Importance Of Mumps, Measles, And Rubella Vaccination In Children

Background of Vaccines and Their Effectiveness

In the paper provided for peer review, the student has defined the topic of the paper. The paper discusses the concept of Mump, Measles and Rubella vaccination in children. However, the author has give a very general topic “Why Children Should be Vaccinated” since the paper is not discussing the whole concept of children vaccination but specifically vaccination of children against Measles, Mumps and Rubella. The author could have specified his topic to avoid ambiguity.

The author has provided a nice background if his topic. To start with, the author has explained how vaccines were invented and how they have been very effective in saving peoples’ lives. The author also went ahead to give a background on the key issue that is, the vaccination of Measles, rubella and Mumps. The author has explained when the vaccination is given to children and its adverse effects. Autism Spectrum Disorder has also been introduced and the author has stated its characteristics, symptoms and causes.

In spite of the clear background and introduction, the author did not provide the intention of the essay. There is no roadmap to show what the author intended to achieve with the essay. The author just got into discussing the topic upon giving the introduction and the background. The paper does not guide the reader into what he/she expects to find in the paper’s content.

The structure of the paragraphs should be a topic sentence at the start, supporting sentences and a concluding sentence ending the paragraph. The paragraphs should also have coherence, order, unity and completeness in the sentences.  However, the author has structured some paragraphs poorly.  A good example of the poorly structured paragraph is the fourth paragraph in the paper. The Paragraph does not have topic sentence to introduce the reader on what the paragraph is all about. The author just starts the paragraph with a discussion. Also, the paragraph’s sentences are not coherent, for example the first sentence does not clearly show what the author intend to bring out. The paragraph is also incomplete since there is not concluding sentence at the end of the paragraph, the author starts with a discussion and ends with it. The supporting sentences are not clear. The paragraph can be improved by stating with a topic sentence for example: Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine has been associated with Autism in children. The author can then continue by giving supporting ideas using the study by Wakefield et al. which showed a connection between the vaccination and autism. The paragraph needs to have about three supporting sentences. The author can include other studies that have showed such a connection. Finally, the paragraph should also have a concluding or closing sentence which should summarize the main idea in the paragraph.

Introduction to Mumps, Measles, and Rubella Vaccination in Children

The paper’s conclusion is not clear. Although the author starts the concluding paragraph very well by restating the paper’s topic, the importance of vaccination and the thesis statement, there is no other aspect in the paragraph to show that it is clear. The author introduces new ideas in the conclusion paragraph by stating the advantages of vaccinations and the repercussions of failure to vaccinate children. The author mixes these new ideas with a key point in the essay “In addition, research has shown that there is no link between MMR vaccination and Autism Spectrum Disorder”.  The author would have included such key points in summary without having to bring up new ideas. However, the conclusion leaves the leader with a sense of the paper’s usefulness since the author states why the vaccination is important and makes it clear that there is no known connection between MMR vaccination in children and Autism Spectrum Disorder whatsoever.

In the body part of the essay, the author has not clearly stated that Autism Spectrum Disorder and MMR vaccination are not related. The author asserts that since there was no enough evidence to prove there was a link between autism and MMR from Andrew Wakefield’s paper, the connection does not exist. This is a weak supporting claim. The author should have come up with several sources that support the claim and used them to support that MMR is not related to autism. The author also uses the study of Honda et al. to show that there is no link between autism and MMR.  However the study does not a clear illustration to show lack of connection between MMR and autism since the authors concludes that “MMR vaccination is most unlikely to be the main cause of Autism Spectrum Disorder”. The words “most unlikely” do not clarify the claim.   

It is commendable that the author used peer reviewed source to try and prove that there is no connection between Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine and autism. peer reviewed sources are those sources that have been written by professionals in a certain field and are reviewed for research quality and whether they adhere to editorial standards by scholarly reviewers in a journals subject area before they are published in the journal. The articles are all available in the Ebscohost database upon limiting the search for peer reviewed sources only. Also, the articles are found in the Google Scholar database which only hosts scholarly articles a synonym for peer reviewed articles.

Poorly Structured Paragraphs in the Paper

In the article, the author shows how the anti-vaccination movement used wrong information to support their campaign. These movement rejected vaccination with the claim that the disease vaccinated against was not prevalent in their community or had been eradicated, thus, the allergic and adverse reactions that children experienced were not worth the vaccination.  Moreover, celebrities disseminated their view on vaccination to the public making these movements even more aggravated. Additionally, the media fed the public with wrong information about immunization thus promoting miss-informed anti-vaccination movement by influencing the opinion of the public towards the concerns on immunization. The public also believed that by vaccinating a person, the immune system gets overloaded and therefore using a lot of vaccines may lead to immune system dysfunction. The anti-vaccination movements could have included additional information such as lack of trust in the government of the pharmaceutical companies; the preservative found in the vaccines can be dangerous to the children. The movement should also have cited reasons such as the vaccines having side effects on the children health.

The author has clearly indicated the information provided to the public should be based on valid research to avoid misinforming the public. In the paper, the author indicates that the public started rejecting MMR vaccine after an invalid research was published citing that the vaccine causes autism. Apart from citing that the research was incorrect, the Lancet and the British Medical journal should have gave more convincing details to assure the public that the vaccine was safe. Detailed information on accurate research to show that the vaccines in safe should have been included.

All the references provided in the paper are legitimate since they are all accessible. Some of the sources are scholarly and the online sources are accessible using the link attached. The articles by Godlee, Smith and Marcovitch; Honda, Yasuo and Rutter; Riedel; Lancet Editors; Wakefield, Munch and Anthony are all published in journals thus peer reviewed and are accessible in databases such as Google scholar. The Autism Spectrum Australia source is accessible through the link provided. All the sources with doi can be easily accessed using the doi provided.

