Until It Happens to You: A Case for Mandatory Vaccination
In today’s society, there is much debate on the matter of mandatory vaccination as a public health measure. While overwhelming evidence points toward the safety of vaccines and their ability to prevent illness, many people consider forced vaccination to be an infringement on personal freedom. While this debate is ongoing in 2019, it is interesting to look back to times before vaccinations existed and diseases that are now extremely rare ran rampant.
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a paralytic disease caused by the poliovirus. Prior to the development of the polio vaccine in the 1950s, the disease was feared by the masses as it would strike without warning and leave its victims debilitated or dead. Improvements in sanitation during the 19thand 20thare often blamed for increasing rates of infection. Prior to societal emphasis on hygiene, it was not uncommon for infants to be exposed to polio virus. Infants could be exposed to the virus and recover seemingly unscathed due to neural plasticity (and thus recovery of muscle function). Issues began to arise as hygiene prevented exposure of the polio virus until later in life. Older children and adults lack the plasticity required to recuperate from the paralyzing effects of poliovirus and, as such, its effects were lifelong. Polio quickly became one of the most feared diseases throughout Europe and America; it did not discriminate in selecting its victims and left those affected debilitated for life.
Unlike many diseases of the time that could be cured with newly discovered antibiotics, there was no cure once a person contracted polio. That standard of care was supportive therapy using contraptions such as the iron lung, a machine that breathed for patients whose respiratory muscles were paralyzed by the virus. Rehabilitative efforts only went so far in these patients as, once destroyed, neuronal tissue cannot be regenerated. While it was not possible to cure polio, a way to prevent it was discovered by Jonas Salk. In the 1950s, Salk ran trials of his vaccine in millions of children throughout the United States. Nearly 1.8 million children in 44 states throughout America were involved in this study. Frightened parents who witnessed their loved ones suffering from poliomyelitis were eager to have their children vaccinated. The vaccine proved to be effective in preventing the development of poliomyelitis and was licensed in 1955 and over the next 6 years, the number of cases of polio in the United States dropped from 35,000 to 161 annually. Polio was finally declared eradicated in the United States in 1994.
In 2019, the debate over mandatory vaccination is fueled largely by the safety of vaccines, when in reality we should be focusing on the danger of the diseases that they prevent. One would be prosecuted for denying treatment to a sick child but is allowed to leave this child susceptible to disease. One could argue that vaccinations offer “treatment” of diseases before they are given the chance to occur. It should not have to take a paralytic disease to convince a parent that vaccines are warranted. It will be interesting to see where legislation related to this issue is headed in years to come as diseases once eradicated begin to reemerge.
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