Child Mortality Blog
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Introduction of Child Mortality Blog
Children are an essential part of this world we live in. They are the future and they need to be treated in such a way that helps them to understand their potential and value. In this blog I focus on the main aspects of child mortality and what needs to be done in order to reduce it. The world has the abilities and tools to reduce child mortality significantly. However, not enough is being done and those tools are not being utilized to their full potential. Immunizations are a vital tool in reducing child mortality. The benefits of immunizations need to be incorporated into both parents and children’s educations in order for them to realize their importance. Another tool to reduce child mortality is to improve environments. A healthy environment results in healthy children. An obvious and perhaps the most well known way to reduce child mortality is preventing starvation by reducing hunger. No child should have to know the true agony of an empty stomach. I learned a lot in the creation of this blog and all that it contains. I hope that as you read it you will have an open heart filled with compassion for the millions of children in the world who battle starvation, disease, and death every day. I hope that this blog will inspire you to see past the selfish society many of us are absorbed in, and to experience the reality of child mortality and its tragedies.
Local Essay:Miracles in Needles
Miracles in Needles
Natalie N. Calico
312581
034W
Leslie Jewkes
October 11th, 2011
Abstract
Vaccinations have proven to be controversial in the United States. The number of children being exempted from immunizations is rising, as is the number of adults and adolescence neglecting to update their immunizations. This negligence leaves the United States unprotected from harmful preventable diseases. Some parents fear vaccinations are responsible for children developing autism. Parents need to understand the importance of being educated about immunizations from trustworthy sources such as doctors and nurses. Also a trustworthy source for parents to depend on for accurate information is the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccines are important for everyone including adults. Infants’ health relies on adults and adolescence staying up to date on their vaccinations. The benefits of vaccinations should be described to parents so they can make an educated decision on whether or not to immunize their child.
Miracles in Needles
Miracles in Needles
Children are meant to spend hot summer days splashing in the town pool, and giggling with friends while sucking on sticky melting popsicles. Children are meant to play hide and seek in the evening as they run to tag one another as fast as their little legs can carry their young, pounding hearts. There should be nothing more on their sweet innocent minds to worry about apart from playing and exploring. Children and communities deserve to be protected and healthy. Parents should be comforted knowing that there is protection for their children against harmful diseases. Vaccinations provide relief and keep societies protected and safe in a dangerous world that’s constantly spinning in circles. The benefits of vaccinations should be described to parents so they can make an educated decision on whether or not to immunize their child.
Parents need to understand that vaccinations are responsible for preventing large numbers of death in America. In the 1900’s polio swept over the United States, targeting children and leaving hysterical, heartbroken parents in its fatal path. A polio timeline shows, “In 1952, a record 57,628 cases of polio were reported in the United States” (“NMAH”). Polio was a nationwide epidemic that left many children dead, and many more paralyzed. Luckily, the year after the epidemic reached its peak, a vaccine was discovered for the tragic virus. After the vaccine was proven to be a success, polio in the United States fell by 85-90% ("NMAH”). Although the polio trauma seems distant, there are still people alive today who lived through and witnessed the terror of the disease. Polio is but one example of how vaccinations have reduced life-threatening viruses in the United States. Despite the incredible life saving results vaccinations have shown in America, some parents find that their children are better off without receiving vaccinations. Most individuals receive vaccinations when they are infants, children, and in their adolescence. Vaccinations have been around for many years and continue to prevent millions of different illnesses. A New York Times article stated, “Public health experts generally agree that after clean water and flush toilets, the most important health advances in history have been vaccinations” (“A Multitude”). Vaccinations isolate the United States from unwanted infections that linger in other parts of the world. Vaccinations are a security blanket for parents who want the best health possible for their children. The New York Times article also stated, “Since the 1990’s, vaccines have become somewhat controversial, even in the United States. As diseases have disappeared, generations have grown up without ever seeing the sickness and death they caused” ("A Multitude”). Perhaps parents who are adamant against vaccinations for their children are being naive to diseases they just don’t understand the brutality of. Many parents these days are worried about the mild fevers their babies might experience after immunizations ("A Multitude”). If parents looked back to the victims of polio, whooping cough, small pox, hepatitis, rubella and all of the diseases that have been prevented by immunizations, perhaps parents would have different attitudes towards immunizations.
