Vaccination, First Draft

Note:   The original essay is much longer than this and it comes with footnotes.   Due to the inability for me to send in Word documents with footnotes, I had to copy and paste a part of this essay. As of now, I'm not concerned with APA or MLA formatting. Instead, grammar and the like are my top priorities.

In this essay, I am going to tackle an issue that has been promoted by Bill Maher , Jenny McCarthy and the rest of the anti-vaccination crowd.   Vaccines do more harm than good. There are several questions that must be answered.   First, are vaccines really more harm than good?   Who is behind the modern day anti-vaccination movement and how did it first began?   Is the anti-vaccination movement a feature of the radical environmentalist movement, or are there some groups outside of that circle who still oppose vaccines?   Does a “mommy instinct” trump the advice and knowledge of medical professionals?   Finally, what is the quality of evidence on both sides of this issue?

First, let’s begin with a little bit of history about the reputation of vaccines.   Opposition to vaccines isn’t a new trend that began when a playboy model decided to use her motherhood to defend her son, who was latter diagnosed to not have autism , from the “dangers” of vaccines.   The earliest record of people opposing vaccines was in the late 18th century and it was mainly on religious grounds. Rev. Edward Massey is a notable figure who opposed inoculation and his view are summarized in the following sentences from his sermon titled, The Dangerous and Sinful Practice of Inoculation:
In this he declared that Job's distemper was probably confluent smallpox; that he had been inoculated doubtless by the devil; that diseases are sent by Providence for the punishment of sin; and that the proposed attempt to prevent them is "a diabolical operation.
However, the people during this time who were supporting vaccines were doing it not only for theological and ethical beliefs but, also for practical...