Nursing – Anti-vaccination

Anti-vaccination of children is a situation in which the children are not vaccinated
against some preventable diseases as a result of numerous fears from the parents. The
practice of anti-vaccination is as old the vaccination practice. The imagination of the side
effects of the vaccination has increased the fears of vaccination resulting to increased anti-
vaccination of children. The non-vaccination practices have also been fueled by the media
and some church organizations (Melgar, Perez, Ordoñez, Paniagua & Vargas, 2016).
Therefore, this research will address the causes and effects of anti-vaccinating children.
Causes of Anti-Vaccination
Religious Causes
Some parents are grounded to some religious beliefs that make them not to take their
children for vaccination. Religious beliefs are generally linked to the most important part of
human beings. It is very hard to disconnect people from their religious beliefs and to connect
their view to vaccination. The people who are linked to be against vaccination due to
religious assertions usually pose a complete refusal to all vaccination.
Research shows that there is increase in the rate of exemptions for vaccination as a
result of religious reasons. To mitigate this, the lawmakers should introduce policies that
introduce vaccination as mandate for all children. Most of the parents try to demonstrate
some sincere religious outstanding beliefs that contradict the use of immunization. In the
world those countries that are associated with beliefs that results to refusal of vaccination are
associated with high death rates (Nakalembe, Banura, Namujju & Mirembe, 2014). People
have given many explanations against the use of vaccination that is related to their religious

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beliefs, the common one been the components that are been used for vaccines. The use of
component such as animal-gelatin that and human fetus tissue for basis for some refusal.

Personal Beliefs
A personal belief is another common reason that hinders adoption of vaccination by
many parents. This results in delay or refusal in vaccinating children. The parent can adopt
this measure as a way of protecting their children from the unknown side effects caused by
the vaccine. Some parent sees some benefits of having their children contact some
preventable diseases (Riva & Sormani, 2013). Therefore, the parent urges that if their
children contract a preventable disease, in the long run it will be beneficially as the children
will acquire stronger immune system in the future. There is believe that naturally immunity
is better for children that the need to have acquired immunity through vaccination.
There is also a group of parents who have believed that most of the diseases for which
people are vaccinated are not likely to be very prevalent. As a result they believe that their
children are not at high risk of contracting the diseases. Due to this believe, the parents views
the possible side effects of vaccine outweighing the merits of the vaccine. Research has also
show that most of the parents do not view preventable diseases as life threatening hence they
would prefer to not add chemicals to their children’s bodies. The assumption that most of the
diseases are treatable makes the parent to hesitate in giving their children vaccines.
Safety concerns
The safety of the vaccine is also another great concern that most of the parent express
for refusing to give their children vaccines. The media has been one of the sources of
information that the parent have used to source concerns regarding the safety of the vaccines.

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This information is overwhelming to most of the parents, making them to have difficulties
when making their own informed decision. The media gives reports that cause uncertainty for
the safety of the vaccines. There have been doubts about the short term and long term adverse
negative effects of the vaccines raising the complete refusal to vaccine children.
Vaccines are mostly water that is mixed with antigens. To stabilize them they
require additional ingredients to the solution so as increase the vaccine's effectiveness.
Parents worry about these additional ingredients which are perceived to have many
side effects.
Parents also refuse to vaccine their children due to stories from other people. There
have been stories by people on some incidences in which the children suffers as a result of
some unforeseen side effects of some immunes. The people and media also cite problems
with some components of the vaccines. There have also been some reports that they are
associated with autism, behavioral problems and brain damage, these results in refusal from
parent to vaccinate their children.
The occurrences of these side effects results to fears in the hearts and minds of most
people, who at the end overestimate the dangers associated with most of the vaccines. The
fears probably influence some people to delay vaccination of their children and some do not
get vaccination at all. Parents also view the recommended schedule as overloading their
children to chemicals hence putting them greater safety risks. As a result of this most of the
parents many decide to delay the vaccination to reduce the side effects and to better protect
their children. The health practitioner should install trust in parents to ease and reduce the
fears of the any side effect.
Desire for Addition Information

