Are vaccines worth the risk? (Debate).Are vaccines a safe way to stop disease? Or do they have hidden dangers? Read opinions on both sides, then debate and decide. BACKGROUND: Health authorities generally consider vaccines to be a safe and effective way to control disease. Yet each year, some people suffer negative reactions to vaccines--reactions as severe as death. Read on to learn more arguments for and against vaccines. Conduct your own research, Then decide: Should health officials require vaccination for kids or not? Should people be allowed to make up their own minds? PRO-VACCINE: * Two hundred years of documented scientific research prove that vaccines help prevent highly contagious diseases contagious diseases: see communicable diseases. like whooping cough whooping cough or pertussis, highly communicable infectious disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. The early or catarrhal stage of whooping cough is manifested by the usual symptoms of an upper respiratory infection with and smallpox smallpox, acute, highly contagious disease causing a high fever and successive stages of severe skin eruptions. The disease dates from the time of ancient Egypt or before. , * Vaccines save lives. Before scientists introduced the measles vaccine, about 500 Americans died from the disease each year. Now measles kills about 50 Americans annually, and most are unvaccinated toddlers. * Some crippling diseases--like polio polio: see poliomyelitis. and smallpox--have been virtually eliminated by vaccines. * Most vaccines are cheap compared with the cost of getting sick, going to the doctor, buying medicine, and maybe having your parents miss work. * Vaccines are getting safer. Scientists are developing vaccines that can't make you sick because they contain only fragments of microbes. Time-released vaccines (pills or sprays designed to release vaccines slowly) may soon eliminate the need for booster shots. ANTI-VACCINE: * Outbreaks of disease can occur even among vaccinated populations. For example: In 1986, 90 percent of the 1,300 people infected with whooping cough in Kansas were "adequately vaccinated." * Each year, about 11,000 Americans report having side effects Side effects Effects of a proposed project on other parts of the firm. from vaccines, including fever, hearing loss, brain damage, and paralysis. About 110 of these people die. * People who fail to keep their vaccinations up-to-date as children risk catching certain diseases as adults, when the diseases can be more dangerous. * Diseases that spread in human waste--like polio and hepatitis--can be controlled with good hygiene and sanitation. * Some vaccine-preventable diseases are rare anyway. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. (CDC See Control Data, century date change and Back Orifice. CDC - Control Data Corporation ) hasn't confirmed a case of non-vaccine-related polio in the Western Hemisphere Western Hemisphere Part of Earth comprising North and South America and the surrounding waters. Longitudes 20° W and 160° E are often considered its boundaries. since 1991. Yet the CDC estimates that four to five Americans catch polio from the vaccine each year. DON'T STOP NOW! Research and find out which vaccines are required before students can enter your school. How does that compare with schools in other countries? |
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