Exploratory Analysis

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Every kid dreams of going to Disneyland one day. After all, it is the place where dreams come true. But for some children and adults in 2014, it was the place where their worst nightmare came true. 147 cases of the measles were linked to Disneyland. Soon after, in June of 2015, Governor Brown signed a bill stating that a child cannot be exempt from vaccinations for reasons other than medical reasons, and vaccination rates vastly increased.

There are three kinds of vaccine exemption types: religious, philosophical, and medical. Religious exemptions are self-explanatory. If one is able to defend their faith and how it contradicts with vaccines, they can opt out of vaccinations as it interferes with their constitutional right to freedom of religion. Philosophical exemptions means that vaccines interferes with one’s personal beliefs and ideologies. Lastly, medical exemptions mean that a patient has a medical complication that does not allow them to be vaccinated. Vaccines were created with the intention of making diseases preventable, however some people are weary of vaccines and are hesitant to vaccinate themselves and their children.

The science behind these vital medical tools is fairly simple. Vaccines contain a weakened pathogen of a specific virus that trigger an immune response for your body to fight it off. This immune response creates antibodies that fight the infection off, but because the pathogen is so weak, they disperse. Memory cells then have the job to remember the pathogen and call forth the antibodies if one was to come into contact with the illness again (NOVA). In Stephanie Pappas’ article “How Do Vaccines Work?”, they stated that the pathogen “can’t cause an infection, but the immune system still sees them as an enemy and produces antibodies in response. After the threat has passed, many of the antibodies will break down, but immune cells called memory cells remain in the body.” With this, it can be understood that the pathogen will not actually make you sick, it mimics the disease so your body is able to fight it off if you were to contact the illness in the future.

Some people however, are not able to receive vaccinations. Infants who are not old enough to receive vaccinations, the elderly, and anyone who is immunocompromised are not able to defend themselves from these illnesses. They rely on something known as herd immunity to keep themselves safe. Herd immunity requires a certain percent of the population to be vaccinated in order to ensure that the illness does not circulate around the community. According to Dr. Lindsay Levkoff Diamond, 95% of a population must be vaccinated from the measles to protect those who are not able to. Even the slightest dip in these percentages can be dangerous. In France in 2008, the percentage of individuals vaccinated against measles was around 89%. A patient zero returning from a trip to Austria infected her friends and the results were grave. Measles, being an air-borne illness, is extremely contagious. By 2011, there were around 15,000 cases of measles, and 6 people died (NOVA). Travel plays a big part in the spreading of these infectious diseases. Though the United States may not see these diseases as often, developing countries are still working to fight against these illnesses. Having unvaccinated people come from these countries can result in an outbreak. In fact, the measles outbreak in France of 2011 caused an outbreak in the United States. The dangers of these illnesses are very clear, so why are people hesitating to vaccinate their children?

The Risks and Benefits of Vaccinations

Vaccines are responsible for eradicating once popular and fatal diseases such as measles, polio, smallpox, and dozens of others. They are so good at what they do that people have not seen these illnesses for decades, and some do not even know they exist. Before vaccines were invented, people faced the risk of contracting diseases that could end up killing or paralyzing them. They are also probably one of the safest medical tools available. Vaccines go through years of testing before being proved to be potent, pure, and sterlite (Vaccines.gov), and once they are, they are still routinely checked when they are put out into the market.

Like any medical tool, vaccines can cause a reaction in patients. Vaccines are designed to be safe for both children an adults, but reactions in both parties are bound to happen. Most of the mild effects are common throughout all vaccines, but it differs. Mild reactions are not uncommon, and they include fevers, rashes, and redness around where the shot was administered. Other effects, like fainting and allergic reactions are not life-threatening, but are still worrying. But the adverse are what causes parents to delay or not administer vaccinations. Adverse effects are rare and differ with the patient. The chances of someone having a serious reaction to a vaccination are 1 in 1,000,000 and for some parents, it is a scary statistic. The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) was put in place to document any sort of severe reaction from a vaccine. These reactions can include things like encephalitis (swelling of the brain), and sometimes even death. The likelihood of these events happening are so small, yet it is a big concern in parents whether or not their child will be that one in a million.

To avoid any adverse effects, some parents choose to skip a vaccine and allow their child to receive something known as natural immunity. Receiving natural acquired immunity, in which you contract the disease and your body becomes naturally immune, can be a very dangerous thing. Naturally acquired immunity can be stronger, but the risk of doing so is heavy. Vaccinations are not created for minuscule illness; they are created for illnesses that have plagued our society before and have had monumental casualties. Natural immunity only works if the person survives. That being said, vaccines are not 100% effective. According to the World Health Organization, “ For reasons related to the individual, not all vaccinated persons develop immunity. Most routine childhood vaccines are effective for 85% to 95% of recipients.” Receiving a vaccination, though it may not be entirely effective, has saved millions of lives around the globe. According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), before the measles vaccine, there were 503,282 annual cases. After the introduction of the vaccine, only 71 cases were recorded in 2009, showing a 99.9% decrease in the illness.  Risking a child’s life in attempt to receive natural acquired immunity can be more consequential than getting the vaccine itself.

