Assignment 3: Vaccine Wars

The Frontline Special on "Vaccine Wars" had to do with the great benefits of vaccination to public health, explaining why the acquisition of vaccines is a social responsibility that should be enforced by institutions rather than just a parental choice. In order to support this argument the concept of "herd immunity" is introduced to explain how the vaccination of a significant portion of the population provides protection to unprotected individuals, especially those who cannot receive the vaccine due to the vulnerability of their inmune system because of their age or the presence of another illness.

As I was watching the video I could not help to think about the mumps outbreak that happened in my little cousin's school a couple of years ago. Around 15 kids contracted the disease, including my little cousin, and he developed the symptoms about a week later when he was already in summer vacation in North Carolina. Since he contracted the disease in his school in Venezuela, it took a while for the doctors in North Carolina to diagnose it (since the disease is not as common in the United States as it is in Venezuela).

After the doctors in North Carolina finally found out that he had mumps, my cousin was quarantined, in order to stop a further spread of the disease. He and most of the kids who got the disease in his school in Venezuela were vaccinated, which protected them from the possibility of the development of a much more serious condition. The idea of "herd immunity" made me think about them contracting the disease from a kid who didn't get the mumps shot, which proves how this facilitates the spread of a disease, even outside a country's boundaries. This is why I consider that requiring immunizations is an important policy for public health, which is why awareness on this matter should be raised so that parents can understand that this is an issue that goes beyond a parenting choice.

Another of the things that impressed me the most about the documentary is the power that internet and media have over society. The "free flow" of information can be overwhelming, especially if it is alarmist; and I understand how not being able to tell what is true and what is not can be scary, which is probably why people in today's world have grown to be very skeptical or, on the other extreme, very easily mislead into false information. This is why flawed research, like the one that linked autism with the MMR shot, has caused so much controversy on why children should not receive the recommended immunizations.

The strong support that has grown for this public misconception has also been supported by the little information we have on autism, which is why I think that further studies on these conditions (and any other ones that can possibly be related as "side effects") should be encouraged in order to have stronger evidence to convince people that their fears for vaccination are not real. People must also be educated to recognize the legitimacy of primary sources, like well known medical journals and institutions that have reliable data, like the CDC. But the most effective policy to increase vaccination rates would be to limit the reasons for exemptions in immunization only to medical conditions, and to start public health campaigns in local communities that offer immunizations for free.

However, this would be a very difficult policy to implement due to philosophical or religious reasons for which parents don't want their children to receive the required shots, but I believe that if the institutions  commence with strong actions to raise awareness of the importance of vaccination for public health and the availability of immunizations and information on them, some advancement can be made in order to reduce the number of those who oppose mandatory immunization.