A. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “there are about 100,000 children under 2 years old that are not protected against potentially serious vaccine-preventable diseases.” (Zimlich)
B. “Vaccines prevent more than 8,500 child hospitalizations in Colorado, 33,000 deaths in the U.S, and between 2 and 3 million deaths worldwide.” (immunizeforgood.com)
2. Background Commentary –
A. There is an ongoing debate on whether vaccines are effective or not.
A large percentage of families agree with vaccines and encourage others to receive vaccinations.
Some parents think they produce dangerous side effects and try to ‘protect’ their children from said effects.
3. Thesis –
A. Despite rumors of side effects such as ASD and abnormalities, vaccines have been tested and proven to be safe, build immunity, and protect future generations.
Body Paragraph #1
1. Topic Sentence –
A. Vaccines are studied for years by doctors and scientists to ensure that they are effective and safe.
2. Supporting example –
A. Immunization schedules are developed and used to determine the best and most effective times to administer vaccines.
3. Elaboration –
A. Current immunization schedule for a child in the U.S. is arranged to protect children from 14 pathogens.
B. Scheduled vaccines are developed and administered based on the time that a child is most vulnerable to the disease.
C. Before a new vaccine is added, it is thoroughly studied and reviewed for information about its safety, effectiveness, and feasibility of adding it.
D. Decreasing or delaying the vaccines has led to sudden outbreaks of easily preventable diseases.
“States with policies that make it easy to exempt children from immunization were associated with a 90 percent higher incidence of whooping cough in 2011.” (immunizationforgood.com)
This not only affects the child who was late to vaccinate but also puts those who were never vaccinated in danger.
4. Explanation –
A. The immunization schedule is one of the many ways that doctors are able to maximize the effectiveness and safety of vaccines.
Body Paragraph #2
A. The distribution of vaccines helps strengthen and build your body’s immunity.
A. “If an unvaccinated child is exposed to a disease germ, the child’s body may not be strong enough to fight the disease. Before vaccines, many children died from diseases that vaccines now prevent, such as whooping cough, measles, and polio. Those same germs exist today, but because babies are protected by vaccines, we don’t see these diseases nearly as often.” (CDC.gov)
A. Antigens, antibodies, and the way vaccines work.
When antigens enter the immune system, antibodies are created to fight them off.
The immune system remembers antigens so if it enters again, your body is able to create antibodies faster to fight off the antigens.
Vaccines contain the same antigens that cause disease, (however, they are weakened to the point where the disease does not actually break out in the body.) This allows your body to create antibodies to help fight off disease before the first time you are ever actually exposed to it.
A. By taking vaccines and getting the antibodies in your system, your body’s immunity to disease is increased.
Body Paragraph #3
A. However, there are some people who believe that vaccines could cause side effects such as autism.
A. Study by Andrew Wakefield in 1998
A. “In 1998, Wakefield, along with 12 co-authors, published a case series study in the Lancet claiming that they found evidence, in many of the 12 cases they studied, of measles virus in the digestive systems of children who had exhibited autism symptoms after MMR vaccination.” (historyofvaccines.org)
B. However, it was later proved that some of the information used in the Wakefield study was fraud.
“Deer spoke with parents of children from the retracted study and found evidence that Wakefield committed research fraud by falsifying data about the children’s conditions.” (historyofvaccines.org)
“Specifically, Deer reported that while the paper claimed that eight of the study’s twelve children showed either gastrointestinal or autism-like symptoms days after vaccination, records instead show that at most two children experienced these symptoms in this time frame. Additionally, while the paper claimed that all twelve of the children were “previously normal” before vaccination with MMR, at least two had developmental delays that were noted in their records before the vaccination took place.” (historyofvaccines.org)
A. Despite false information in Wakefield’s statements, some symptoms of autism were still seen in Deer’s accounts.
5. Wrap-up Sentence –
A. It is still unknown whether there is a small if any, the correlation between vaccines and autism.
Body Paragraph #4
A. Vaccines not only help protect ourselves but future generations as well.
A. The licensing of the Rubella vaccine in 1969.
A. “Before the rubella vaccine was licensed in 1969, global rubella (German measles) outbreak caused the deaths of 11,000 babies and birth defects in 20,000 babies between 1963 and 1965 in the United States. [72] Women who were vaccinated as children against rubella have greatly decreased the chance of passing the virus to their unborn or newborn children, eliminating the birth defects,” (ProCon.org)
A. The use of the rubella vaccine helped protect women’s future children from both the disease and birth defects of the disease.
Conclusion-
1. Restated Thesis –
A. Although some show concern about possible symptoms of autism linked with vaccines, vaccines have been tested and ensure safety, long-lasting effectiveness, and lower the risk of offspring developing the disease before and after birth.
2. Summary of Main Ideas –
A. The use of the immunization schedule helps doctors determine the best time to administer vaccines to children for the most effective results.
B. The use of vaccines helps increase the number of disease-fighting antibodies in our immune system which helps not only protect our health, but the public’s as well.
C. Some vaccines help prevent birth defects in offspring and lower their chance of developing the disease.
3. Closing Thought/Call to Action –
A. In the interest of everyone’s well-being, it is highly recommended that you vaccinate both yourself and your children in order to prevent the spread of disease today and in future generations.