The enormous decrease in mortality is an obvious benefit of vaccinations that parents need to comprehend. Below represents a graph of the Crude Infectious Disease Mortality Rate in the United States from 1900-1996. The huge spike in mortality during 1918 was due to the influenza pandemic. During that pandemic 20-25 million people died (Armstrong). Influenza is an illness that the United States now has a vaccine for. Since the outrageous pandemic, the influenza vaccine has saved millions of people from dying of a preventable virus. Parents need to be educated on mortality and the positive affects immunizations have had on the United States mortality rates.
Unnecessary worries regarding negative immunization results such as autism prove the importance of parent’s education on vaccine benefits. A massive amount of parents’ angst towards immunizations develops from the media and the internet. A research study was performed in Utah exploring the reasoning behind parents’ hesitation towards immunizations. The research stated, “The development of autism remained a major concern among parents, despite past educational efforts to relieve this concern. Parental fear regarding a causal link between immunizations and autism has confused and frightened many parents who were unsure” (Luthy). As the research brought up, many parents have fear that immunizations are related to children developing autism. Sarah Glazer stated in her article regarding autism, “Parental concerns focus on two types of vaccines: the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) shot and those that contain thimerosal a preservative made with ethyl-mercury that has been used in some childhood vaccines since the 1930s” (Glazer). Most children receive their MMR vaccine at fifteen months. When parents don’t immunize their child they are putting them at the risk of developing mumps rubella and measles, diseases that could be fatal for a young individual. Glazer went on to explain, “A third of the parents of autistic children say their children developed normally in their first months or year and then began losing social skills or language. Many of the parents blame vaccines, since they first observed the regression after the children received routine vaccinations” (Glazer). While parents have every right to their beliefs, research has shown that there is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism (Glazer). Registered Nurse, Kristin Vessel, discussed research that has been done showing a genetic connection to autism. Vessel related to this research personally by saying, “Many of the students I have encountered with autism have a younger sibling who is autistic as well, and what is always interesting is that usually the oldest has been immunized and the younger one has not” (Vessel). The genetic connection to autism is an important idea for parents refusing immunizations to research. Every individual is genetically different and parents need to understand the power genes have over a disorder like autism.
Inaccurate information causes parents to ignore the multitude of immunization benefits. Immunization program manager for the Central District Health Department in Boise said, “We still have a large number of kids out there who are not being immunized. Some of those kids have parents who believe shots can harm their kids. There's a lot of people doing research on the Internet, and the information they get is not necessarily accurate” (LaMay). Accurate research is something that all parents should take into account when making health related decisions for their children. The research done on Utah parents concluded that “Exposure to inaccurate immunization information can undermine parents’ confidence in immunization safety and negatively affect their decision to immunize their children” (Lathy). As concluded in the research study, it takes a large amount of confidence for parents to not be cautious in making health related decisions for their children. Parents need to make sure their research is precise and their justifications for not immunizing their children are valid. Inaccurate data plays a definite role in parents being hesitant towards immunizing their children.
Doctors and nurses are reliable sources for informing parents about immunization benefits. Parents should be responsible for finding doctors and nurses they can trust. Physicians and nurses have the ability to give valuable trustworthy immunization information. The research done on parents in Utah determined “To assist parents in understanding the safety of and need for immunizations, Public Health Nurses should seek first to understand the parents’ perspectives regarding immunizations and then prepare to respond to these parental concerns and questions with evidence-based data” (Lathy). In order for a nurse or doctor to influence parents the maximum amount they need to first understand the parent in which they are dealing with. If a parent is in hysterics because they think their child is going to develop autism after receiving their immunizations for kindergarten, a doctor or nurse is going to need to be very sensitive to the parent’s panic. The data given by health professionals can highly sway parents’ opinions about immunizations and therefore it is important for health officials to leap on every opportunity they encounter to educate parents about the benefits of vaccinations. A research study was done by the Journal of Advanced Nursing on doctors’ and nurses’ attitudes when dealing with their patients which showed, “Over 80% of nurses thought using every encounter with a client to offer any needed immunizations was important, beneficial and good” (Jane). Immunizations are important to most nurses and their encouragement and support for parents is existence. What if a nurse ignored every opportunity to inform a patient of the benefits of immunizations? Then what if that patient said no to the vaccine, and died of a disease that was completely preventable later on. Nurses can provide the accurate reliable information an individual struggling with the decision of immunizations needs. By doing so, they can save lives.
