To the Editor:

I would like to bring attention to the need for proper education regarding vaccine

administration and their purposes within the community. The conversations surrounding

vaccinations has always been a contentious subject and highly debated, but in the years

following the Covid-19 pandemic and the creation of the Covid-19 vaccination, the conversation

has become rather controversial. It is extremely important that those in our community, and the

public as a whole, is properly educated on what vaccinations are, what purpose vaccinations

serve, and why they, oftentimes, are important to be received for personal health as well as

public health. This education will serve to assist the community in making proper and educated

decisions when it comes to whether they will or will not choose to get all or certain vaccinations.

Since the first vaccination, the smallpox vaccine, was created in 1796 and the creation of

the polio vaccine in 1955, which was when vaccines became more routine, vaccinations have

been a mainstay within the American healthcare system. A vaccine, in simplest terms, is a way to

build natural immunity to debilitating and deadly diseases before ever becoming sick. Vaccines

contain an inactive or weakened form of the disease. When people are exposed to the inactive or

weakened form of the disease, the body builds antibodies. Antibodies are a protein found in the

blood that fight off diseases and infections and are created in response to exposure to disease,

whether that be by contracting it and becoming ill or by way of a vaccination.

As I previously stated, there has always been debate surrounding vaccinations for various

reasons, whether that be questions surrounding their effectiveness, safety, or whether they are

necessary. It is appropriate to always have questions regarding personal and public healthcare,

but it is imperative that they are questions that are backed up by factual, evidence-based

information. It is equally important that these questions are answered by credible individuals
with credible information. The debate over vaccine effectiveness was certainly heightened when

the Covid-19 vaccination was made available to the public. Many American individuals had

questions when it came to the short time frame in which the vaccine was developed, the

vaccine’s effectiveness, and safety of the vaccine. These questions and healthy debates were fair

to have, but they soon seemed to veer off the path of the debate in the sense of healthcare and

into something completely off topic. These debates soon began to include political debates,

conspiracy theories, and spread of misinformation, and everyone began to miss the true reason

we have questions when it comes to healthcare: making educated, body autonomous decisions.

It is important that, as a society, we provide a means for individuals to have credible

sources of information on all vaccinations and information on how to avoid misinformation and

conspiracies. I believe that vaccinations are imperative to personal and public health, but I also

believe that everyone deserves to make educated decisions. It is our duty to make sure we

provide the sources for us all to be able to do so.

Sincerely,

Brianna Wasylychyn, Youngstown State University Nursing Student