Zoe Meade
Dr. Brown
8 December 2017
An Open Letter to “Anti-Vaxxers”
An open letter to “Anti-Vaxxers”
Too many people in the world, including myself, there is
nothing more important the health and safety of our children. I understand that when you choose not to vaccinate
your child, you are
making a decision that you believe is the
best choice for their health and happiness. However, when you choose to not vaccinate
your child not only are you putting them at risk, you jeopardize the “herd immunity”.
With the resurgence of preventable disease, such as measles, mumps and whooping
cough this letter I want to help you understand that vaccinations are overall the safest way to protect your
children as well as the general population. Hopefully I can convince you that it is your duty to vaccinate your child.
First let’s address “herd immunity”. Herd immunity is a form of
protection against disease, It happens when the majority of a population is
vaccinated. When you choose not to vaccinate your children, you threaten herd
immunity. This might not seem like that big of a deal, until you take into
account the consequences. In addition to weakening the “head” and allowing disease such as
measles to spread, you put great risk on those people who cannot get vaccines,
such as people whose religions prevent them from doing so, and, most
noticeably, the immuno-compromised (Willingham and Helft). A reason that you may
choose not to vaccinate your child is because you believe their body is
strong enough to fight off disease. This is sometimes
true (it is still very possible they could die because of a preventable
disease) but for people who are immunocompromised, the risk of dying because
their immune systems are so weak (Schreier). If someone who was immunocompromised was to
catch a disease like whooping cough, their chances of dying would be much
greater than someone whose immune system was strong. When Anti-Vaxxers like yourselves choose
not to vaccinate their children, you are putting not only their lives at risk, but you are needlessly endangering the lives of
people who CANNOT get vaccinations.
Now there are a couple of myths that many Anti-Vaxxers believe in and use as
evidence to support not vaccinating their children. The
biggest myth people tend to turn to is the idea that vaccines cause
Autism. In 1988, Dr. AJ Wakefield published a study that suggested
the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) was linked to behavioral issues
(Rao). Almost immediately his
study was proven to be incorrect and very soon after Wakefield admitted that he
had been bribed by lawyers from a lawsuit were parents were suing vaccine
companies (Rao).
In
the years since, Wakefield has retracted his study, and no study since has been
able to prove a solid link between vaccines and any
behavioral or mental disorders. However, I would like the pose the question, even if vaccines did in fact because
Autism, is that really worse than your child dying from a preventable disease?
Not only are you
sending the message that
you care more about your
child’s behavioral health than their actual lives, you are telling the millions
of people living with Autism that their lives are literally worse than death.
Another myth that you might
be relying on to justify not vaccinating, is that the disease which many vaccines protect
from aren’t around anymore. This is not only untrue, but the rise in
preventable diseases has actually been linked to the growing number of people
not vaccinating. Measles, for example was a virtually obsolete disease in the
United States, but in 2015 a huge outbreak began in Disneyland and spread to
about 48 states and the large majority of the people who got Measles, were
unvaccinated. (CDC). And it’s not just Measles that has seen a resurgence, the
CDC’s office website shows a growth in Hepatitis A, Mumps and Whooping cough
that are up from years in the past. When you rely on the fact that diseases have seemly
become obsolete, and that everybody is vaccinated anyway so your child is
protected, you
help diseases like these
grow and spread across the country. The CDC’s article on the Measles outbreak
specifically notes that the outbreak was caused by unvaccinated members of the
community. By not vaccinating your children, you are helping very preventable diseases grow and
spread across the country and around the world.
Finally, a lot of Anti-Vaxxers are
put off by the ingredients in vaccines. “There are too many poisons”
or “Too many chemicals”.
I
hate to be the one to break this to you, but the whole world is made up of
“chemicals”. And if by “chemicals you mean things that are “unnatural” like the
aluminum, found in many vaccines, that too in uninformed. A study published on
Science direct determined that an infant is exposed to more aluminum in their mother's
breast milk, than any vaccine that currently exists (Melania). Additionally, many parents point out such scary ingredients as
sodium chloride (salt) agar (algae) and Bovine Casein, which is a protein found
in everyday cow milk (like the kind you drink and poor on cereal). What it
comes down to is yes, vaccine ingredients
might seem scary, but when you really look
into what all the ingredients really are they are mostly things you find in everyday life. And for the really
scary ones like formaldehyde, they are used in such small amounts that it poses
no risk to your child. Pears and apples contain natural arsenic and cyanide,
but you probably wouldn’t stop your child
from eating either of those healthy fruits because they drop of poison the
apple contains is less important the health benefits of eating an apple. Think
of vaccines like that apple, yes there might be an ingredient that seems scary,
but overall the vaccine, like the apple, is
good for you!
