The Pros and Cons of Not Vaccinating Your Child Essay

The Pros and Cons of Not Vaccinating Your Child - Essay Example Vaccination against the highly prevalent infectious diseases is necessary to protect the individual from acquiring the disease and eradicating the disease from the whole community as well as stopping its further transmission. Many goals of eradicating particular infectious diseases have been attained by mass vaccination programs. In 1980, the WHO eradicated small-pox worldwide by a mass vaccination program. In 1988, WHO, resolved to eradicate poliomyelitis by vaccination. The number of cases world-wide has fallen from 350,000 to 1651 at present (Colledge et al 2010). Vaccines are associated with a number of risks and they are also associated with certain risks. However, the vaccines are also associated with a vast number of benefits. Many parents question the safety and effectiveness of vaccinating their children and show concern about the adverse effects associated with it. Proper and adequate awareness should be provided to the parents so that they can make a healthy decision for t heir children after analyzing the pros and cons. The optimal benefits and risks associated with not vaccinating the children should be analyzed before providing immunization to the children. All vaccines are associated with side-effects and most of them are either minor or very rare. The CDC develops a Vaccine Information Sheet (VIS) that contains all the relevant information regarding the vaccines. The parents should be provided with VIS so that they are fully aware of the side-effects and do not panic in case of post-vaccination effects. The most common side-effects associated with the vaccines are fever and redness and swelling or infection at the site of the injection. Rarely, headaches, weakness or tiredness and rash also develop in the children. Seizures, coma, Gullain-Barre and death are very rare adverse effects of vaccination and are least expected. There are certain contraindications of vaccination and these children should not be immunized. Children with suppressed immuni ty because of any disease or disease related treatment should not be vaccinated at all. There are high chances that they will respond poorly to the inactivated vaccine agents. Any allergies to the vaccine components are also a contraindication for vaccine administration. In such cases of contraindications, it is recommended that prevention of the disease is attained through other preventive measures (Hansel 2012). The side-effects of vaccination are different for particular vaccines and parents should attain complete awareness before putting forward their children for the vaccination programs. However, the benefits of not vaccinating children are not huge and it is important to protect your children from the prevalent infectious diseases. The benefits of the vaccines have been evident since the past 100 years from the eradication of the variola virus, control of the polio and measles infection and the reduction of many vaccine-preventable diseases. However, the benefits are reducing as the vaccine-preventable diseases are becoming rare or have been eradicated. Although MANY diseases have been controlled in United States, outbreaks of certain diseases like measles have brought forward the benefits of vaccines. Researches showed that children who were not vaccinated had 35 folds greater risk of developing measles as compared to

What were the principal causes and consequences of the Essay

What were the principal causes and consequences of the Spanish-American War - Essay Example The paper tells that various wars were fought by Cuba in order to gain independence from Spain. Spain held the country as a colony ever since the end of the 19th century. These wars were labeled as the Cuban War of Independence. While these wars were being fought, Cuba’s status was slowly being changed. Slavery was abolished in October 1886 and many of these liberated slaves were able to gain positions as farmers or urban working class employees. These social changes caused rich people to lose their properties, downgrading their status to middle class. A significant amount of money was also flown into Cuba from the US, with amounts reaching almost 50 million dollars. While money was flowing into Cuba, issues on whether the country was US or Spanish territory were raised politically and economically. During the Cuban War of Independence, the last few months of the conflict triggered the bigger Spanish-American War. Spanish colonial policies were revised soon after the country e xperienced two major losses in the colonial wars. These defeats caused the loss of its colonies in the Americas and in the Peninsular Wars. Soon after, the concept of the Spanish empire was being redefined by Spain. Spain’s colonialism can be explained in terms of culture and language. Although oceans separated these territories from each other, their culture and language united them as Spanish colonies. CÃ ¡novas also claimed that Spain was remarkably different from other empires such as Britain, and France. As opposed to these empires, Spain uniquely contributed to spreading civilization to the New World.3 On the other hand, the US also had its own interests in the Caribbean area. According to the US Monroe Doctrine, it would not allow any interference in any states’ issues and goals in expanding their colonies. Interestingly, however, Spanish Cuban colonies were exempted from the statement. For Americans, Cuba has been attracted by offers to be brought from Spain a nd other Americans were also high in ‘their hopes of future annexation’4 of the country. The US government did not however consider the same possibilities for other Spanish colonies like the Philippines, Guam, or Puerto Rico.5 Canovas del Castillo was in charge of Spain’s restoration following the wars and it mandated General Martinez-Campos to control the uprisings in Cuba. The general was however unable to control these insurgent activities; he was then replaced by General Valeriano Weyler who succeeded in stripping the insurgents of their weapons and supplies; he also moved many of the insurgents into reconcentration camps. This move however enraged the US and labeled Spain’s actions as extermination, not civilized warfare.6 Towards the end of the 19th century, various factors eventually came together in the US which established its concerns on overseas expansion. Concerns were also growing on new markets and other sources for its raw material needs7. T he erratic economy of the late 1800s where the US was hit with depression, prompted the US to consider the foreign expansion of its markets. In effect, they saw the foreign market as a market which could take in their industrial and agricultural surpluses at the same time, one which they could also get their raw materials from8. Latin America and the Far East were considered fertile ground for its economic plans. America was however very much aware that in order for it to succeed in its economic expansion plans, it also needed to build a strong navy to protect its interests9. This meant that the US would have to establish its naval bases in the Pacific islands of the Far East, including the Philippines, Guam, and American Samoa10. A canal through Central America would therefore also be necessary for its economic expansion plans. Other elements also came into play in the Spanish-American war. The end of the 19th century also brought about the missionary expansion of American Protesta nt Churches11. These missionaries