Smallpox had an average thirty percent mortality rate during that time; nearly one in every three people who contracted it died. Vaccination began in 1798, with the work of Edward Jenner. Jenner, in discovering this method of immunization, saved countless lives. Ever since, diseases that previously ravaged populations unchecked, such as polio and smallpox, have been eradicated.

While vaccination confers protection to the individual, it also brings protection to the community at large. Herd immunity is when many members of a community are vaccinated, protecting those who absolutely cannot vaccinate against contagious diseases, such as those with a weakened or nonexistent immune system, too young or too old be vaccinated, or having allergy to an ingredient of the vaccine. The reason herd immunity exists is because these diseases have to spread from person to person-if absolutely no one around them has the disease, the vulnerable simply never come in contact with it. Like an elephant herd circling their young, the community protects the weak by surrounding them with the strong and healthy. But if herd members decide to leave holes in the circle, then the young in the middle are put in danger. Whether or not we like it getting shots, because we live in communities, we are all members of municipal herds. It is our responsibility as neighbors, family, or coworkers to vaccinate as possible to help protect those around us who actually cannot.

Recently, concerned parents have spoken out against vaccinating their children, for various reasons. Many opponents to mandatory vaccination cite vaccines’ autism-causing properties. However, this is based on a single study that was later proved fraudulent and misleading. In 1998, Andrew Wakefield and twelve of his colleagues published a paper postulating that the MMR vaccine children received caused their autism. The experimental results were undermined by many flaws, such as the lack of control subjects and small sample size. A short retraction was soon published, with ten of the original twelve co-authors admitting that “no causal link was established between MMR vaccine and autism as the data were insufficient.” Further investigation showed that they were guilty of deliberate fraud. They picked and chose data that suited their case; they falsified facts. Multiple epidemiological studies were conducted and published almost immediately after the publication of Wakefield’s paper, refuting the posited link between MMR vaccination and autism. Under the crushing weight of all this combined evidence, no one can refuse to vaccinate their children and still have a clear conscience.

We are in the middle of flu season, and while flu may seem benign, like only a stronger cold, 36,000 die and 200,000 are hospitalized each year in the United States alone because of the flu. It is our responsibility to ourselves and to members of our communities to make sure we take the necessary measures to prevent such tragedies. The flu vaccine, for example, is easily accessible; it is offered for free or very cheap at most pharmacies such as CVS, Rite-Aid, and Walgreens. Please take the time with your doctor to make sure all your vaccinations are up to date; to make sure your future, and the future of those around you, is safe.


<Michael Linde, La Canada High School 11th Grade>