Vaccinations: Worth the Risk?

Vaccinations are a topic that many people feel very strongly about.  In general, people take one of two sides – vaccinate everyone for everything, or not vaccinate anyone at all.  Of course, there are many opinions in between, and one of those is what I am going to argue for.  

We all know what vaccinations do – they help prevent disease.  The substance that is in the injection or nasal spray is a bit of the disease that you are trying to avoid – but not enough to make you sick.  When it is injected, it prepares the immune system for that disease – that little bit of the illness will spur your body to make an antibody for the disease.  This preps your body for when the real thing comes – it will be easier to fight off and you will be more effective.  There are some side effects to getting a vaccination – redness, swelling, itchiness, mild fever, etc.  There are also rare cases of really bad side effects, such as an allergic reaction, intense headache, high fever, etc.  In addition, if you take too many vaccinations, it could be bad for your immune system.  But without vaccinations, we would have many more breakouts of disease and epidemics than there are now, for example measles, polio, and whooping cough.  Basically, having these vaccinations has helped to stop diseases and keep more people safe from them. 

There are many reasons you might not want to take a vaccination – maybe someone they knew had a bad reaction, maybe for religious purposes, maybe they heard of some link to some disease, or some other personal reason – but there is a more scientific reason you might not want to take one.  Sometimes, diseases change and evolve to become immune to the vaccine.  This is very common with the flu – it is one of the reasons that we have different flu vaccines every year.  In a way, it is like by taking these vaccines, we are speeding up the process of evolution.  Diseases and viruses naturally change and evolve, but putting them under that pressure makes the process much faster.  Because these flu viruses have become immune to the current vaccines, they are harder to treat and get rid of.  This is what many researchers have against vaccines, and it is an ongoing discussion whether or not it is better to take vaccines now and have a potentially unstoppable flu virus in the future, or be unprotected now, and be potentially safer in the future. 

I think that in general, you should take vaccines for deadly diseases and diseases that could cause epidemics, but only if you are going to be coming into contact with them.  The only side effects of the vaccines are few and minor, the serious side effects are rare, and some can be avoided if you know what you are allergic to.  I would be willing to endure that if it meant protection from a deadly disease.  Because the diseases can change and morph, I don’t think that you should take vaccines for everything just because you can, and especially not minor diseases that aren’t very harmful.  I think that you should decide if you want to get a vaccination based on many things – what the disease is, the probability that you will get it, your age, your allergies, your beliefs, if you are going to be traveling, your exposure, etc.  I think that once you have taken all of these things into consideration you should then make the decision to get it or not.  But that decision is up to you. 

Sources:

"Vaccines: Vac-Gen/How Vaccines Prevent Disease." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web. 12 Nov. 2010. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/howvpd.htm.

 

"Vitamin D Proven Far Better than Vaccines at Preventing Influenza Infections." Independent News on Natural Health, Nutrition and More. Web. 12 Nov. 2010. http://www.naturalnews.com/029760_vitamin_D_influenza.html.

"Pros and Cons of Vaccinations - Advantages & Disadvantages of Vaccines." Lifestyle Lounge - Online Lifestyle Magazine - Lifestyle Management Tips. Web. 12 Nov. 2010. http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/pros-and-cons-of-vaccinations-2991.html.

"Vaccine Safety." Flu.gov. Web. 12 Nov. 2010. <http://www.flu.gov/individualfamily/vaccination/vsafety/index.html>.