Vaccines Should they be mandatory for children in public schools?By Alan Wobeser

The controversy

• Is making vaccines mandatory for students a good thing?

What is a vaccine?

• A vaccine is a preparation that improves immunity to a specific disease• A vaccine is usually made from a killed or

weakened form of the disease, but can also be made from one of the toxins or surface proteins• The vaccine allows the body to recognize the

disease as foreign and destroy it. While also allowing the immune system to recognize and destroy those diseases in the future

Pros and cons of vaccines• Pros• They can make you

immune to the disease• They protect people

through “Herd Immunity”1

• Saves millions from dying from preventable diseases

• Cons• Soreness at injection

site• Headache• Chills• Low Fever• Crankiness• Vomiting• Extremely rarely death

1 “herd immunity general immunity to a pathogen in a population based on the acquired immunity to it by a high proportion of members over time.” herd immunity. (n.d.) in Google. Retrieved from http://www.google.ca/search?q=herd+immunity+definition&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&ie=&oe=&gfe_rd=cr&ei=S1ZhU_iNFa2kgALSz4CABg

Some common reasons people don’t get vaccines

•Religion•Misinformation •Nervous about needles•Allergies

Common misconceptions about vaccines

“There are many serious side effects from vaccines.” • Public Health Agency of Canada (2012-04-19 )Immunization Fact and Fiction http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/im/iyc-vve/fiction-eng.php#b

• Serious side effects affect so few people that the risks of the diseases dwarf the risk of getting a vaccine.

“Some vaccines can cause autism”Public Health Agency of Canada (2012-04-19) Immunization Fact and Fiction http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/im/iyc-vve/fiction-eng.php#b

• This seems to be a common one for some reason however, there is no, I repeat no, connection between vaccines and autism and there have been a huge number of studies to demonstrate this.

Why vaccinate? • What's the big deal some people might say?• The big deal is this, before the invention and general distribution

of vaccines, all people had to rely on was genes to protect them from devastating pandemics. If they were given the chance to be immune to a disease they would have jumped on it, but today thanks in part to vaccines, there aren't so many pandemics. So people have lost sight of this and have started to refuse vaccines for a variety of really dumb reasons. So next time you get a vaccine, if you’re scared of needles suck it up, it could save your life!

How Ontario handled making vaccines mandatory • There are consequences for parents that

have not gotten their children the vaccine required and have not filed a statement to explain their reasoning, such as a religious or conscience statement or a medical exemption.• The parent is committing a offence and

can be fined 1000 dollars. If the student still does not get the vaccines, the medical officer can suspend the student for twenty days.

How I think Saskatchewan should make vaccines mandatory

• After reviewing the information I collected for this presentation, I think Saskatchewan should adopt a policy like Ontario. But, with harsher repercussions for those that do not vaccinate like community service and harsher fines. I like the idea of people being able to be exempted, but I think exemptions should be fairly hard to come by and should be for a very good reason.

SO DON’T WAIT VACCINATE!

Any questions?

References • Public Health Agency of Canada. (2012-04-19). Immunization

Fact and Fiction. http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/im/iyc-vve/fiction-eng.php#b 07-5-14

• Ontario gov ( 2010) Immunization of School Pupils Act http://www.elaws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90i01_e.htm 07-5-14

• Manitoba gov, (Frequently Asked Questions and Answers About Vaccines)http://www.gov.mb.ca/health/publichealth/cdc/div/about.html 07-5-14

• World health organization Vaccines http://www.who.int/topics/vaccines/en/ 07-5-14

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References• CDC Vaccines and Preventable Diseases (March 14, 2012) http

://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/default.htm#basics 07-5-14• The college of Philadelphia physicians

http://www.historyofvaccines.org/ 07-5-14• Public health agency of Canada frequently

asked questions (2012-02-24) http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/im/vs-sv/vs-faq-eng.php 07-5-14

• Google herd immunity definition http://www.google.ca/search?q=herd+immunity+definition&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&ie=&oe=&gfe_rd=cr&ei=S1ZhU_iNFa2kgALSz4CABg 07-5-14