Vaccination Situation - Kelsey Tostenson
To this day the debate on vaccination issue is alive and well with compelling arguments for both sides, but at the core of both arguments is a fear of the unknown.
To this day the debate on vaccination issue is alive and well with compelling arguments for both sides, but at the core of both arguments is a fear of the unknown.
A vaccine is a dead or weakened virus injected into the body, so that the body can create antibodies to fight off pathogens in the event that they were to invade the body. Although most vaccines are harmless and very rarely cause side effects, throughout history we can see timeframes filled with widespread fears of vaccines. To this day the debate on vaccination issue is alive and well with compelling arguments for both sides, but at the core of both arguments is a fear of the unknown.
Vaccination has a long history originating in the Song Dynasty in ancient China. Between the years 960 and 1279, vaccines were first being created to try and cure a smallpox epidemic that became prevalent during this time. Vaccines in ancient China consisted of the ground-up scabs from a small pox victim that were then inhaled as a powder into the noses of people who hadn’t been infected with the pathogen. Their hypothesis was that people exposed to the virus previously were less likely to die and had an easier chance of fighting off the virus. Now-a-days ground up scabs seems kind of barbaric, but this ancient practice proved to be a vital building block to the evolution of vaccines.
In the late 1700s, Dr. Edward Jenner hypothesized that, exposure to cow pox resulted in the unintentional immunity of smallpox. This hypothesis stemmed from his observation that milkmaids who worked in close proximity with cows seemed to be immune to smallpox. Dr. Jenner then began experimenting by injecting the cow pox pathogen into people. People would then contract cow pox, but it was not fatal. Next he would inject patients with the smallpox pathogen, and most of his patients proved to have immunity. This was the beginning of vaccines, still in the works, but offered many hope for the future.
By the 20th century, scientists were beginning to master the art of vaccination. They created vaccines for tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis. A long awaited polio vaccine was not created until the mid 1950s. Shortly after in the 1960’s came the vaccines for the measles, mumps and rubella. Before long it seemed like everyone was getting vaccinated.
Although vaccines were generally accepted there was still hesitancy amongst people. It was hard for people to understand why someone should be injected with a pathogen that was dangerous in itself. This fear of the unknown is still around today.
I have some personal experience revolving around the fear of vaccinations. When I was five years old, I had terrible eyesight, doctors didn’t know what was wrong. After several misdiagnosis, they told my mother, they simply had no clue, and suggested reading articles on vaccinations. From the time I was five until the fourth grade I was not vaccinated for fear that it cause side effects that leave lasting marks on my health. Luckily late in my fourth grade year I was diagnosed with optic nerve hypoplasia, a birth defect where the optic nerve does not fully develop while still inside of my mother. With much relief, I was able to catch up on my vaccinations, and I luckily didn’t contract anything while unvaccinated.
My mother was not the only person who was scared of vaccines. Many of my peers have told me why there parents chose not to vaccinate them. For many it was a fear that vaccination was linked to autism. Articles claiming Vaccinations and Autism were connected began emerging in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. These reports set off a chain of reaction that led to a widespread fear of vaccinations and a generation of children whose parents had to face the controversial decision on whether to vaccinate.
I have talked to some of my peers that have openly told me they have not been vaccinated. They said that their parents had to weigh the pros and cons of both vaccination and and the risk of not having immunity. Ultimately it was fear that drove parents to not get their kids vaccinated, and it’s fear that drives them to get vaccinated as well.
By the 1980’s and 1990’s America had thought it had finally beat diseases common in the 50’s such as polio and measles, although recently we have been seeing a resurgence of the diseases we though were no longer existent. The thing with not being vaccinated is that it’s not only risky for the individual without the antibodies, but it is also risky for the people around him or her. When a person is susceptible to a pathogen or has been exposed, the Virus has a chance to mutate. These mutations often make the pathogens stronger and harder to get rid of. Not only is this bad for the individual infected, but because the vaccines everybody else received are not immune to this string of the virus, it can put people who did infact get vaccinated at risk at contracting the disease.
Around Christmas last year in Disneyland the extremely contagious measles pathogen began to spread wild. Since then, cases of the measles have spread to across the country, and currently in the Bay Area a case was was diagnosed in Marin.
Vaccines have a long and interesting history, originating in Ancient China. But even though vaccines have been around for so long The debate on whether or not to get vaccinated is still alive and well everywhere.