Aluminum, Formaldehyde, Thimerosal, Oh My!

Vaccines contain chemicals. And with anything, a large enough dosage can be fatal. Vaccine hesitant people are weary with vaccination schedules due to the amount of vaccinations administered in one visit and the dosages of things such as formaldehyde, thimerosal, and aluminum. The thing is, the dosages of these things is negligible, meaning close to zero. Focusing on aluminium, it is used as an adjuvant in vaccines which increases immune response to the vaccine. According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, a child will have had a larger intake of aluminum within their first six months of life in comparison to the intake of aluminum from a vaccine. Furthermore, according to the U.S Food and Drug Administration, “Aluminum adjuvant containing vaccines have a demonstrated safety profile of over six decades of use and have only uncommonly been associated with severe local reactions. Of note, the most common source of exposure to aluminum is from eating food or drinking water.”  The dosage is designed to be safe for infants and adults, hence why it takes years for a vaccine to be proven safe after various tests.

Formaldehyde is another component of vaccines that raises concern. The purpose of this chemical is to ensure the virus in the vaccine does not infect the patient, as well as detoxify bacteria toxins (U.S Food and Drug Administration). This ingredient, in a large enough dose, can alter one’s DNA and lead to cancer. The National Toxicology Program (NTP), as well as other governmental sources have considered formaldehyde to be a carcinogen. Understandably, parents fear the effects that can come with this ingredient. However, formaldehyde is produced naturally in our bodies and is used in building materials, as well as in household products.  

Thimerosal was a preservative that was used to prevent the growth of bacteria in vaccinations during the manufacturing of vaccines. Though it was removed once the process was finished, trace amounts still remained. It is a mercury containing compound, with a mercury known as ethylmercury. The difference between the mercury in fish and in thimerosal is important because while methylmercury (mercury in fish) can cause harm, according to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia “Ethylmercury is broken down and excreted much more rapidly than methylmercury. Therefore, ethylmercury (the type of mercury in the influenza vaccine) is much less likely than methylmercury (the type of mercury in the environment) to accumulate in the body and cause harm.” Eventually, after public backlash and fear of being linked to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), thimerosal was removed from all vaccinations that contained it before 2001. The only vaccination nowadays that still contains thimerosal is the influenza vaccination, and thimerosal-free options are available.

The Invisible Link to Autism

There is little known about how people end up with autism. Some information points to autism being genetic and how factors during pregnancy can affect whether or not a child ends up autistic. According to the U.S National Library of Medicine, “Most of the gene variations have only a small effect, and variations in many genes can combine with environmental risk factors, such as parental age, birth complications, and others that have not been identified, to determine an individual’s risk of developing this complex condition. Non-genetic factors may contribute up to about 40 percent of ASD risk.” Researchers still know little about the disorder but one thing is certain, vaccines do not cause autism.

A study published in the medical journal ‘The Lancet’ in 1998 had people up in arms about the the Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccine predisposing children to autism and causing bowel disorders. The claim was fitting, seeing as symptoms of autism in children begin to manifest around the age the vaccine is administered. But correlation does not equal causation, meaning just because autism rates may have increased as more vaccines were being administered does not mean that vaccines are the cause of it. According to Julia Belluz’s article “The Research Linking Autism to Vaccines is Even More Bogus Than You Think”, the research done was unethical. Andrew Wakefield, the lead author of the paper, gathered blood samples at his son’s birthday party and performed other invasive tests on the children such as colonoscopies and spinal taps (Harrell, TIME). After dozens of studies around the world were conducted, the paper was proven to be false. No one was able to find the link between the vaccine and autism. And despite the lack of an existing link, people still use autism as an excuse to not vaccinate their children.

Afterword

Vaccinations seem to be a revolutionary tool, yet some parents are hesitant on injecting these ‘scary’ chemicals into their children’s body. The science behind vaccines is so exact, and if it was not, it would not be administered to infants and children. The reasons behind vaccine hesitancy vary from the fear of their effects, to their ingredients, to an unjustifiable link to a neurological developmental disorder. The fear is understandable, but the benefits provided by vaccines can save children from contracting very serious illnesses that can cost their lives, and choosing to not vaccinate based on falsities puts defenseless people at harm. As Norvina, the president of Anastasia Beverly Hills Cosmetics once said, “Just vaccinate your children or move to a deserted island, you’re not that special to put everyone else at risk.”

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