Tobias
Antley
Mrs.
Hammett
English
1302
May
6th, 2019
Epidemic of Non-Vaccinated Children
Throughout high school, we have read
about the past centuries where Poets such as Edgar Allan Poe were surrounded by
tuberculosis deaths and died by it as well with one out of 7 being affected and
dying in Europe. Also, being a child in the 1960’s and being affected with
measles meant death. Worst of all the famous black death that killed two-thirds
of the population in Europe, but thankfully they have been eradicated, right?
For many decades, they were irradiated but recently diseases such as
tuberculosis, measles, scarlet fever, mumps, and even the black plague have
started coming back and killing American children. There is something all the
affected children have in common, their parents refused to vaccinate them.
Diseases that were thought to be gone are coming back and are beginning to
spread in America even to those who were vaccinated. This movement is a very
serious epidemic that has arisen in America with an easy fix that will help
everyone. If everyone received vaccinations, it would protect not only your
loved ones, but the entire American community as well.
In the pre-vaccine era, it was said
that everyone in the United States got measles before the age of 15 and there
were 6,000 deaths related to it each year until 1963 (History of Measles). In
1963, the first measles vaccine was created, but in 1968 the vaccine that is
currently used today was created. By 1981, the rate of which reports of measles
had decreased by 80% and measles has said to have been eradicated in 2001
(Debruyn). Vaccines are created to give the body antibiotics against one or
several past diseases that at some point in history caused an epidemic are
highly contagious. Since the AIDs outbreak in the 1980’s, there has not been a
mass epidemic outbreak to catch the countries attention until now. It’s 2019,
and a rise of these though to be extinct have started spreading again in the US
all tracible to the same cause, a refusal of parents vaccinating their kids.
Their reasoning is they believe that vaccines cause autism even through there
is no proven correlation between the two, and the only time it was ever claimed
was in 1998 (Gerberding). Wakefield made a case study claiming that the MMR (1)
vaccine and autism are correlated and his case made it to the media frightening
parents. After twelve years of extensive studying, there was no correlation
between the MMR vaccine and autism (1). It was revealed that he was paid by
attorneys with the intention of sewing pharmacies for giving kids autism and
was banned from practicing medicine in Britain in 2010 (Do Vaccines Cause
Autism?).
With the technology we have today,
having the access to information within seconds at any point of the day,
knowledge of this epidemic has caused a social controversy. With social media,
the Anti-vax movement has been able to go widespread through platforms such as
Instagram, Facebook, and Go Fund Me. This is a major issue with social media
being the number one source of information for Americans, especially among the
youth. Most people are aware that vaccines are a necessity, making Anti-vaxxers
the minority, but with social media it is as if they are the majority (Bever).
Anti-vaxxers are creating widespread advertisements to promote against the
vaccines and also trying to raise money for their causes. For months this has
been going on with anti-vaxxers spreading and bashing against those who
vaccinate their kids and many memes have been made by both sides (1). James L.
Madera, Chief Executive of the APA (American Medical Association), has been
pushing for social media users to “ensure that users have access to accurate,
timely, scientifically sound information on vaccines” (1). Just recently large
social media platforms have finally responded by beginning to block off the
Anti-vaxxers propaganda due to the concern of the measles outbreak getting any
worse (1). Anti-vaxxers have reacted to this by claiming that is against the
first amendment and are just trying to give pharmacies the upper hand.
Currently there is no actual law cases against social media platforms blocking
the propaganda with this issue currently still going on.
The most commonly known consequence
of non-vaccinated children is the recent outbreak of measles, which was said to
be extinct on 2001 and was a deadly epidemic a decade ago in America. The most
obvious sign of measles is small little raised bumps called kolpik rather than
raised large puss bumps like chicken pox. As of 2019, there has been eight confirmed
cases of measles in the state of Texas alone (Texas Standard). In just the
first two months of 2019 there have been 54 cases reported in the US according
to Time magazine, when there has been an average of 60 cases in a year when it
made its comeback a few years ago (Stifferlin). Of those who were affected by
measles, most within the Harris and Galveston county are younger than two years
of age and not vaccinated. Another issue with measles is that there are long
term issues such as blindness, brain swelling, for men loss of fertility, and
can cause seizing. There was a case where Max Schoenbohm got the measles as in
infant in 1994. Years later he started having seizers which got progressively
worse and worse and ended up passing in 2006 (How Measles can Change your
Life).