Another trustworthy source of information able to properly educate parents on the benefits of immunizations is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A doctor of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advocated vaccinations by explaining about flu shots, “"You're not going to be able to count on that vaccine protecting you throughout a second season” ("Time”). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is in charge of making sure the United States is as disease free as possible. If they advocate flu shots they have done their research and know that the flu virus mutates each new flu season. Therefore, it is important to renew the flu vaccine each season as to keep individuals and others protected. Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University said regarding flu shots, “Say you never catch the flu? You could be a carrier, unknowingly spreading the misery when you feel little more than a sniffle” ("Time”). Vaccinations aren’t just about keeping individuals’ safe but entire societies. Schnaffner goes on to say, “"You should be vaccinated each and every year to ensure both you're protected and you're giving the maximum protection to people around you” (“Time”). It is health professionals who are updated and accurate on their data who parents should trust when forming their opinions of immunizations for their children.
Some parents claim that required vaccinations appear to be unconstitutional. Instead of being forced to immunize their children, parents need to be informed of the highly numbered positives of vaccinations so they can make educated decisions in their child’s health. Idaho rules allow exemptions to immunizations if the reason is medical, or religious and personal (“More”). An article in the Idaho Statesmen stated, “School exemptions in south-central Idaho have increased more than 62 percent since 2005” (“More”). While this statistic is concerning to health officials, the parents exempting their children from vaccinations are most likely confident they made the right choice. Author of Idaho Statesman article Edward Lotterman, holds truth in his statement, “Few things are more intrusive than government telling people that they must have their children injected with various vaccines” ("Edward”). Perhaps it is a difficult thing for many parents to handle the idea of required vaccines for their children. Without these vaccines their children will not be protected against harmful diseases. If parents are properly informed of the seriousness of the diseases prevented by immunization their opinions on immunizations would be more optimistic. Exempting from immunizations not only puts an individual at risk, but the health of the public at risk. When children are immunized they eradicate possible diseases which have the ability to exterminate children. Exemptions from vaccinations are not something anyone should take lightly. A journal entry discussed the term “herd immunity”. It described herd immunity as the state at which every individual has their immunizations (B Trollfors). In other words, when everyone is immunized then a society will be able to prevail against any viruses that come their way. The journal stated, “The more contagious the disease, the more immune individuals are needed to induce herd immunity” (B Trollfors). If each individual is updated on their immunizations, it will take a very contagious disease to penetrate that immune barrier. The journal went on to explain:
Higher effectiveness than efficacy is usually ascribed to indirect protection at group level (herd immunity) and depends on the fact that a person who remains uninfected will not transmit disease to others. In other words, the more people who are immune, the less chance that others will be exposed to the infection and finally the disease stops circulating in the community even though susceptible individuals remain. (B Trollfors)
If every society could achieve herd immunity the chances of disease would diminish extremely. This is why it is vital for children to receive and stay updated on their vaccinations. If parents were aware of the power of herd immunity, they would be aware of the power they have to protect their children and their community by staying up to date on immunizations.
The benefits of immunizations need to be explained to parents so that innocent infants do not become death victims. Kristin Vessel is the school nurse at Grace Jordan Elementary in Boise Idaho. Kristin also worked at the pediatric unit at St. Luke’s hospital before becoming a school nurse. She said that often times in the pediatric unit the infants who were sick with whooping cough had caught the virus from an adult in their family. Vessel explained the importance of adults staying up to date on their pertussis vaccine. When adults get whooping cough it is similar to a normal cold, and they overcome it and get better. When adults are carriers of a disease they have the ability to pass it onto young infants. When infants get whooping cough they must be hospitalized because their lungs cannot handle all the mucus and they basically end up choking to death (Vessel). When adults don’t stay up to date on their immunizations, they put the lives of innocent infants at risk. Immunizations are not just for children. If adults were informed of the harm they have the ability to cause to infants by the seemingly harmless viruses they carry, they would know the importance of staying up to date on their vaccinations.
