Effects Of Child Death Rates On Children - 1211 Words

As a child, everyone remembers having to get shots. My first memorable experience with shots came at age four. I didn’t understand why I needed shots. All I knew was this sharp thing was going to be stuck in my arm and it was going to hurt. Before I got my four year old shots I received my first set of vaccines, vaccines that people are now claiming are dangerous. Research shows that child death rates have been reduced by more than half since 1990 due to vaccinations (Asia News Monitor). The vaccinations are given though out infancy and childhood to prepare the immune system against any possible outbreak of these potentially fatal diseases. Vaccinations involve an injection of, in most cases, an attenuated version†¦show more content†¦Both have reasons to believe what they do. It has been known that ever since the vaccines for diseases like diphtheria and measles were introduced in the twentieth century, the number of deaths related to these diseases decreased by more than 500 percent. On the other hand, the mid-twentieth century was also the time when such indicators as nutrition, sanitation and healthcare, and other important factors of spreading vaccine-preventable diseases have been greatly improved (McMahon-Pratt, 2005). It is rather difficult to objectively determine what influenced the decrease in the number of deaths – the invention of antibiotics in the 1940’s, the improvement of sanitation and healthcare standards, or the introduction of certain vaccines. Those opposing mandatory vaccination choose to believe that it was the first two factors rather than the third one. There are facts to support both versions. For example, death rates from the pertussis (whooping cough) declined from 12,000 deaths per year in 1905 to less than 1,000 deaths per year in 1950 – 12 times less. But as the pertussis vaccine was not widespread until late 1940’s, we can logically assume it obviously was not the vaccine that influenc ed the mentioned decrease. At the same time, since the vaccine was introduced and