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The parents need more information regarding the vaccination administered to their
children. The information helps the parents to be able to make their own well informed
decisions about their children’s health. A good information system helps the parents to
clearly understand the benefits and risks associated to any given vaccine. Most research has
shown that more than a third of the parents do not access sufficient information on the
vaccines to be administered to their children (Bouko, 2016).
Most of the parent expresses the desire to have more detailed information concerning
the risks and merits associated with different vaccines. The information should be in a way
that does not appear to be swayed to one way giving merits only. Many parents have also
expressed desire to be provided with unbiased and factual information regarding the vaccines
by the organization administering them. There should be a clear source of information to
parent, these has been evident in USA where the country has provided an online resource
such as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and American Academy of Pediatrics
Web sites. The parents need to have open discussions with their children’s healthcare
providers to have information. The open conversation provides the parents with freedom to
be able to ask questions without fear of judgment. The healthcare provider can be one of the
most important sources of the information.
In case parents do not get the information they want from the healthcare providers,
they opts seek information from other sources. Outsourcing of the information can potentially
mislead and misinform the parents. Due to the misleading information the parents make poor
choices for their children (Nakalembe, Banura, Namujju & Mirembe, 2014).
Effects Associated with Anti-Vaccination
Risk of Spreading Diseases

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Most of the communities depend on the highly developed system of vaccination
coverage that keeps out the vaccine-preventable diseases from spreading. Vaccination is not
just a personal choice as it has it benefits to community at large. If many parents choose not
to immunize their children, they increase the risk of spreading the disease. The vaccinated
community is essentially as it helps to protect those who are not vaccinated. This is achieved
through a concept known as community immunity. When a person is vaccinated, they reduce
the chances of other in the community contacting the disease. This means that you not only
put your child at risk of the disease but also the whole community at risk.
Premature Death
Vaccine has a primary benefit of preventing disease. Vaccination has been considered
to be among the greatest achievement in the public health sector. In the 20 th century, experts
have accepted vaccination as key in saving live and staying healthy. There has been drop in
the mortality rate due to introduction of immunization. Parents should be aware that despite
of the decline of the diseases that can be vaccinated, the diseases still exist. In case of delayed
or skipping of any recommended schedule, it may probably lead to death (Dagan et al.,
2017).
Cost of Treatment
Vaccines not only do safe lives, they also save funds that would have been used in
treatment process. The cost of preventing a disease through vaccination is always low to that
of treating it. Every dollar spent on childhood vaccination save more direct cost that would be
incurred in future. It is clear that any vaccine undergoes a numerous safety testing before
been approved by the Food and Drug Administration board. This is also followed by a
continuous monitoring of its safety. This means that parents who do not vaccinate their
children on basis of additional cost for treating the side effects should worry no more.

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Reference

Bouko Levy, M. (2016). Homeopathic Drainage for Vaccinated Children. International
Journal Of Complementary & Alternative Medicine, 3(3). doi:
10.15406/ijcam.2016.03.00072
Dagan, R., Juergens, C., Trammel, J., Patterson, S., Greenberg, D., & Givon-Lavi, N. et al.
(2017). PCV13-vaccinated children still carrying PCV13 additional serotypes show
similar carriage density to a control group of PCV7-vaccinated
children. Vaccine, 35(6), 945-950. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2016.12.052.
Melgar, M., Perez, I., Ordoñez, R., Paniagua, I., & Vargas, C. (2016). Streptococcus
pneumoniae Nasopharyngeal Carriage Rates, Serotype Distribution and Vaccine
Effectiveness in Vaccinated and Non-vaccinated Healthy Children in Guatemala
City. Open Forum Infectious Diseases, 3(suppl_1). doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofw172.638.
Nakalembe, M., Banura, C., Namujju, P., & Mirembe, F. (2014). The levels of anti-
HPV16/18 and anti-HPV31/33/35/45/52/58 antibodies among AS04-adjuvanted
HPV16/18 vaccinated and non-vaccinated Ugandan girls aged 10–16 years. Infectious
Agents And Cancer, 9(1). doi: 10.1186/1750-9378-9-29.
Riva, M., & Sormani, M. (2013). Anti-HBs evaluation and booster dose in vaccinated
healthcare students. Vaccine, 31(37), 3777. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2013.06.014