Mama called the doctor and the doctor said...

...vaccinate your kids.

The heated argument over vaccines has been going on for awhile now, but with the latest outbreak in measles among children it has added wood to the fire of doubt against vaccines. This article written by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN, goes into great detail on why it is not only an extremely important benefit for your children to get vaccinated but other children as well. 

Firstly, I would like to talk about the ability to share this article on social media and the ability to email it to friends/family. This is an important tool that lets readers interact with the article, by being able to share it on he reader can voice their own opinion regarding this touchy topic. This is a strong characteristic that CNN has next to all their articles because when someone shares the article, that persons followers will click and then view the articles on CNN.com.  

This article opens with a video of a news report and interview with the newly appointed Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy. I stress "newly appointed," as did Dr. Gupta. The questions asked by Gupta relate to the main concerns of whether or not it should be mandated by the government to get your children vaccinated and whether or not people are ignoring the facts, or just do not believe in them. All answers given by Murthy were leaning toward that children should be vaccinated but it should not be mandated…yet. Gupta went on to say that there are people who truly just do not believe vaccines are safe. The video worked well with this article because it was an opening and briefing into what you were about to read. Among this video there were a series of videos relating to this ongoing debate that you could scroll through and watch. In this video relating to the direct article, Dr. Gupta asked the questions that all Americans wanted to hear, disregarding what side you agree with and only regarding facts proven by science.

Within the article Dr. Sanjay Gupta did bite the bullet and say that this piece would be considered opinion. I agreed with him that this piece should be considered fact and not opinion because of the proof science has given to the public. I especially liked that he commented on that there are so many other medications (aspirin, Tylenol… even water) that are more likely to do harm to someone then the 1/1,000,000 million chance that a child has an adverse reaction to a vaccine. This is all fact but because of the “sensitive” situation going on the article will be considered an opinion piece.  The support he used to back up ALL information he gave made this a strong article whether you think it is opinionated or not.

The rumor that autism is linked to vaccinations is false, and that is stressed throughout this article and the video. Facts are facts. 

I do believe that children should be vaccinated. Protect your children, and the well being of others. By not vaccinating your child you are putting all the children that interacts with your child at risk for catching a serious illness. 

Story/Video: http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/03/health/measles-gupta-fact/index.html