Pro-Vaccine

             The biggest benefit of vaccines is the effectiveness (Center for Disease Control, 2010). Diseases like smallpox have been completely eliminated because of vaccinations. Vaccines do not simply treat disease—they prevent it. Vaccines work by introducing either a weak or dead disease germ in to the body so that the body can safely build antibodies that make a person immune to the disease. Until the disease has been completely eliminated, it is necessary for immunizations to continue. Vaccinating not only protects the present, it also protects future generations.  

            One benefit of the influenza and H1N1 vaccine that is not commonly known is the “two-for-one” benefit for pregnant women who receive the vaccine (Colson, Grizas, Meharry, Stiller, & Vasquez, 2012). Many people don’t know that the baby also receives immunity until six-months-of-age. The same study found that most women are not educated on dual immunity and that educating women on this significantly increased the likelihood of immunization. The study also concluded that fear of the flu is both a motivator and a deterrent of vaccination.

            Measles in the most easily spread human epidemic (Poland, 2011). The Center for Disease Control states that unless ninety-six percent of the population has received coverage, there will not be herd immunity and outbreaks cannot be prevented (p. 1). Herd immunity is a type of immunity that results when a majority of the population is immunized. When the unimmunized are so few, it’s nearly impossible for the virus or bacteria to spread between them. The idea of vaccinating for the good of many has also proved to be a motivating factor for parents and should be included in the teaching plan.

            Vaccines may also protect against more than what they are marketed for (Brooks, 2013). There is evidence that the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination (which protects against tuberculosis) stimulates both the innate and the adaptive immune system.  Studies have shown that those who have had the BCG vaccine were also able to fend of bacterial and viral microorganisms that are totally unrelated to tuberculosis. Similar studies found that children in developing countries who received the measles vaccine were 33 percent less likely to die from all other infections (p. 38). The rationale is that just as infections can alter the immune system, it is not a far stretch to understand why vaccines can work similarly.

This Some scientists even argue that children vaccinated with BCG are twenty-five percent less likely to develop asthma and eczema and thirty-five percent less likely to develop food allergies (Brooks, 2013, p. 40). Additionally, BCG was found help fight bladder cancer. BCG can be injected directly in to the bladder and is part of many bladder cancer treatment plans.