Immunizations have the power to save lives and rid entire nations of infectious diseases. Immunizations make it possible for children to not miss weeks of school because of the chicken pocks. Immunizations abolish the danger of whooping cough to infants, and polio in children’s growing legs. While a parent or individual should never be forced to participate in immunizations against their will, they should be informed of the benefits if they do decide to immunize. Being informed can eliminate the fear of unproven theories such as autism linked vaccines. Parents and adults facing the decisions of immunizations need to be fully informed of all the amazing benefits of immunizations. Individuals need to make sure they are fully informed with accurate information before making the decision to exempt from vaccinations. To inform parents of the benefits of immunizations there are ways for each person reading this essay to take action. First, if you are an adult, make sure you are updated on all your vaccinations. Most likely you are overdue for some updates. Next, if you know of any children who are not being immunized, educate their parents on the important benefits of vaccinations. Finally, if you really want to make a difference in the importance of immunizations, create an advocating pamphlet on vaccination benefits. This pamphlet must contain valid information from reliable sources. After you create the pamphlet contact local elementary schools, preschools, high schools, and colleges, and ask if you can have your pamphlet available to the students and parents who attend. Parents and adults need to be informed of the benefits of vaccinations so that communities will be protected from preventable diseases.
Works Cited
"A Multitude of Vaccine Benefits, Yet Controversy Persists - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 29 Mar. 2008. Web. 16 Sept. 2011.
Armstrong, Gregory L. "Trends in Infectious Disease Mortality in the United States During the 20th Century." The Journal of the American Medical Association (1999). Web.
B Trollfors, et al. "Vaccination of children – a systematic review." Acta Paediatrica 99. (2010): 1-192. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 16 Sept. 2011.
"Back-to-school Can Mean Vaccines For Tweens, Teens | Fox News." Fox News - Breaking News Updates | Latest News Headlines | Photos & News Videos. Web. 16 Sept.
"Edward Lotterman: An Economic Argument for Mandatory Vaccinations | Edward Lotterman's Columns | Idaho Statesman." Boise, Idaho News, Weather, Traffic, Jobs, Classifieds | Idaho Statesman. Web. 16 Sept. 2011.
Glazer, Sarah. "Increase in Autism." 13.23. CQ Researcher. 13 June 2003. Web. 22 Sept. 2011.
Jane A. Buxton, et al. "Identifying attitudes, beliefs and reported practices of nurses and doctors as immunization providers." Journal of Advanced Nursing 66.7 (2010): 1602-1611. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 16 Sept. 2011.
LaMay, Colleen. "Shots Help Protect Idaho Kids | Story | Idaho Health 2006." Idaho Health. Web. 16 Sept. 2011.
Luthy, Karlen E., Renea L. Beckstrand, and Lynn Clark Callister. "Parental Hesitation in Immunizing Children in Utah." Public Health Nursing 27.1 (2010): 25-31. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 16 Sept. 2011.
"More Parents Get Exemptions from Idaho Vaccine Law | Idaho | Idaho Statesman." Boise, Idaho News, Weather, Traffic, Jobs, Classifieds | Idaho Statesman. Web. 16 Sept. 2011.
"NMAH | Polio: Timeline." National Museum of American History. Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Web. 23 Sept. 2011.
Vessel, Kristin. Personal Interview by Natalie Calico. 09/22/2011.
Annotated Bibliography
"A Multitude of Vaccine Benefits, Yet Controversy Persists - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 29 Mar. 2008. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. This magazine article covers somewhat general information on vaccinations. It discusses the controversy of immunizations and how important they have been to the United States. It also talks about how parents these days who weren’t around to see the life changing diseases effect on the world might not quite understand how important vaccinations are anymore. One quote I will most likely use in the first part of the body of my essay will be “Public health experts generally agree that after clean water and flush toilets, the most important health advances in history have been vaccinations.” I think that this will really support my paper because it illustrates the importance of vaccinations. Another quote I think I will use is “Since the 1990s, vaccines have become somewhat controversial, even in the United States. As diseases have disappeared, generations have grown up without ever seeing the sickness and death they caused.” This quote will be supportive because it introduces my opinion that since parents’ now days have not seen the reality of what vaccinations prevent. They are more reluctant and naive in not vaccinating their children.
Armstrong, Gregory L. "Trends in Infectious Disease Mortality in the United States During the 20th Century." The Journal of the American Medical Association (1999). Web. This article covers trends in diseases and their mortality rates throughout the united states during the twentieth century. There are great graphs and charts in this article that I could incorporate into my paper. The graph I plan to use will illustrate the sudden spike in mortality rates when influenza took over the United States. This will add support to my paper because the mortality rate went down significantly after a immunization was discovered for it.
