Immunization and the CDC

The CDC and Vaccine Schedules
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) play an important role in promoting herd immunity and vaccine schedules for US citizens, as they are the ones who have the organization capabilities and visibility to push for vaccination. The CDC publishes information for health care professionals regarding vaccination and immunization literature. It offers material for ordinary citizens and patients who want to know more about the subject (“Immunization Schedules”, 2018). On its website, it also offers answers to common questions that people can use to feel more confident about getting vaccinated (“Why Immunize?”, 2018). Thus, the CDC acts as an educator and a provider of vaccination information for the masses.
As an advanced practice nurse, I would ensure that my patients get good information by providing them with access to the relevant literature on vaccinations and immunizations. I could have it readily available to deliver in print format and I could also give them information and where to go when they are on the Internet—such as the CDC website. I will explain the paper by Andrew Wakefield by citing other studies that have been conducted—like that by Rao and Andrade (2011)—which offers the other side of the story. That way I am not forcing patients to think in any one way but am rather providing them with all sides of the story so that they can be empowered to make up their own mind and are not limited to a single narrative of events. In such cases as this it is important to respect patients’ beliefs and to not dismiss their fears and concerns out of hand. The best ethical approach therefore is to simply see the angle from which they are coming and have at hand the information that helps to show the patient another perspective that they might like to consider as well. It is never good to falsify information or hand-pick data to “prove” a point, and no medical researcher should ever condone such behavior.
References
Immunization Schedules. (2018). CDC. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/index.html
Rao, T. S., & Andrade, C. (2011). The MMR vaccine and autism: Sensation, refutation, retraction, and fraud. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 53(2), 95.
Why Immunize? (2018). CDC. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/why.htm