Past experiences working in a team

This week my blog topic is about past experience in team assignments. Before I began this paper I had only ever worked in a team for an assignment once before, which did not give me a lot of excitement for this paper.

Last semester I was to perform a case report on a dog with bladder problems in a group of 5. We did not have any group roles and I found that everyone had different skill levels and ways they did things. This made the final parts of the assignment quite hard because a lot of time was spent editing and giving the assignment one voice.  Everyone also had different ideas on how much research they were required to do, this caused some topics to be very broad with a lot of information while some were lacking important details.

We also had a problem with one student who never turned up to our group meeting and submitted little research to the assignment, this left the rest of the group to make up for his work to ensure we still received a good grade which meant he would also unfairly get a good grade due to our work. Luckily the four other people in the group worked quite well together and had the same goals which meant we could get a lot of work done quickly and were able to get a great grade for ourselves.

Another good part about that team was the fact that we were all Veterinary Technology students and therefore knew each other to a degree which meant we didn’t have the awkward part of getting to know one another.  

Overall it was a good learning experience but did put me off future group work however the team I am in for this assignment is a lot more organised and everyone participates well so I feel that this will be a much better team assignment than what I have previously had. 

Why vaccine rates are important

I believe my topic (immunization rates) has huge importance to a very large amount of people if not everyone. If it weren’t for vaccines there would be a much larger proportion of people dying at younger ages due to disease. However due to the use of vaccines this does not occur very regularly. If everyone were to be vaccinated, eventually these diseases would be eliminated and no unnecessary deaths would occur.  

Yet I still feel that vaccination rates need to be increased to protect our entire population. Those who are unable to be vaccinated are forced to heavily rely on those who can be vaccinated, for protection from disease. If a percentage of people choose not to be vaccinated then these already ill people are put at an even higher risk of catching fatal diseases.

If vaccinations were to become mandatory it would obviously affect everyone, those who feel they don’t need to be vaccinated would be forced to do so and therefore be very unhappy about the process. Those who are unable to be vaccinated would welcome this choice as they are given more protection. The ethical implications with taking away the choice to be vaccinated is an issue however I believe that it is highly outweighed by the benefits to not just those around them but also themselves as the risk they were putting themselves at is also eliminated.

All of these points prove why vaccination rates are an important topic. Decreased mortality rates, protection of the weak and ethical implication all affect the choice by the government as to whether rates should be improved or not. Not everyone will agree with the decision made, however it is important to make the best choice for the largest amount of people, which I believe in this case would be compulsory vaccinations.

Summarising the Debate

With my research it has been hard to find specific papers or journal articles opposing vaccine use however a retracted study by Andrew Wakefield and his colleagues seems to still be the greatest debate when fighting against vaccine use. This makes little sense due to the fact the study has been retracted and therefore obviously flawed but a lack of knowledge and continued media attention continues to make this a common opposition view in this argument.

Andrew Wakefield’s’ study showed that there was a high correlation between vaccine usage and gastrointestinal disease as well as behavioural issues, mainly autism. He stated that after normal growth and mental development for 2-3 years, all children (12 participants in the study) who had recently had the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella vaccine) began to show signs of intestinal and behavioural abnormalities. After researching this study I feel that Andrew and his colleagues may have come across a chance situation and with the excitement of their findings, published the study rather than perform a fuller scientific study. This ultimately resulted in the loss of Wakefield’s medical license and a huge decrease in vaccination rates worldwide.

An argument promoting vaccine usage is that of, protecting the weak, who are unable to be vaccinated. Those with diseases causing immune suppression or taking drugs which inhibit the activity of the immune system are unable to receive live vaccines. These people are forced to rely on the majority of the population who are able to be vaccinated to do so. Herd immunity means that the majority of people, who are vaccinated, protect the weak who can’t be vaccinated as cases of these diseases are decreased, thus making the likeliness of catching the disease lower. People with a suppressed immune system cannot fight viruses as well as those with unimpaired immune systems which makes the virus is a lot more dangerous to the immunosuppressed. A healthy person has the chance to fight the virus and return to health while a sick person has a much higher chance of dying. I believe the authors of this article took this position as they are passionate about protecting the entire community from disease and care about the health and well-being of every person.

Novella, S. (2010). The Lancet Retracts Wakefield Article. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/lancet-retracts-wakefield-article/

Cardetti, C., Zins, M., & Groskreutz, K. (2010). Herd Immunity and the Necessity of Vaccinations. Cornerstone Minnesota State University Journal of Undergraduate Research, Article 2. Retrieved from : http://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/jur/vol10/iss1/2/