Vaccinations are a Must

Science has brought us many great things including vaccinations. Vaccinations are used to prevent diseases and possibly even end diseases. Everyday scientists are working away to create the next big life saver. Once a disease stops circulating worldwide, it is called eradicated. To this day, only one infectious disease that affects humans has been eradicated, thanks to worldwide efforts and vaccinations. When parents choose to send their innocent children to school or daycare without vaccinations, they are choosing to put their children in danger. In order to end all diseases and protect our children, vaccinations should be mandatory for everyone who sets foot on American soil.

 According to the Center for Disease Control (1), the best way to have a population that is immune to most, if not all diseases is for people to immunize against diseases that can be prevented through vaccination. Even though people have been given the liberty to choose when and if they and their children get vaccinated, the success in defeating and eradicating various diseases depends on the vaccination being made universal. For this to be successful, physicians and health officers ought to provide routine vaccination programs to people in the community to ensure that people get the vaccinations they need so as to stay immune. Although various programs have been initiated in communities to ensure that physicians and health officers immunize as many people as possible, their efforts are hindered by opinions that some people hold against vaccinations. While most people are open to the idea of vaccinating their children against diseases, there are those who oppose the practice for personal reasons. Even though they have a right to resist vaccination, allowing them to do so is wrong because they put other people in the community at risk (Current 1).

One reason why immunization is important is that it helps to care for loved ones in the community. In the United States for example, children get vaccinated against various diseases such as measles and whooping cough in large numbers. According to the Department of Health and Human Services (1), roughly ten to twenty babies died from whooping cough since they were too young to receive vaccinations in 2010. In the same year, over 50,000 cases of the disease were reported in the country, making it a major health concern. By issuing vaccinations, the community will help protect the loss of lives as it could help prevent the disease from spreading to children who cannot get vaccinations due to various medical conditions such as weak immune systems or allergies. Vaccinations will therefore protect the lives of not only those who are immunized but also those who are either too young or medically unfit to get the vaccinations.

Vaccinations also help to protect the health of not only this generation but also of those in the future. Vaccines have the ability to not only reduce but also eradicate various diseases that have caused major health problems for the human population. Take the case of small pox for example. The disease was successfully eradicated through vaccinations to the extent that children no longer have to be immunized against it (Balding 1). If vaccination is made mandatory, diseases like the German measles could be eradicated and pregnant women will no longer pass it on to their children thus saving them from losing their children through birth defects. If made mandatory, vaccinations will help to make the future a healthier place to live in because it will be free of the various vaccine preventable diseases that trouble us today.

Although making vaccinations mandatory will be an infringement to the people’s rights and freedom, it should still be initiated because it will lead to achieving a common good. Parents have a right to raise their children how best they see fit and this includes refusing to have them vaccinated. However, this leaves them prone to these diseases and thus making them carriers who could infect others who could not be vaccinated due to medical reasons (Easley 1). Parents therefore have a responsibility in ensuring that their freedom does not infringe on the life of other people. Making vaccination mandatory will help resolve these problems because the community will be healthier and free of diseases that can be prevented or eradicated through vaccinations. Over the years, the spread of various diseases has been prevented by these vaccinations and there is no need to risk their outbreak because of religious, philosophical or personal reasons.

In society, people who behave in a manner that puts others at risk are dealt with accordingly. There are laws that govern the conduct of individuals to ensure that their lifestyles do not endanger the lives of other members of the community. The same way drivers are required to have a license, or to obey traffic lights, so should people be required to vaccinate. Laws exist to protect people from causing harm not only to themselves but also to those around them a law that makes vaccinations mandatory will prevent those objecting vaccinations from contracting diseases and spreading them to those who are unable to get vaccinations due to other viable reasons.  If made mandatory, the vaccinations will help to save the lives of children who are too young to be immunized or those who have allergies or weak immune systems (Pearl, 2015).

 

 

 

References

Balding B, “Mandatory vaccinations: Why we still got to get folks to take their shots” Harvard   2006, retrieved from,            https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8852146/Balding06.html?sequence=2

Center for Disease Control, “General recommendations on immunization: Recommendations for the advisory committee on immunization practices” Morbidity and Mortality weekly      report 2006

Current L, “Should we require vaccinations?” 2015, retrieved from,             http://ww2.kqed.org/education/2015/02/20/should-we-require-vaccinations/

Department of Health and Human Services, “Five important reasons to vaccinate your child”       2016 retrieved from, https://www.vaccines.gov/more_info/features/five-important-         reasons-to-vaccinate-your-child.html

Easley J, “Ben Carson backs vaccinations as safe” 2015, retrieved from,             http://vaccines.procon.org/view.source.php?sourceID=013063

Pearl R, “A doctors take: Why measles vaccination must be mandatory” 2015, retrieved from,             http://vaccines.procon.org/view.source.php?sourceID=013069