Briefly discuss, using specific examples, the issue of vaccine safety

Topic: Vaccine Safety Affiliation: Health issues remain a significant challenge around the globe, amid vibrant medical interventions to contain health past and emerging health problems. A common preventative measure employed in the medical and health context to minimize or fully alleviate disease occurrence is vaccination. Infants and children under the age of five are the most vulnerable to a number of diseases like diphtheria, polio, pertussis, measles, mumps and rubella, with hepatitis B and chicken pox being the recently added in that list (Miller, 2009, p. 150). This preventative measure is, however, facing significant opposition from both medical experts and parents. They argue that the effectiveness and safety of vaccines are not guaranteed.
Issues surrounding the safety of vaccines are based on the fact that the use of vaccines has been associated with health problems that occur as side effects upon using vaccines. Specifically, autism has controversially been a condition that has been linked to the use of vaccines, with children within the relevant age bracket being the most vulnerable. In this regard, parents have raised concerns over the underlying risks in vaccine use. Governments, states, and more especially medical interventionists are embarking on monitoring health status of most vaccinated patients in a bid to ensure that vaccines remain safe, over and above being effective (Miller, 2009, p. 173). While most vaccines have passed safety tests, cases of vaccines that are not safe cannot be ruled out. The occurrence of health problems that result from vaccines also remains an open phenomenon, thereby necessitating intensive analysis of vaccines’ side effects and subsequent health complications that they are likely to cause.
Reference
Miller, N. (2009). Vaccine Safety Manual for Concerned Families and Health Practitioners, 2nd Edition: Guide to Immunization Risks and Protection, London: Midpoint Trade Books.