Persuasive Essay On Mmr Immunizations

2076 Words9 Pages
Introduction Imagine you are a nurse in a pediatricians’ office. As a nurse, it is your responsibility to educate your patients and their families, and encourage healthy choices. You are reviewing a suggested schedule for well-child checkups and immunizations. The parent informs you that they believe MMR immunizations are harmful, and that they have no intention of letting the child receive them. You as a healthcare professional believe that immunizations are necessary for the continued health and wellbeing of the child, and the community at large. On a personal note, you know someone with an autistic child that claims they developed the disease after receiving the MMR vaccine. Should parents have the right to choose whether or…show more content…
An unvaccinated 17-year old girl returned from a mission trip to Romania, where she had unknowingly become infected with measles. Despite having prodromal symptoms, she attended a large gathering of church members the day following her return. Many of the children at the gathering were also unvaccinated, as well as some adults. Two weeks after the gathering, the Indiana State Department of Health was notified an unvaccinated 6 year old girl (that had attended the gathering) was hospitalized in another state with the measles. Regardless of the efforts to try and contain the virus, the outbreak became the largest documented measles outbreak in the U.S. since 1996. The outbreak was caused by the importation of measles into a population whose parents had refused to have them vaccinated because of safety concerns about the vaccine. Estimated costs of containing the disease were at least $167,685, including $113,647 at a hospital with an infected employee (Parker, Staggs, Dayan, Ortega-Sanchez, 2006). This outbreak not only affected patients, but a healthcare worker as well. Had this been on a larger scale, just think of the amount of money and people that could have been
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