B Trollfors, et al. "Vaccination of children – a systematic review." Acta Paediatrica 99. (2010): 1-192. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. This was one of the scholarly journals I found that applied to my topic. It focused on a lot of different research on vaccinations for children and how they work. The part of the journal that I really enjoyed was when it talked about “Herd immunity”. Some specific quotes I want to use in my paper are, “The more contagious the disease, the more immune individuals are needed to induce herd immunity”, and then it goes on to say, “In other words, the more people who are immune, the less chance that others will be exposed to the infection and finally the disease stops circulating in the community even though susceptible individuals remain.” This is especially important to my paper because it describes a term that my entire paper is advocating “Herd immunity”. If all children are immunized, then no one unimmunized child can threaten other children with their diseases and viruses.
"Back-to-school Can Mean Vaccines For Tweens, Teens | Fox News." Fox News - Breaking News Updates | Latest News Headlines | Photos & News Videos. Web. 16 Sept. This news article was about updating vaccinations. It discussed how vaccinations are not just a onetime thing and in order to stay protected and prevent illness children must update their vaccinations even after adolescence and college. A quote I will most likely use in my paper is “Young children get vaccinated before kindergarten but that protection wears off, and pertussis outbreaks in middle or high school no longer are rare. While older kids usually recover, whooping cough can cause weeks of misery — and worse, they can easily spread the bacterial infection to not-yet-vaccinated infants, who can die.” This excerpt supports the fatalness of not being immunized. A parent or college student might think that they are doing no harm to themselves, which may be true. However it’s the local environments health as a whole that needs to be taken into consideration as well as each single individual.
"Edward Lotterman: An Economic Argument for Mandatory Vaccinations | Edward Lotterman's Columns | Idaho Statesman." Boise, Idaho News, Weather, Traffic, Jobs, Classifieds | Idaho Statesman. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. This article was written about the economic side of vaccinations. It discussed the religion factor, constitution factor, and advocate of vaccinations factor as well. It will be very supportive to my paper because it covered the pros as well as the cons and supported each at different times. Some quotes I will most likely use will include, “We live in an era in which there is greater emphasis on human liberty and personal responsibility than was true for many years. Many people oppose intrusive government. Few things are more intrusive than government telling people that they must have their children injected with various vaccines.” Here it is supportive to the con side of my papers argument. It brings up the fact that yes, we live in America. Here in America there is a thing that strongly grounds each Americans heart- the constitution. Indeed by telling people they must immunize their children there is a line being crossed of personal freedom in decisions such as that.
Glazer, Sarah. "Increase in Autism." 13.23. CQ Researcher. 13 June 2003. Web. 22 Sept. 2011. This source covered the argument on whether autism is caused by vaccinations. A quote that I could use in my paper is “We feel strongly about the role of vaccines in our son,” says California activist Rollens. Shortly after his son received routine vaccinations at seven months, “he had a very severe reaction and was never the same afterwards. Everything was normal up to that point.” This quote will support my paper because I have the research to refute it. This way I’m addressing my cons of my argument, but also still supporting why I think that the benefits of vaccines are what parents need to understand. I will also refute this quote with the research I have stating that there is no vaccine link to autism in children. This will add support to my paper because it will help me show both sides of the argument and express why my stance on the matter is valid.
Jane A. Buxton, et al. "Identifying attitudes, beliefs and reported practices of nurses and doctors as immunization providers." Journal of Advanced Nursing 66.7 (2010): 1602-1611. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. This was a very interesting scholarly journal entry about doctors and nurses attitudes towards immunizations. One quote stated, “Over 80% of nurses thought using every encounter with a client to offer any needed immunizations was important (3-A5), beneficial (3-A6) and good (3-A7) (Table 3).” This will be supportive to the part of my paper where one of the pros will be trust your nurses and doctors. If nurses find it important to be immunized, then it is definitely something parents’ should think seriously about as well. Another quote said, “We identified that nurses had more positive attitudes and beliefs about administering multiple vaccines and fewer physicians used every encounter to offer any needed vaccines.” This quote will be helpful in supporting my paper because it shows the research that nurses (the people who most often encourage and are in charge of taking care of patients vaccinations) are all for advocating and believing in the power of immunizations. It is this trust that nurses want what is best for their patient that should help encourage parents to immunize their children, especially while listening to nurses they can trust.