There have been several violations of the in text reverencing in the paper.  For instance, in the in text (Gupta 1996), there should have been a comma after the author’s name as follows (Gupta, 1996). Secondly, in the in text Andrew Wakefield et al, the author should not have included both names of the first author but only the sir name. Additionally, the in text Hideo Honda et al. should have been followed the year of publication.

Reference	Correct/incorrect	Correct reference
Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect). All Rights Reserved .Retrieved on 2014 June from: https://www.autismspectrum.org.au/content/about-autism-spectrum-disorders	Incorrect	Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect). (2014). Retrieved from https://www.autismspectrum.org.au/content/about-autism-spectrum-disorders
Godlee F, Smith J, Marcovitch H (2011). “Wakefield’s article linking MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent”. BMJ. 342:c7452 (jan05 1): c7452c7452.doi:10.1136/bmj.c7452	Incorrect	Godlee F., Smith J., Marcovitch H. (2011). “Wakefield’s article linking MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent”. BMJ. 342:c7452 (jan05 1): c7452c7452.doi:10.1136/bmj.c7452
Gupta S. Immunology and immunologic treatment of autism. Proc Natl Autism Assn Chicago 1996: 455-460	Incorrect	Gupta S. (1996). Immunology and immunologic treatment of autism. Proc Natl Autism Assn, 455-460
Hideo Honda, Yasuo Shimizu, Michael Rutter (18 February 2005). “No effect of MMR withdrawal on the incidence of autism: a total population study”.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 46 (6): 572–579. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2005.01425	Incorrect	Honda, H., Shimizu, Y., & Rutter, M. (2005). No effect of MMR withdrawal on the incidence of autism: a total population study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46(6), 572-579. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2005.01425
Rubin, Benjamin (1980). “A note on the development of the bifurcated needle for smallpox vaccination”. WHO Chronicle 34 (5): 180–1	Incorrect	Rubin, B. A. (1980). A note on the development of the bifurcated needle for smallpox vaccination. WHO chronicle, 34(5), 180-1.
Stefan Riedel, MD, PhD (January 2005). Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination 18 (1). Baylor University Medical Center. pp. 21–25.PMC 1200696	Incorrect	Riedel, S. (2005, January). Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination. In Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings (Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 21-25). Taylor & Francis.
The Editors Of The Lancet (February 2010). “Retraction—Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children”. Lancet 375 (9713): 445. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60175-4	Incorrect	The Editors Of The Lancet. (2010). “Retraction—Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children”. Lancet 375 (9713): 445. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60175-4
Thomas J. Paranoia strikes deep: MMR vaccine and autism. Psychiatric Times. 2010;27(3):1-6 G	Incorrect	Thomas, J., & LLM, M. (2010). Paranoia strikes deep: MMR vaccine and autism. Psychiatric Times, 27(3), 1-6.
The Lancet (1998, February 28). The Lancet. Retrieved May 25, 2019, from The Lancet: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(97)11096-0/abstract	Incorrect	The Lancet. (1998). The Lancet. Retrieved from https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(97)11096-0/abstract
Wakefield A, Murch S, Anthony A et al. (1998). “Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia,non- specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children”. Lancet 351 (9103): 637–41. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(97)11096- 0.PMID 9500320. Retrieved 2007-09-05. (Retracted)	Incorrect	Wakefield A., Murch S., Anthony A. (1998). “Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia,non- specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children”. Lancet 351 (9103): 637–41. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(97)11096- 0.PMID 9500320.

The author has violated the APA formatting style severally as indicated below.

Correct formatting	How the student has formatted the paper
Both side of the paper should be justified	The student has align the document on the left
The reference list should be arranged alphabetically	The student has referenced an article with a word starting with an A bellow an article with a word starting with a W
The page number need to be placed in the upper right-hand corner	The student has placed the page number below the right hand corner
Each paragraph should be indent for 0.5 inch	The student has been indented below 0.5 inches
The paper should be double spaced throughout including the references	The paper has been not been double spaced
There should be a heading of the article just above the first paragraph	The student did not have a heading apart from the cover page

(The collage of St. Scholarstica, 2018).

There has been various language aspects which the writer has put into place and are as follows. Firstly, at the introduction of the paper the writer says ‘’Before a time where vaccines exist, infectious diseases were widespread and carry a high mortality rate’’. He or she tries to capture the interest of the reader towards importance of vaccination. it has a high relation with his or her conclusion whereby he or she is in support of the vaccination. secondly, the generally language of the paper is simple and direct such that the general public can understand what he or she is saying. for instance, ‘’ In conclusion, I strongly believe that children should be vaccinated against mumps, measles and rubella as these diseases have a high mortality rate and caused a lot of suffering on the child’’. The author has avoided extra or unnecessary medical jargons.

The most confusing part of the paper is when the author says that ‘’Fears towards vaccinations are associated with multiple concerns. One concern is that if immunization is overloading the immune system, it criticizes that the high amount of vaccines is not natural and may induce an immune system dysfunction’’. To me it feels a genuine question which need more research to find out the truth because the fact is introduction of foreign substances in the body are likely to trigger abnormality (Smith, Ellenberg, Bell & Rubin, 2008).   

References

The collage of St. Scholarstica. (2018). Citation Help for APA, 6th Edition: Formatting Your Paper. Retrieved from https://libguides.css.edu/APA6thEd/APAFormatting

Smith, M. J., Ellenberg, S. S., Bell, L. M., & Rubin, D. M. (2008). Media coverage of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and autism controversy and its relationship to MMR immunization rates in the United States. Pediatrics, 121(4), e836-e843.