Change Your World Week Winter 2022 (Archived)

“Be wise and immunize!” is more than just a catchy slogan. It is also a true, and important, statement. Vaccines are important for maintaining public safety through herd immunity. (Herd immunity is when roughly 70-90% of the population is vaccinated). Vaccine mandates help maintain those important factors. According to the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), “Vaccines are among the most effective tools available for preventing infectious diseases and their complications and sequelae”.  People feel that mandates infringe on their rights, or are forcing unsafe vaccines on them, so they choose to ignore mandates. The issue with people choosing not to vaccinate is that it puts herd immunity, and thus the public, at risk. Without vaccinations disease re-emergence can occur. It is vital to everyone’s safety that people receive their vaccinations. Mandates ensure vaccination.

The most current action being taken to mandate vaccinations is with the COVID-19 vaccine. According to the White House’s COVID plan, President Biden has a plan to vaccinate the unvaccinated. There are multiple parts in this plan. The first part is having OSHA develop a rule that will require all employers with 100 or more employees to fully vaccinate their workforce, and any workers who do not vaccinate must produce negative test results on a weekly basis (White House, 2022). Healthcare professionals who work at Medicare and Medicaid hospitals will also be required to be fully vaccinated. However, according to the New York Times, as of January 13^th, 2022, Biden’s plan to require employers with 100+ workers to fully vaccinate was blocked by the Supreme Court.

In the Journal of Missouri State Medical Association, there is an entry about possible solutions to vaccine hesitancy. The potential solutions are as follows:

1. Education of potential vaccine recipients
2. Publicity promoting vaccines
3. Increased access to vaccination services such as workplaces, pharmacies
4. Reminder-recall systems and internal audits of practice vaccination rates
5. Standing order programs
6. Audit vaccination rates in practices
7. Health-care provider recommendation to patients
8. Routine assessment of vaccinations incorporated into clinical practice
9. Medical office staff trained to routinely assess vaccination needs of patients

You may be thinking, “Keeping people vaccinated sounds like a health official’s issue, so I can’t be helpful”. But, you would be wrong! There are plenty of things you and I can do to be part of the solution. The main thing you can do to help is to follow mandates and get vaccinated! Being vaccinated is so important to our health, and  the health of others. (To learn more about why you should vaccinate, follow the link below) Another important thing you can do, is encourage others to vaccinate themselves. You can do this by spreading awareness. Small things like having a conversation about vaccines and mandates with friends and family is helpful. Other things you can do are sharing informative posts on social media and fighting misinformation.

https://youtu.be/uxcb9s0dpJg

 People feel vaccine mandates violate their personal rights and that vaccines are unsafe, so people choose to ignore them and put the public at risk. “People cite bodily integrity, personal liberty and freedom as the most common justifications for refusing vaccines” (Gostin). People feel that they have the right to decide what to do with their body, which is not incorrect. However, states hold the right to enforce compulsory vaccinations, so legally no rights are being violated (Ercalano, 2021).

People also fear vaccines due to misinformation surrounding their safety. This fear is a result of a report released in the Lancet in 1998 (Geoghegan et al., 2020). Following a study done on the MMR vaccine and autism, the report was released with results indicating that the MMR vaccine could cause autism. A subsequent study was done disproving the previous results, and the 1998 report was retracted. Although the safety of the vaccine was proven, people were, and still are, hesitant to receive vaccinations.

My action plan is relatively simple. I plan on writing a petition and gain signatures. You can help my action plan be a success. By following the link below, you can sign a petition to make sure vaccines stay mandatory! I also have a short survey to take on google forms about your opinions on vaccines and vaccine mandates!

1. Sign Petition HERE https://www.change.org/p/keep-vaccines-mandatory?changeinvitetoteam=true

2. Fill out survey HERE.https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfG1-_Y-qJctcEUuxoGqWUhgo_acWcQQG7koaXu0reRVdv8VA/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0

Anderson, E. L. (2014). Recommended solutions to the barriers to immunization in children and adults. Missouri medicine. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6179470/

Ercolano, P. (2021, September 20). The legality of vaccine mandates. The Hub. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://hub.jhu.edu/2021/09/20/stacey-lee-employer-vaccine-mandate/

Geoghegan, S., O’Callaghan, K. P., & Offit, P. A. (2020). Vaccine safety: Myths and misinformation. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00372

Omer, S. B., Salmon, D. A., Orenstein, W. A., deHart, M. P., & Halsey, N. (2009). Vaccine refusal, mandatory immunization, and the risks of vaccine-preventable diseases. New England Journal of Medicine, 360(19), 1981–1988. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmsa0806477