With the most recent pandemic facing the nation, and with the rush to make vaccines, it is no wonder most concerned citizens are questioning the efficacy of vaccines. The general idea behind vaccines is the herd effect where if all the people in a group should be vaccinated, even though the vaccine might not “take” on a few individuals, they would still be protected because the rest of the group is inoculated. The problems arise when others in the group are not inoculated, and the ones that were not protected even though having taken a vaccine, are put at risk and no longer protected.
Perhaps it is the case in this outbreak of mumps in a New Jersey town where a boy traveled to Britain and contracted the mumps and infected others at a camp trip.
I find it interesting that such a situation could arise, especially when 75% of the people infected had taken the vaccine. Although they thought they would be protected, and did not fear the mumps, the vaccine would only protect 90% of the time. If we take a closer look, it may be the herd immunity at work, where even though most of the group was vaccinated, not all of them were, leaving the whole group at risk for contracting the infection.
It scares me to think that even though I take my daughter to her scheduled vaccinations , that she may still be at risk for contracting illness that have been nearly wiped out because others decide not to take their scheduled vaccines. To me it’s like me deciding way before I gave birth that I would not any anesthesia and have a natural birth, but when encountering the intense pain, begging for relief. The same concept could apply here as even though some people would like to avoid taking vaccinations, they risk serious illness and complications, but having to go through the full course of infection is much worse than getting the vaccine. I hope that analogy made sense. Take a deeper look and do more research when you decide to vaccinate your child to common illnesses or not. It may not be just an individual choice, but a group effect. Tell me your stories, and I love to hear your opinions. Thanks!