Another eradicated disease in
America that has recently comeback in America due to someone unvaccinated
coming into contact with it is mumps. Mumps aren’t as deadly as measles and
cause large swollen bumps rather than small bumps. It just like measles have
long term affects reported such as deafness, Meningitis, and Orchitis. In 2006, the average report of Mumps was less
than 20 cases a year, but a major outbreak occurred affecting a total of 6,584
people in the United States (Gerberding). Of those cases, most were Midwestern
college students, and Dr. Julie Gerberding in her report on the 2006 outbreak
stated that “there is a group of students, roughly college-age students, who
may be less likely to have received both doses of the mumps vaccine and are
incompletely vaccinated. Therefore, they are susceptible when infection is
introduced, and they have a very high chance of getting mumps under those
environments” (1). Also, Gerberding states that 10% of vaccinated for mumps
will fail and being around thousands of mump victims, several cases of
vaccinated patients were reported (1).
So, what can we do to stop this epidemic of curable
diseases? To stop the epidemic of diseases is quite simple: everyone to get
vaccinated. It is proven that vaccinations highly decrease the changes of
someone receiving that disease which can help prevent epidemics from occurring
according to the article “Do Vaccines Cause Autism?” Also, vaccines do not
cause autism, or any side effects that outweigh the diseases vaccines prevent
(1). The real question is how we are going to get or convince everyone to get
vaccinated with anti-vaxxer movements? With this issue being so current, polls
are the main source of data when it comes to the opinion of the general population.
With the current rise in epidemics in the United
States, most people are pushing for public institutions to require vaccinations
for students to attend for the community’s safety (South Nassau Poll). With
incidents such as the 2006 mumps outbreak at Midwestern College Ohio, there is
evidence if an epidemic occurs that people who were vaccinated are susceptible
to the disease (Gerberding). Schools, public transportation, and medical
centers are some of the most common places for epidemics to occur with such a
high population density in public schools, it makes the people in that
community vulnerable to epidemics. Because of the vulnerability that modern
communities have against epidemics, it is important that EVERYONE is healthy
not only for their own good, but for the community.
One ongoing solution to this issue is social media
platforms beginning to ban anti-vax movement post because if the harm it is
affecting on the youth by depriving them of the medical treatment they need.
While this has helped the talk about anti-vaccinations on social media, the
anti-vaxxers are now arguing that they are being deprived of their first
amendment according to Bever in her Anti-vaccination article (Bever). With this
being such a current movement, we do not know if will eventually be overturned
for violating an amendment or will stay in tack for the health of the country.
Another solution would be to educate people about
vaccines and medicine to prevent the spread of false information on vaccines.
If more people are aware that vaccines to not cause autism and the harm of
being unvaccinated has on the community, the percent of vaccinations will
increase. Finally, another solution that has also been increasing lately I the
requirement for public institutions such as schools, work, and transportation
are requiring proof of vaccinations to attend. In the poll above done by South
Nassau, the data from the surveys show that most people agree more public
institutions should make vaccinations a requirement (South Nassau Poll). This
is an effective method to deal with people not getting their vaccinations and
causing less attention and debates whether it is okay or not. It’s one
limitation is that it takes a long time in order to make an impact on a large
scale with it only being in certain public institutions.
