Risk Factors Associated With Vaccination

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Risk Factors Associated With Vaccination

Vaccination involves the administration of vaccines to prevent a particular disease through the stimulation of a person’s immune system resulting in the development of adaptive immunity that fights against the identified infectious agent. The administration of vaccines aids in the prevention of infectious diseases leading to the eradication and elimination of diseases such as measles, polio, and smallpox. Determined by the development techniques used, the different types of vaccines include attenuated, killed, toxoid and conjugate. Various studies have been conducted to verify the effectiveness of vaccination thereby concluding just like prescribed medicines, as pharmaceutical products vaccines carry risks that include causation of harm and failure to work. As opposed to prescription drugs, no one takes responsibility for the damage caused by the administration of a vaccine to an individual. Therefore, despite being recommended and licensed as safe and effective by different drug administration bodies, vaccines possess the risk of side effects to the users.

Vaccines contain harmful compounds. Nelson (2010) identifies that some vaccines have been linked to autism because they include organic mercury compounds such as thimerosal. Some of the vaccines are manufactured using aluminum and too much aluminum in an individual’s body maximizes the risks of developing neurological conditions. Based on the ingredients used some of the vaccines contain a carcinogenic product called formaldehyde that results in various side effects including death, convulsions, depressed, nervous system and cardiac impairment. The Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis (DTaP) vaccine contains glutaraldehyde, a disinfectant that risks the development of difficulty in breathing and other respiratory problems. Other flu vaccines include antiseptic compounds such as cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTMB) which is known to cause body irritation. Hence, despite helping in the development of immunity vaccines have harmful side effects.

Some of the vaccines possess adverse and in some cases fatal side effects leading to the development of autism and other health issues. For example, chickenpox vaccines may cause pneumonia. A study conducted by Wicker et al. (2010) acknowledges that in one per million children all vaccines have a risk of causing anaphylaxis which is a severe allergic reaction. In the United States, one per 20,000 babies experiences bowel blockage after receiving rotavirus vaccination. According to Nelson (2010), various studies performed by National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) have concluded that DTaP vaccines may cause a person to experience permanent brain damage, coma, and seizures. Thus, vaccines continue to have different side effects...