LaMay, Colleen. "Shots Help Protect Idaho Kids | Story | Idaho Health 2006." Idaho Health. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. This article discussed how shots protect children and gave reasons and information on advocating vaccinations. A quote I will use in my paper from the article is "We have made huge strides, but we still have work to do," Phillips said. "We still have a large number of kids out there who are not being immunized." Some of those kids have parents who believe shots can harm their kids. "There are a lot of people doing research on the Internet, and the information they get is not necessarily accurate," Phillips said.” This quote will be supportive for my paper because it is program manager for the Central District Health Department in Boise who is advocating vaccinations and providing this website of information. She talks about how not vaccinating children can turn into an epidemic; she uses the warning of the vaccination for whooping cough. This will support the stance of my paper that advocates child immunization.
Luthy, Karlen E., Renea L. Beckstrand, and Lynn Clark Callister. "Parental Hesitation in Immunizing Children in Utah." Public Health Nursing 27.1 (2010): 25-31. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. This scholarly journal entry showed research and discussed why parents in Utah are hesitant to immunizing their children. While the study was on Utah, it could be applicable for Idaho locally as well. The first quote I will use in my paper is, “Exposure to inaccurate immunization information can undermine parents’ confidence in immunization safety and negatively affect their decision to immunize their children (Davis et al., 2006).” This will be a supporting statement to the part of my paper that will explain the problem of parents not having accurate information to make the smartest decisions in immunizing their children. Another quote discussed the inaccurate ideas that parents worried about, “The development of autism remained a major concern among parents, despite past educational efforts to relieve this concern. Parental fear regarding a causal link between immunizations and autism has confused and frightened many parents who were unsure.” This statement will help support the con side of my essay where it will discuss parents’ fear of their children developing things such as autism and other disorders in result to getting their children immunized.
"More Parents Get Exemptions from Idaho Vaccine Law | Idaho | Idaho Statesman." Boise, Idaho News, Weather, Traffic, Jobs, Classifieds | Idaho Statesman. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. This article discussed the raising numbers of parents exempting their children from vaccinations in Idaho. The article said that “Idaho rules allow exemptions to immunizations under three conditions: medical, religious and personal.” These reasons for exemption will be something I discuss in my paper. A quote I will use in my paper from the article is “This School exemptions in south-central Idaho have increased more than 62 percent since 2005.” This statistic shows the decrease in children in Idaho being immunized. This statistic should be alarming to parents because with less kids being immunized the more risk of diseases appearing that shouldn’t be an issue if children are immunized in the first place.
"NMAH | Polio: Timeline." National Museum of American History. Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Web. 23 Sept. 2011. This source coveres the affects the polio epedemic had on the United States. A quote I plan to use in my paper is “In 1952, a record 57,628 cases of polio were reported in the United States”. This quote illustrates the incredible terror and danger that polio created in the United States. This will support my paper because it is a statistic and a credible one. It is a statistic that should grab the attention of my reader and help them understand how the polio vaccine saved the lives of so many Americans, and continues to today.
"Parents Fake Religion To Avoid Vaccines - CBS News." Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News - CBS News. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. This news article talked about how parents had lied about not vaccinating their children for religious beliefs just so they would have an excuse. The main reason for their lying was their fear of their children developing autism. A interesting quote that would massively support the stance of my paper advocating vaccinations stated, “Even though government-funded studies have found no link between vaccines and autism, loosely organized groups of parents and even popular cultural figures such as radio host Don Imus have voiced concerns. Most of the furor on Internet message boards and Web sites has been about a mercury-based preservative once used in vaccines that some believe contributes to neurological disorders.” This will be supportive to my argument because it shows how little parents understand about immunizations without even speaking to a doctor first. I can understand fearing my children getting autism especially if it was caused by something self inflicted like vaccinations. However, blaming autism is not a valid reason not to get your child vaccinated, when countless others have had the same vaccination and never obtained autism.
