Case Study of Immunization

Running head: CASE STUDY OF IMMUNIZATION
Case study of immunization
Name of the student:
Name of the university
Author note:

1
CASE STUDY OF IMMUNIZATION
1) Response to the first question:
Valid consent for any medical procedure defined as a verbal agreement of an individual
in the specific method after receiving a detailed explanation of risk factors, health benefits and
potential side effects. As a part of the consent procedure, sufficient information about the disease
and some information about the protocols of health centers should be given to the patient to
receive consent from the individual to be vaccinated. According to Australian Immunization
Register Act 2015, it was stated that before 18 years both the parents could permit on behalf of
children for proceeding with vaccination (Humanservices.gov.au. 2018). Moreover, family act
law (1975), which predominately deals with divorced or separated parents define that the power
of deciding for child exclusively given to the parent who has custody of the child
(Legislation.gov.au. 2018).In that context, Albert, father of Mia and Rose, mother of Mia both
equally share legal custody for Mia. Therefore, both the parent holds the hierarchy for deciding
on behalf of Mia. In that context, consent of Albert without Mia’s mother will not get prime
priority for vaccination procedure.
It is suggested to proceed with vaccination process after completing the pre-vaccination
assessment and obtaining consent from Mia’s father. The prime reason for this decision solely
revolves around the health of the child. To protect the health and safety of children Government
of Australia has given authority to one of the parents to provide the consent of vaccination for
severe outbreak such as Pertussis. In all possible cases, the government of Australia legislated
rules where the physician should solely focus on the best interest of children, which supported by
scientific evidence of risk factors mentioned by a physician (Australian Technical Advisory
Group on Immunisation 2017.)In this above scenario, Mia who is five years old is in custody of
both parents. Therefore, both the parents share the same rights on Mia in consent for vaccination

2
CASE STUDY OF IMMUNIZATION
of severe disease. Therefore, approval of Albert is not enough to proceed with treatment. On a
contradictory, due to a severe outbreak of Pertussis in the locality where 72% coverage of
vaccination observed, high chances for Mia to be infected with Borrelia pertussis, which causes
whooping cough. In case of children vaccination for younger than ten years DTap (Diphtheria,
tetanus and pertussis) should be recommended for preventing wide spread of deadly diseases for.
Besides, the vulnerability degree of Mia also extremely high as last vaccination she has received
two years ago. There are chances that Mia will be infected with influenza as the secondary
disease. Moreover, Mia’s stepmother Talia is a first week pregnant with a child. There are
probabilities that a newborn will also be infected due to low immunity. Antibodies produced by
injecting vaccination protect women and passes to the newborn in the first week of the
pregnancy where newborns are most vulnerable (Australian Government Department of Health
2018). Therefore, for the best interest of Mia, Stepmother and newborn, supported by all shreds
of evidence and records, histories of vaccination it is preferable to proceed with Albert's consent.
2) Response to the second question:
In recent years, Countries such as the USA and Australia has faced many outbreaks of
many severe diseases that threatened many lives. On a different note, Refusal of vaccination also
increases simultaneously. A considerate number of parents requested to modify the technique of
vaccination in addition to the composition of the vaccine to avoid the side effects of vaccines. In
most of the scenario, parents become paranoid to give consent for vaccination due to negative
side effects, some them think vaccinations are not that important for curing severe diseases like
influenza, whooping cough and varicella (Dube, Vivion, and MacDonald 2015). A small portion
of the community also suspected chemical compositions of vaccines as the culprit of negative

3
CASE STUDY OF IMMUNIZATION
side effects such as anaphylaxis reaction or general allergy (Ward et al. 2017). Moreover, the
internet has a huge effect on the refusal of consent vaccination. Majority of individuals with no
sound knowledge about biology show prime dependence on the internet as a result of which they
hold on to old believes of vaccination. The Internet may show negative impacts of vaccination
which become believe of parents in the recent era of technology. Bided by the rules, there is
almost no probability for medical experts to go beyond the protocol for the proper medical
procedure unless patient suffers for a disease that shortens lifespan, in that case, immediate
action should be taken. Therefore, immunization and prevention of killer diseases become more
difficult to cure. However, researchers found out several different ways of communicating with
parents regarding vaccination and gain their trust to proceed with the certain medical procedure.
Communication can be verbal where patient or family of the patient can interact, or explanation
of benefits of vaccination can be done using writing materials, kits to provide sound knowledge
about the disease to family members (Kahan 2016). In the above scenario, the situation is quite
similar. In the above scenario, Mia is 5years child whose mother refuses to give to consent for
vaccination who might have erogenous information about vaccination or previous unpleasant
experiences involving vaccination. As a consultant or physician of Mia, I will communicate with
Mia's mother. First, as a medical officer, I will pay attention and response to the emotional
narrative of Mia's mother, Rose. After that, I will try to address her specific concerns then I will
explain her different perspectives on vaccination. I will explain her benefits of vaccination for
vaccine-preventable disease such as pertussis, diphtheria, influenza. I will explain the major risks
of untreated pertussis and epidemiology of influenza and all the necessary information to make a
rational decision for vaccination. Besides, I will explain the concept of herd immunity to Mia’s
mother. Herd immunity is an immunization process, which limits the spreading of the disease