I love the "Controversial Opinion." Most people would view the photo on the left as an advertisement for the "Friendly" neighborhood "Flu shot," or Immunization booster shots for school. However, when this picture symbolizes something important in the studies and first-hand experience that I have had with immunizations/vaccines. I began to study the not-so-nice side of vaccines and immunizations in 2013 after the birth of my 4th daughter. My husband and I had been diving into extensive research on various topics of concern within the community, and immunizations and vaccines were one of those topics. Once I started seeing research that discussed the problems that a growing number of parents were facing with the immunizations having adverse effects that led to polio and autism, I, myself stopped immunizing my children cold turkey! I even started researching the laws in my state to protect my children's rights, as well as, my rights to not be forced to have my daughters immunized.
When my oldest daughter was in Kindergarten Arlington, TN, the school nurse tried to call and question me about my daughter's shot record, and why I didn't have her immunized for that particular school year.  I was nervous and anxious all at once, but because I have always stood firm on my research and opinion, I told her about my research and apologized to her in advance, because I would not be immunizing my daughter no matter what the repercussion. To my surprise, the nurse not only supported my decision 100 percent, but she also confessed that she herself had stopped medicating her own children. The school nurse's reasoning stemmed from her first-hand experience with working in a well-known hospital in Tennessee that was administering medication to patients that were deemed medically unnecessary. The feeling of relief washed through me that I would not have to put up a fight, even though I was ready and willing at any moment!

According to an NPR article from 2011 entitled: "Vaccine Mistrust Spreads to the Developing World," there has been vast mistrust with regards to most vaccines administered by public health workers--especially in countries such as Kenya, Afghanistan, and Nigeria (just to name a few). Most of the controversy was caused because of the rumor that the vaccines were causing paralysis. The article stated that many US and Europe anti-vaccine groups fed many of the fears, but that public health workers had been working arduously to get the children vaccinated regardless of the stigma--even though it did hold some truths. Children were getting the polio vaccine in Africa, and many were getting paralysis; there had simply been no medical confirmation of the interconnectivity at that time. Though children are still receiving the vaccines, the parents of many of the children are similarly not as accepting as one might think. Here is some Further Reading: 

• https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2011/07/25/138672535/vaccine-mistrust-spreading-to-the-developing-world
• Miller,E.(2015). Controversies and challenges of vaccination: An interview with Elizabeth Miller. BMC Medicine, 13(267).