Vaccine Controversy Effect on Nurses Essay

Vaccines are one of the preventive methods that healthcare practitioners use so that they can help the community protect itself against medical conditions that may affect the human race (Colgrove, Abiola, & Mello, 2010). The research and development department in the healthcare facilities engages in a fact-finding mission so that they can come out with ideas on how they can prevent diseases from affecting humans, some of which lead to death or disabilities (Kolodziejski, 2014). After a successful discovery of vaccines, practitioners must launch an immunization program that helps popularize the concept, leading to more people accepting to have their children receive the vaccination. Nurses are involved in the administration of vaccines to the children, some of which do not agree with the program, but since they are under the authority of their employers, they have to give the kids. The controversy on the wellbeing of vaccines is shared by the public and clinical officers as well who think that immunization has a negative effect on the health of children. However, the medical body has a responsibility of educating the public on the relevance of taking the vaccines and the long-term effects of non-vaccination (Dixon & Clarke, 2013). Despite the awareness created, nurses have to respect the choice of parents who refuse to have their children administered with the vaccination. The controversy over vaccines has a negative effect on nurses as some of them administer the immunization against their beliefs.

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The negative effect arises from the beliefs attached to the effectiveness of the vaccines, meaning that some of the nurses have issues with the actual and perceived advantages that come after administration of vaccines to the children. Kolodziejski (2014) suggests that the negative effect of administering vaccines comes from the increased side effects on children who have received the jab. Nurses feel guilty that they had to cause another child to suffer, assuming that if they had not administered the medication, the kid would have remained healthy (Colgrove, Abiola, & Mello, 2010). Religious beliefs that nurses have also have an impact on the vaccine controversy that nurses have as some believe that the body produces antigens that provide a natural healing to fight against diseases.

I believe that the vaccine controversy is an ethical dilemma for me since if some nurses, who have knowledge and expertise in medical information, do not agree with the administration of the vaccines, then it leaves a few questions that need to be answered. For instance, I wonder if the nurses administer their children with the vaccines considering that there is a high possibility of the immunization jab having a negative effect on the wellbeing of their kids. This means that most medical practitioners experiment with the children of unsuspecting individuals in the society and hope to find long-lasting solutions. In addition, the awareness campaigns. The medical practitioners are bound to make ethical decisions when treating their patients so that they can avoid getting into conflicts with the society. Some of the values I uphold are administering vaccines that will help preserve the lives of human beings as opposed to causing them discomfort. Hence, anything that has a controversy surrounding it should not be administered or released to the public for consumption (Dixon & Clarke, 2013). For instance, if a vaccine has been tested and has a possibility of causing conditions like autism, it should not be tested on children. My reasoning is that testing a product using the innocent children may have their parents suffer from sickly children all their lives. The assumption that some of the nurses who administer the vaccines may not be keen enough to use the same medication in their lives.

Another controversy effect on the nurses is that they have to hide their identity when engaging in conversations with the public when education them on the danger of using the immunization in their lives (Kolodziejski, 2014). This means that despite the amount of information that nurses possess, they cannot share with the public informing them of the possible dangers since they fear the disciplinary action from the Board of Nursing. For instance, most of the nurses on social media platforms do not reveal their identity when engaging in conversations with their online friends. It also means that working in the medical field does not mean that one will automatically subscribe the vaccine idea. The fact that nurses have fear of what the Board may do to their license means that there is more negative information about the vaccines that should not be subjected to the public. Dixon & Clarke (2013) argue that before anyone can become a registered nurse, they go through a thorough training that equips them with the necessary information about medicines. However, despite the knowledge they possess, still, some nurses do not agree that vaccines should be administered to the children (Gollust et al., 2010). It may send a negative message to the public that indeed the vaccines are unsafe and there is a possibility of having long-term implications for their children's health.

The role of the nurse in the decision-making process regarding the issue of vaccination is that they should inform the parents of the potential dangers that come with the consumption of vaccines. The public has a right to be informed of what they will consume since they are the immediate people who deal with the negative effect in case a vaccine backfires. For instance, when a child falls sick, the parents have to cater for the medical bills and the nurse who administered the vaccine protected by the Medical Board. A nurse has no power to insist on a parent to have their child receive the immunization (Gollust et al., 2010). Hence, when a parent, for one reason or another refuses to have their child immunized, nurses should respect the decision. The only option that nurses have is educating the public on both benefits and dangers of failing to get the immunization and avoid making a decision on behalf of a patient.

The potential resolution for the vaccine controversy is engaging the public in the research and development process so that they can learn about the possible advantages and disadvantages that come with consumption of the vaccines (Intlekofer, Cunningham, & Caplan, 2012). This means that parents and other decision-makers will have the necessary information that will enable them to make an informed decision in regards to the treatment. It will also help prevent the legal actions taken against nurses or healthcare institutions who advocate and administer the immunization injections to the children. Another solution is having all patients make an informed decision through giving their consent, for or against the administration. An informed consent comes when a patient allows the doctor to administer the treatment to them despite the controversy that surrounds the treatment option. This means that a parent who allows the doctors to administer a vaccination to their children will not engage in a court battle with the healthcare practitioner. The government should take part in educating the public on the need to have their children administered with the vaccination (Kolodziejski, 2014). Nurses who advocate for the immunization should be at the forefront and should also not shy away from answering any questions that the public might have in relation to the drugs.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the vaccine controversy has a negative effect on nurses on their service delivery as well as in their personal lives. The fact that nurses have to administer the vaccines to the public irrespective of whether they support or do not support the immunization campaigns affects their persona. Most are left with a negative feeling as they feel they put the public in danger, yet have no channel in which they can air their views since they fear the decision by the board to discipline or dismiss them in the long-term. informed consent will help reduce the controversy that surrounds the administration of vaccines as patients will have approved having their children receive the treatment. There is also the need to provide nurses with accurate and reliable information about the vaccines as they are in touch with the patients and help reduce the controversy that surrounds the immunization. Hence, any nurse found to mislead the public should get a disciplinary action taken against them. If a nurse does not subscribe to the vaccination ideas on themselves or their children, they should refrain from engaging with the public as it helps spread and increase the mistrust that the society has with medical solutions that have taken years to discover.

References

Colgrove, J., Abiola, S., & Mello, M. M. (2010). HPV vaccination mandates-lawmaking amid political and scientific controversy. New England Journal of Medicine, 363(8), 785-791.

Dixon, G. N., & Clarke, C. E. (2013). Heightening uncertainty around certain science: Media coverage, false balance, and the autism-vaccine controversy. Science Communication, 35(3), 358-382.

Gollust, S. E., Dempsey, A. F., Lantz, P. M., Ubel, P. A., & Fowler, E. F. (2010). Controversy undermines support for state mandates on the human papillomavirus vaccine. Health Affairs, 29(11), 2041-2046.

Intlekofer, K. A., Cunningham, M. J., & Caplan, A. L. (2012). The HPV vaccine controversy. Virtual Mentor, 14(1), 39.

Kolodziejski, L. R. (2014). Harms of hedging in scientific discourse: Andrew Wakefield and the origins of the autism vaccine controversy. Technical Communication Quarterly, 23(3), 165-183.