’s discovery, governments have kept an open mind towards the vaccination industry. This year alone, The American government spent about $1.6 billion on the production of the H1N1 vaccine. Vaccinations have been a popular choice for the prevention of specific diseases. They quickly arose to be seen as a necessity and in the nineteenth century both Europe and North America made smallpox vaccinations virtually compulsory necessities. Ever since then more and more immunizations have been added to the list for children to receive in order to attend public schools. Ironically, though, as vaccines have become more commonplace, they have lost some of their allure.

After creating compulsory vaccination laws, people started an anti-vaccination movement. People protested that it was an intrusion to their privacy and bodily integrity. This movement is still ongoing. There are a lot of religious beliefs that immunizations should not be done. Many believe that it should be their right to decide whether or not their child should be immunized. Since the major push for immunizations and their safety to children, schools require that children receive certain vaccitions, such as MMR, and Hepatitis B, in order to attend their programs. Many argue that this practice is inhumane and that schools shouldn’t have the right to mandate it.

Immunizations have been a big part of modern medicine. Vaccines have been credited of wiping out many contagious diseases and saving lives. A lot of people in this country think of immunizations as mandatory, but there have been a growing number of people who oppose the idea. From the start of vaccines there has been controversy of whether or not they are needed. Natural healers believe that the body’s immune system is capable of developing immunity to a disease to which it is exposed. This reasoning is why they believe that vaccinations are just an assault on the body. For example, instead of naturally catching a virus, immunizations just inject it directly into our bloodstream. This bypasses the natural defense mechanisms of the body. In the last ten years people began to connect different diseases to vaccines. Studies have correlated that certain toxins found in vaccines have been linked to autism, cancer, ADHD, SIDS, MS, and many others.

There is a lot of information about immunizations in the media. There are a lot of benefits to immunizing infants and children, but there are, of course, risks. As with all medical procedures the benefits and risks must be weighed. Practice guidelines offer a lot of information about what we as nurses need to know about the issue and how we can educate our patients without bias.

Source:
Stern, A.M., & Markel, H. (2005). The History of vaccines and immunizations: familiar patterns, new challenges . Health Affairs, 24(3), Retrieved from http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/24/3/611