Mandating Vaccines Pros And Cons

Mandatory vaccination is an extremely controversial topic because it violates constitutionally protected right to practice religion and personal beliefs in the absence of the true health emergency (First Amendment of the Constitution). The new law destroys the individual rights of parents to make voluntary decisions in the best interest of their children in the health care decisions and diminishes the role of parents in upbringing and educating their children (Skov).

Between 1924 and 2013, vaccinations prevented 103 million cases of polio, measles, rubella, mumps, hepatitis A, diphtheria, and pertussis (Bailey). Vaccinating is “the process by which pathogenic cells are injected into a healthy person in an attempt to cause the body to develop antibodies to a particular virus or bacterium—successful creation of antibodies is referred to as immunity to the disease caused by the particular pathogen” (Introduction to Should Vaccinations be Mandatory). Popular conflicts regarding vaccination include the worry that this form of immunization isn’t natural, the idea that vaccination schedule for children in the U.S. takes away parents’ rights to make decisions for their children, and the concern that vaccinations aren’t safe for all children. Most doctors and scientists advocate for vaccinations in the name of herd immunity, protection against foreign diseases and prevention against pockets of disease outbreaks. Vaccinations should be mandatory for all children in the United States for who they are deemed safe and effective.

The state of Florida has a selection of laws in place regulating vaccinations and vaccination exemptions, but what drives them? Vaccines against meningococcal meningitis and hepatitis are mandatory for enrollment in the K-20 public education system. An individual enrolled in any postsecondary institution who will be residing in on campus housing must provide documentation of these vaccinations. A majority of parents argue that its unethical to force someone else’s child to be immunized, in any situation. There is a request that can be made for religious requirements, and must be presented to the facility or school on the Department of Health’s Religious Exemption from Immunization form -DH 681 Form-. The DH 681 Form is issued by county health departments and is only for a child who is not immunized because of their family’s religious practices. (nvic.org) The vast majority of parents are so strongly opinionated on whether vaccinations will positively or negatively impact their children, but no one takes into consideration the parents who differ in opinions themselves.

Recently an anti-vaccination movement has sparked a worldwide discussion about both the safety of vaccines and the responsibility of people to vaccinate. Recent outbreaks of preventable diseases have caused both fear and anger from people on both sides of the issue. These same outbreaks have also served to cause significant political tension between those against vaccines, who do not want their right to choose compromised, and many proponents of vaccines, who are calling for mandatory vaccinations.

There is a lot of debate about whether if vaccines should be or should not be mandatory for all children or if their use should be up to the parents of the child. Part of the issue for many parents it the sheer volume of vaccines mandated by various government agencies. Based on the recommendations of these organizations, a child can receive “no less than 69 doses of 16 vaccines” (children-vaccines). With so many vaccines being given many parents question why so many children are sick or have various developmental or learning disabilities. In fact, one child out of 6 has a learning disability, one out of ten is asthmatic, and one out of 50 has some degree of autism. This means that almost 30% of children in the US have a significant disability

For years, the topic of mandated vaccinations for children has been a highly debated topic among health professionals, educators, parents, and government officials. Currently, the Center for Disease Control recommends that children between the ages of zero and six years should receive twenty-eight doses of ten different vaccines (ProCon.org, 2014). Although there is no federal law that requires that children get vaccinated, all fifty states require certain vaccinations for children before entering public schools (ProCon.org, 2014). These requirements often vary from state to state. All states in the United States allow for medical exemptions to the mandated vaccinations, while forty-eight allow religious exemptions and nineteen allow philosophical exemptions (ProCon.org, 2014). Mandated vaccination has remained a highly controversial topic as it questions whether a person should be able to make choices about his or her own body or if rules can be imposed that mandate vaccinations for the potential greater good of the public’s overall health.

"In the United States, the childhood immunization schedule recommends that children receive approximately 15 vaccinations by 19 months of age, and it specifies ages for administration of each vaccination dose" (Luman, Barker, McCauley, & Drews-Botsch, 2005, p. 1367). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a vaccine is "a product that produces immunity therefore protecting the body from the disease" (Vaccines and Immunizations, 2015). Currently, there are many individuals advocating for and opposing the effects of the administration of vaccinations and immunizations in the United States. There are both legal and ethical issues surrounding the controversy, which include both deliberate and exogenous reasons not to vaccinate, and the mandatory nature that is required by many schooling districts and places of employment. Within this paper, I will discuss some legal implications surrounding vaccination, ethical debates that are current in the topic, as well as my point of view regarding immunizations and vaccinations.

State laws mandating vaccinations for children are very common. Every state has a law requiring children to be vaccinated before they enroll in a public or private school. Early statutes required vaccination against smallpox and were amended as new vaccines were introduced. Many modern school vaccination laws are the result of measles outbreaks in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Generally, states use the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s schedule of immunizations as a guide, and require children to be vaccinated against a number of diseases on the schedule, including diphtheria, measles, rubella, and polio.

