Article Contributed on: 11/20/2008 6:23:12 PM
Despite the general improvement in public health, the issue of mandatory vaccinations is controversial. As with all medicines, vaccines can cause secondary effects in some people, including convulsions, and death, along with the long term health problems in these certain individuals.
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act was passed in response to concerns with the safety of a particular type of whooping cough vaccine. Congressional programs provide for independent reviews of the scientific evidence of adverse effects to vaccinations, mandates the reporting of vaccine associated problems too the Department of Health and Human Services, provides financial compensation to families affected by side effects and creates the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System to monitor vaccine side effects.
The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System receives about 11,000 reports of serious adverse reactions to vaccinations every year, which includes as many as 200 deaths. 15% of adverse events are "serious" (death, permanent disability, life-threatening episode, hospitalization, or emergency room trip.) VAERS reveals that up to 59% of reported adverse events for the Hepatitis B vaccine are "serious." As few as 10% of serious events are actually reported. The vaccine may be 100 times more deadly than the disease.
Vaccines are monitored to look for rare events that may not show up in clinical trials. The CDC continuously examines possible associations between vaccines and serious side effects. Questions contend that while vaccines are stringently tested, they are not always tested on infants and their effects are not followed for long enough periods of time before mandated coverage.
More research is needed to investigate the connections between inoculations and diseases such as multiple sclerosis and diabetes. To this day, coroners don't check the vaccination status of SIDS victims.