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Defining It, and Parsing It Out
When the topic of childhood vaccinations comes up in our country, it may seem as though people are either pro-vaccination or anti-vaccination. However, where an individual ends up on that spectrum-yes, it's a spectrum-is not so simple. And it gets more emotionally charged when we're talking about immunizing children, especially our own.
This article does not profess to resolve all these intricacies. But at the very least, let's set the stage: state laws, public health best practices, children's rights, and parents' decisions each influence the childhood vaccination debate. While this topic is controversial, all is not lost. We can achieve progress in controlling and eliminating vaccine-preventable diseases by openly addressing the issues and interests that underlie the discourse.
PUBLIC HEALTH BENEFITS OF IMMUNIZATION
Breakthroughs in medical advancements in the past centuries have led to the invention and proliferation of vaccinations. When a person receives an injection of a dead or weakened version of the virus- medically speaking, the attenuated virus- the person's immune system is "tricked" into thinking it has been infected, and it produces antibodies that allow the person to become immune without being infected. Vaccines work by stimulating a person's immune system to produce antibodies that fight against that specific antigen to build immunity.
Most healthy children and adults can receive vaccinations with low risk. However, newborns, older adults, and those whose immune systems are compromised (e.g., cancer patients) may not be strong enough to fight off even the weakened virus present in the vaccines.
One cannot underestimate the boon that vaccines have bestowed upon the world. Immunization saves millions of lives around the globe each year. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) report that more than 2.5 million deaths per year are prevented by vaccinations against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and measles alone. Not only are inoculated individuals immunized; their communities benefit too. The broader goal is that, if enough people in the community receive the vaccines, the community at large would become immune, even if individuals with high medical risk cannot receive them. The high-risk individuals who do not receive the vaccines would be "free riders" who benefit from those who do receive the vaccines. This concept is known as...