Even after vaccines were made popular, there have always been parents who have been concerned about immunizing their children. It has become such an issue that there has been some debate on whether or not the government should get involved and require vaccination by law. As with every issue, there are two sides who stand firmly with their beliefs. Parents who do not vaccinate claim that they have the right to decide what is best for their kid’s health, and for some, it interferes with their religion. The other side argues that children need vaccines to ensure the overall safety of the individual and others around them. Though both sides provide a compelling argument, statistics show that parents should be required by law to vaccinate their child.

Throughout the U.S., individualism is greatly promoted. Individualism has allowed our country to moved forward in many, many ways. It has brought about many topics that are controversial due to clashing mindsets. One of the topics that has been heavily debated upon are vaccinations. Vaccinations have been given throughout time in order to make the person receiving the vaccination immune to a disease or to improve their current health condition. Many religions, however, don 't approve of vaccinations or injecting anything in to the body. These religions range from non-theistic religions like Buddhism to monotheistic religions like Christianity. Among religions that disagree are people who have personal issues with vaccinations. These reasons can range from being a vegan to just being against medicine. Whether someone disagrees with receiving a vaccination based on religion or personal belief, their choice should be protected at all costs. I believe that the U.S. should respect an individuals choice on this topic and not only continue to respect non-medical exemptions, but expand their current acceptance of non-medical exemptions across all fifty states. To do this, I recommend that the law that is in place currently, should be put in place in all fifty states to protect the citizens who are choosing to not receive a vaccination, no matter what their choice is based on.

Whether vaccines should or should not be mandatory for infants/toddlers/adolescents is widely disputed nationwide, as well as worldwide. This is a topic that affects everyone and their overall health and well-being. "Immunizations are the safest, longest-lasting and most effective way to prevent communicable diseases," says Dr. Ian Gemmill, past chair of the Canadian Coalition of Immunization Awareness and Promotion. (Walkinshaw 2011) There are 12 vaccines required for children in North Carolina to get to be permitted to attend public, private, or religious school. Without these vaccines, given at different ages, the child will not be admitted into the school. Four other vaccines are recommended by the CDC, but are not required. All things considered, vaccinating children early in their lives is crucial to all healthcare workers. A child not vaccinated will grow up to be an adult not vaccinated, and an unvaccinated adult working with sick or injured patients can be a major risk. Equally, unvaccinated people coming in to seek help from medical professionals pose a risk to the professionals’ health.

Historically, there has always been some sort of controversy surrounding vaccines, not only in the general population, but within the medical community as well. Even before the Wakefield (1999) study, there have been questions raised regarding vaccines efficacy, safety, necessity, and policies. It would be a myopic, and wholly incorrect, view to believe that issues regarding vaccination only affect the United States, when they are truly global in nature. In recent years, the internet and social media have brought these issues to the forefront and given voice to a plethora of information and misinformation. The mandatory nature of vaccination policies, whether it be for school admission or travel to another country, and how global, federal, and local agencies should address these mandates versus the free will of people, has spurred much study and discussion, and is examined in the articles presented.

Although it is a policy that all children are immunized before going to school or a day care program, there are exemptions to the rule. Some people do not want themselves or their children to be vaccinated because of religious or philosophical beliefs. According to an article from the Center of Disease Control (2017), “Nationwide, fewer than 1% of school entrants have medical, religious, or philosophic exemptions to mandatory vaccination,” showing that most people are vaccinated in a public setting preventing outbreaks of unwanted diseases. In fact, those few who are not vaccinated are shown to have a higher risk of infection. This should go to show that being vaccinated does more good than it does harm.

All across the world debates take place regarding mandatory vaccination on a day to day

People should receive their vaccines when ever they need to be taken. Vaccines were first implemented in 1796 after an epidemics of small pox . Adults and children were getting small pox causing them to become seriously ill or potentially die. Edward Jenner created the first vaccine which cured small pox and was later enforced. Vaccines were then known to help fight diseases to prevent severe illnesses. They are given to people before they are infected with the virus so the body can be prepared to fight it off if it ever gets contaminated. (The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia n. pag.). Taking responsibility over vaccines is critical to maintain the immune system strong and healthy. Vaccines are injected to a persons body to help fight common disease since the body may not be producing all the immunities needed to fight sever problems. They also decreases the chance of catching illnesses by implementing immunities that the body is not capable of producing, which will reduce the chances of a person getting severely sick. Lastly, children in the U.S are not allowed to enroll in school unless all their immunizations are taken, therefore it is crucial for children to get immunization to prevent endangerment of disease in schools. If children vaccines aren’t taken they will be denied their privilege to go to school. It is important to get vaccinated to protect the immune system, reduce risks of getting sick, and to be allowed to enroll in school.