"Time for Flu Shots, and Some May Get a Tiny Needle | Health & Science | Idaho Statesman." Boise, Idaho News, Weather, Traffic, Jobs, Classifieds | Idaho Statesman. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. This article was about the importance of getting a flu shot each year. A doctor in the article talks about the importance of not depending on the flu shot you got last year to help you through this year. I plan to quote him in my paper when he says in the article, “You should be vaccinated each and every year to ensure both you're protected and you're giving the maximum protection to people around you”. He talks about how even if you have never had the flu, you could still be a carrier and infecting others around you. This article will be supportive to my paper because it stresses the idea of not just protecting yourself but others as well. It emphasizes the importance of updating immunizations as needed and preventing harm to yourself and everyone around you.
Vessel, Kristin. Personal Interview by Natalie Calico. 09/22/2011. This source is an interview I had with the school nurse at Grace Jordan Elementary in Boise Idaho. Our interview covered immunizations amongst elementary children and Vessels opinion on the argument in my paper. Vessel helped me to better understand parents’ fear of autism and our discussion helped me gain my own opinion of it to put into my paper. My opinion that I will express in my paper is that parents don’t understand the genetic link of autism and if they did they would be easier to convince that immunizations are what is best for their children. Not only that but that valid research has proven that there are no links between autism and immunizations. This will support my paper because the autism issue was what I was having the hardest time refuting. Vessel helped me understand that there has been research done both proving and disproving that there is a link between immunizations and autism, but that there has been more research done that shows there is no link.
Poem: Forgotten Treasures
Forgotten Treasures
Skeletal and drained
Abandoned and pained
Searching for food with no luck
Trudging through the waste and muck
Scared and alone
Chewing on meatless bone
Trying to survive in this treacherous place
Tears streaming down their desperate face
Disease nibbling at their heels
As they try to find a meal
No food for today
They go to bed as their bones and muscles continue to decay
No laughter or grins
Their days are all grim
They do not know the feeling of hope
Only the frantic struggle as they attempt to cope
Hunger creates anger and despair
Hunger has no mercy on the victims it wears
These are the children who are expiring and unaided
These are the children who by death’s shadow are always shaded
These are the children who need help right away
They cannot wait forever they need you to care today
These are the children compassion has not caught
These are the children the world has forgot
Short Story: Souls of the Slum
Souls of the Slum
Teesha lives in the slums of Somalia. It has been 8 days since she has found any food. Teesha is only seven years old and already on her own in a world which seems turned against her. Teesha lost her mother when she was five years old. Her mother had gotten sick from a disease that Teesha did not know what was called. All she knew was many others around were victims of it, and each person who this awful disease captured died shortly. Teesha’s father is a man she has never met, nor does she have a desire to meet him. Men to her are cruel and do not treat her or any other women in the slum as if they are people, just possessions or things to throw around. Sometimes she catches herself dreaming of a world where women are respected; where they can earn food by other ways then stealing or letting men violate their bodies. Sometimes Teesha dreams of the place she has heard of called America. Teesha would love nothing more than to live in America where she has heard each person has their own mansion and money grows from the ground and off the tops of the trees. She dreams of a place where there are good people who stop crime from happening. Who prevent her and the other girls from being trapped by evil men. She dreams of a place where the word father means something, and where the word mother is not a word that brings an awful guilty pain to her stomach. Teesha cannot find food. She has been rummaging through trash and destroyed plastic. She has even tried begging on the streets for the day. Yet so many children beg Teesha is unseen and ignored. The children are not pitied.
Teesha is haunted by the death of her mother. When her mother was dying Teesha tried to convince her mother to eat the food she had found for the day. Her mother always refused, forcing Teesha to eat it. Teesha feels as if she ate her mother’s strength, maybe if she had made her mother eat the food that she so selfishly desired and devoured maybe her mother would have gotten well again. Maybe her mother wouldn’t have died in her place. Teesha hates hunger. It is a feeling she has known her whole life. It makes her angry. It makes her do anything for something to eat, even things she knows aren’t right. Like letting her mother die, or stealing from other children who still have families left to care for. She hates those children; the ones that still have mothers. She does not want to hate them but she cannot stop herself. Teesha is so hungry she is past the point of noticing the wrenching pain her stomach is screaming at her body. No longer does she feel that pain, just a constant fatigue. She wants to lie down and sleep, but she knows she must keep searching for food. After what feels like days but is only hours of searching she finally gives up. She cannot fight the exhaustion. Teesha collapses onto a pile of waste. Her discouraged soul is so much stronger then her body usually. Yet today it was defeated.
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