Albert Camus, a French philosopher and journalist,
studied the meaning of existence in the article called “Camus and Absurdity” on
Philosophytalk (Camus and Absurdity). In his novel “The Myths of Sisyphus,” he
came to the conclusion that life has no meaning and that the human quest to
find one’s purpose is deeply absurd (1). He argues that the reason people stay
alive is because of the illusions we give ourselves that there is something
greater purpose and to find happiness in what you do (1). His philosophical
view, which is called existentialism absurdism, cannot be related to the
epidemic of unvaccinated children. The epidemic of the anti-vaccination
movement can be related with absurdity because it is absurd to not get a
vaccine over a false case that was disproved nine years ago, especially when
the consequences are very evident with extinct epidemics arising again. While
the anti-vaccination movement does relate to absurdism, it cannot be connected
to Camus’s existentialism absurdism because it has nothing to do with a living
in a meaningless world and not having a purpose. If Camus were still alive
today to witness the anti-vaccine movement, he would most likely not care about
what is going on because we live in a purposeless world anyway, and it is not
his purpose as a philosopher to fix the issue. He would most likely react to
the consequences of the anti-vaccination, which is the rise of extinct
epidemics such as measles and mumps, by living his normal live and not thinking
anything of it because he believes staying optimistic in a meaning world.
The epidemic of the anti-vaccine movement has become a
growing issue in the United States as the consequences of not vaccinating have
become more apparent the last decade. It is important to begin resolving this
epidemic now because the rate of infected by diseases such as mumps and
measles, have the potential to grown exponentially if it is not addressed while
the numbers are small. Even if a handful of people do not vaccinate, it
threatens the whole entire community like the incident at Midwestern College
(Gerberding). Because of legal issues, such as arguing for first amendment
rights, it is not likely going to be resolved quickly. So far, the most
effective method against the epidemic of anti-vaccinations is for public
institutions to require vaccinations in order to attend. What you can do as an
individual is to get yourself and love ones vaccinated and inform others around
you on the importance of vaccinations.
Works Cited
Belfiore, Peter. “South Nassau Poll: Ten Percent of
Area Parents Still Distrustful of Vaccinations.” Herald Community Newspapers,
14 Sept. 2017, www.liherald.com/longbeach/stories/south-nassau-poll-ten-percent-of-area-parents-still-distrustful-of-vaccinations,95623.
Bever, Lindsey. “Anti-Vaxxers Have Been Raising Money
with GoFundMe. The Site Just Put a Stop to It.” The Washington Post, WP
Company, 22 Mar. 2019,
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/03/22/gofundme-joins-instagram-other-companies-crackdown-anti-vaxxer-misinformation/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c41c9976391b.
Calandrillo, Steve P. “Vanishing Vaccinations: Why Are
so Many Americans Opting out of Vaccinating Their Children?” University of
Michigan Journal of Law Reform. University of Michigan. Law School, U.S.
National Library of Medicine, 2004, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15568260.
Debruyn, Jason, and Helen Chickering. “More Parents
Not Vaccinating Their Kids.” Duke Department of Pediatrics,
pediatrics.duke.edu/news/more-parents-not-vaccinating-their-kids.
“Do Vaccines Cause Autism?” History of Vaccines,
www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/do-vaccines-cause-autism.
Gerberding, Julie. “2006 Mumps Outbreak - Diseases and
Vaccines - NVIC.” National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), 19 Apr. 2006,
www.nvic.org/vaccines-and-diseases/2006-mumps-outbreak.aspx.
Maguire, Laura. “Camus and Absurdity.” Philosophy
Talk, 27 Feb. 2015, www.philosophytalk.org/blog/camus-and-absurdity.
“Measles
| History of Measles | CDC.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
www.cdc.gov/measles/about/history.html.
Schoenbohn, Ruediger. “How Measles Can Change a Life.”
VaccinesToday, 9 Jan. 2019,
www.vaccinestoday.eu/stories/how-measles-can-change-a-life/.
Texas
Standard. (2019). News Roundup: Five Texas Counties Affected By Measles
Outbreak. [online] Available at:
https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/news-roundup-five-texas-counties-have-measles-outbreaks/
[Accessed 28 Mar. 2019].
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