When you choose not
to get your child vaccinated, you are not
only making decisions about your child's
health, but you are taking the lives of the
communities around you into your hands.
People who cannot get vaccinated, especially those whose immune systems are compromised (and who, might I add would love to be vaccinated if they could)
are put at great risk because of your willingness to listen to pseudoscience.
At the end of the day, it is a very real possibility that your child could die
of a preventable disease because you chose
not to get them vaccinated. I know it might be hard to take advice for your
own children from somebody else, but I urge you to look
at the evidence presented here, do your own research and hopefully you will
come to the conclusion that vaccines a safe way to protect your child, and your
community, from preventable disease.
Works Cited
Mendick, Melania.
"Aluminium Levels in Human Milk." Aluminium Levels in Human Milk.
Science Direct, n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.
Rao, T. S.
Sathyanarayana, and Chittaranjan Andrade. "The MMR Vaccine and Autism:
Sensation, Refutation, Retraction, and Fraud." Indian Journal of
Psychiatry. Medknow Publications, May 2011. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.
Schreier, Rebecca.
"Infections in the Immunocompromised Host ." Infections in
the Immunocompromised Host: Practice Essentials, The Child with Frequent
Infections, Immunocompromising Conditions. Medscape, 22 Apr. 2015. Web. 08
Dec. 2016.
Willingham, Emily, and
Laura Helft. "What Is Herd Immunity?" PBS. PBS, 05 Sept. 2014.
Web. 08 Dec. 2016.
Word
Count of Letter- 1191
Where
I would like this to be published- Ideally I would like
this letter published in a big newspaper like the New York Times. It may seem
like a reach, but because Anti-Vaxxers post a threat to national health I think
that a nationally acclaimed paper publishing a letter like this would reach a
large audience. It might also encourage people who do vaccinate their kids, to
talk to friends and family about doing the same.
Paragraph
Structure Paragraph
Paragraph
One
·
The purpose of this paragraph is to
address Anti-Vaxxers, show them why I want to address them, and open my letter.
·
Main Characters- Anti-Vaxxers, Vaccines
and Me
·
The Topic Strings that paragraph one uses
are chained topic strings and mixed topic strings.
Paragraph
Three
·
The purpose of this paragraph is to
address the common myth that vaccines cause Autism and a. show that it’s not
true and b. explain that even if they did, Autism is not worse than death.
·
Main Characters- Anti-Vaxxers, Vaccines
and Me
·
This paragraph also uses mixed and chained
topic strings.
Purpose
of my conclusion-
The purpose of my
conclusion is to reiterate the dangers of not vaccinating your child as well as
encourage my reader to not just look at the evidence in this letter, but to go
out and do their own research. I believe that people who look into evidence
themselves (instead of being “told what to do”) tend to believe it more.
Additionally, I wanted to use pathos, the emotional response of reminding them
their child could die, to encourage anti-Vaxxers to reconsider their stance.
Explication
I
was inspired to write this letter after my young, immunocompromised cousin was
diagnosed with whopping cough because a parent in his school chose not to
vaccinate their child. Something I have learned in this class over everything
else is that you are more invested in something you care about than a topic you
pick because you think it is “easy” or something along those lines.
In
my open letter I tried to utilize the many different strategies for persuasive
writing that we went over in class. I used ethos, pathos and logos throughout
my entire letter. I used the emotional points of your child is at risk and
other members of the community are at risk of dying to elicit an emotional
response, but then I follow up each of these “emotional attacks” with logical
reasoning and facts from credible sources. Additionally, I tried to write at
the level of my reader, and instead of using technical academic writing, I
wrote more casually, and even relied on some colloquialisms. Out of the three I
believe I use ethos and logos equally, as I continuously bring up “the
children” (the emotional response) and the evidence that supports vaccines are
safe and good for society.
Overall
I feel as though this would be an effect way to address anti-Vaxxers and
persuade them to reconsider their stance.
risks (see fig. 1). According
to the EPA, particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter are extremely
hazardous as they “can get deep into your lungs, and some may even get into
your bloodstream” (EPA). 
Before 2012, PM2.5 pollutants were
not included in environmental policies and were not considered per the
standards of Beijing. Only after the third amendment to the Ambient Air Quality
Standards was made by the Ministry of Environmental Protection was an official
record started of these measurements (Hefeng et al.). 
What was your sudden motivation 
