Based on these articles, do you agree that vaccines are safe? Why or why not?
After reading all three study materials, there is no reason to assume that vaccines could pose a health risk to the average patient. The safety of vaccines has a key priority in their development since situations in which a treatment tool for one infection causes the development of other pathophysiological conditions must be avoided. From the material from OIDP (2021), it is clear that any mass-produced vaccine products are subjected to the strictest public health safety reviews, both during the development stages and upon vaccination of the population. At the same time, CDC Centers (2020) and No MMR (2015) summarize the results of multiple studies finding no relationship between the vaccine or its components and the development of autism spectrum disorders.
How is the safety of vaccines tested?
A vaccine safety review is a key to achieving public health goals, so there are special requirements for this procedure. The entire pool of reliability and safety evaluations is appropriately divided into two classes: independent scientific studies and expert reviews from specialized medical centers. As a rule, such centers are the laboratories that produce vaccines since the developers must be confident in the safety of the manufactured product. The vaccine must be approved by the FDA and reviewed by the CDC to obtain the necessary licenses to market it. These reviews evaluate the safety of the overall formulation, vaccine components, immune response features, and acceptable dosing ranges (OIDP, 2021). Validation generally works on the principle of scalable sampling, in which, from animals, the effects being studied are spread to a group of people whose size is constantly increasing. Even after vaccines are on the market, medical centers continue to study them on a sample of the entire population for possible adverse reactions. On the other hand, independent scientific laboratories also review vaccines using available instrumental methods to provide a third-party safety assessment (CDC Centers, 2020; No MMR, 2015). As a result, review procedures are time-consuming and require significant resources to prevent unwanted effects.
What led researchers to conclude the MMR vaccine does not cause autism?
The potential association of vaccinating children with the development of autism disorders has been triggered by unreliable research and medical illiteracy in society. However, with advances in rigorous analytic science and the collection of an extensive database of clinical data, the situation has changed: the academic community has thoroughly and conclusively confirmed the impossibility of a link between autism and vaccines. The justifications for this conclusion were safety studies of both the vaccine as a whole and its components such as thimerosal: these were quantitative and qualitative studies.
As a nurse, how would you use this information to educate your patients about the safety of vaccines?
As a nurse, I strictly adhere to the idea of patient education since not all members of society have even a basic understanding of medical concepts and procedures. First and foremost, I would tell patients about the nature of a vaccine as such: what injection is and why the body naturally experiences a weakened phase of infection in doing so. In addition, I would cite authoritative and independent sources as references for patients to convince them of the scientifically proven safety of such drugs. To respond substantively to the most pressing concerns, I would ask patients what they think are the dangers of vaccines: I would try to answer these questions using accumulated experience and academic competence. In addition, I would refer to well-known medical centers and laboratories, such as the CDC, WHO, UN, and FDA, to show the global public justification for vaccine injections. As a result, I can conclude that even the three educational materials discussed in this assignment were of high value to me as a student and as a future qualified nurse.
References
CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Autism and vaccines. CDC. Web.
No MMR vaccine-autism link in large study. (2015). Autism Speaks. Web.
OIDP. (2021). Vaccine safety. HHS Immunization. Web.