Not To Vaccinate Argumentative Essay

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.

Vaccination was first introduced globally for small pox and later on extended to other communicable diseases which are now known as vaccine preventable disease. Vaccination is beneficial both for individuals and community. This bring us to the ethical dilemma - Vaccination of a healthy child with the intention of protecting both the individual child and the community at the same time exposing the child to the theoretical risk of exposure to disease products whether live, attenuated or killed. There was a time when people never questioned the government or their physicians. Now because of more public awareness and accessibility to medical information, they are questioning the safety aspects of vaccines.

Parents face many different decisions when raising a child; some decisions are trivial, and others can be controversial. Whether or not to vaccinate a child is one of the most controversial choices. So controversial, in fact, that there is a political conversation of making immunizations a requirement. Many people support the movement of making vaccinations mandatory. Proponents argue that vaccines save lives, vaccine-preventable diseases have not been eradicated, and vaccines protect herd immunity. Many people also disagree with the possibility of required vaccinations. Opponents argue that vaccines cause harm, immunity by vaccinations is inferior to natural immunity, and government policies should not dictate personal medical choices.

It is very important for healthcare providers to be educated on the safety concern of vaccination. Proper protocols must be taken through evidence-based research on the issue of vaccination and the risk factors that can allow stakeholders better implementation on laws that can be beneficial to parents. The stakeholder’s in the healthcare field such as patients, healthcare providers, insurance companies, organizations, and those who enforce policy main concern are the safety of these patients. The decisions most of these stakeholders make can either benefit patients or affect them. For example, the consequences parents have if their child is not vaccinated. The mandatory law of children who are not vaccinated cannot enrolled in school is unfair to parents. I believe parents should not be penalized or forced for their child to be vaccinated. If all stakeholders can reunite through evidence based research on the topic of vaccinations risk concern it can cause a positive impact on parents and alternative ways children can prevent the side

Vaccination programs are among the most cost effective and widely used public health interventions and have helped to control the spread of epidemic diseases, including smallpox, measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, and polio.1 Each state has school vaccination laws which require children of appropriate age to be vaccinated for several communicable diseases. 2. Subject to exceptions, including individual medical,3 religious,4 and philosophical 5 objections, modern state school vaccination laws mandate that children be vaccinated prior to being allowed to attend public or private schools. Failure to vaccinate children can result in children being denied from attending school, civil fines and criminal penalties (although rarely employed)6 against their parents or guardians, and other measures(e.g., the closure of a school).Advocates argue that childhood vaccinations ensure a safe environment for children who attend public schools. Supporters of childhood vaccinations believe that vaccines help prevent the following illnesses: whooping cough, diphtheria, and rubella. People who support childhood vaccinations believe that people that are against vaccinations have misguided beliefs. People who oppose childhood vaccinations argue that children should not be vaccinated due to their ability to naturally heal themselves. Opponents also believe that childhood vaccinations cause various side effects like seizures or even death. People who oppose vaccinations conclude that research

Eighty to ninety percent of the population needs to be vaccinated to prevent the potential spread of a disease (percent depends on the infectiousness of the disease). Another valid reason to vaccinate oneself is to create a secure blanket of immune people to protect the unfortunate individuals without the choice of becoming vaccinated. The strategy of protecting others who have not received vaccinations is called herd immunity, which is a more essential reason to become vaccinated compared to only protecting oneself. Those who cannot receive vaccinations are people that have severe allergic reactions to the preservatives in vaccines and younger children. In a Ted Talk, Romina Libster explains the importance of herd immunity, “People who are

For many years, there has been a controversy about whether or not vaccinations should be mandated for everyone. In the United States, many diseases such as polio, diphtheria, measles, and whooping cough used to be extremely common, until vaccinations came around and started preventing these diseases. The main point for vaccines is to prepare a person’s immune system for any possible attack of a disease that comes in the future; a person’s body will be prepared to fight off the disease with the vaccine (“Basics”). Vaccines have the ability to prevent many cases of these diseases in advanced, but there are people who think vaccines are unnatural and should not be required for their children. It is said that immunity in child vaccines are about 90%-100%, which is an increase over the past few years (“Childhood”). Although many Americans believe that vaccines are unsafe and cause autism in children, vaccinations for children should be mandatory because they can save a child’s life, create herd immunity in a community, and they have been proven safe/cost-effective.

A wise Welsh man once said, “An apple a day, keeps the doctor away.” But, can that also be said about immunizations? According to the Medilexicon medical dictionary, “an immunization is the action of making a person or animal immune to infection, typically by inoculation.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary provides a more technical definition of immunizations by defining them as “the creation of immunity usually against a particular disease, treatment (as by vaccination) of an organism for the purpose of making it immune to a particular pathogen.” Most people feel that immunizations are a very important part of a health care regimen and should be mandatory for the majority of individuals. But over the past several years, questions have

In recent news there have been concerns over the controversy of whether or not vaccinations are necessary for our youth. There have been many incidences where certain individuals’ immune systems put them at risk of becoming more ill and this keeps them from receiving their scheduled immunizations. The benefits that these shots provide outweigh the risks for most of the country’s youth. In order to maintain the safety of the public and protect the health of children, the scheduled vaccinations should be maintained by all families throughout our country. This is the only way to lessen the effects of disease and keep our young protected.

Vaccines, although have many benefits, come with potentially severe side-effects, like most medication. Most vaccines will come with many side-effects which can cause some discomfort such as mild swelling, rashes and soreness, but there is a chance that severe side effects could occur such as seizures or life-threatening reactions, although these are extremely uncommon (The College of Physicians Philadelphia, 2018). Side-effects are most prominent in babies, although as a whole vaccine have saved more lives, due to the slim potential side-effects, some people believe that vaccinating isn’t worth the risk. In the debate of compulsory vaccinations, one argument that arises is the concept of personal choice and freedom, and the government shouldn’t intervene with people’s personal choice. Particularly for families and younger children, it is argued that the choice of whether a child is vaccinated should be left to the parents/guardians. The other interesting argument that arises is that of religious beliefs, and how vaccines can collide with numerous religious practices. It is argued that people should be exempt from compulsory vaccinations if it can be proved that it goes against there religious beliefs, and in countries such as America there are laws that support this. Laws although, are not present in all countries as

“Prevention is better than cure.” This common statement could not relate any better than it does with the controversy surrounding the morality, effectiveness, and safety of childhood immunizations. The major argument is whether or not laws should be established to declare vaccination mandatory for all children. “The US food and Drug administration (FDA) regulates all vaccines to ensure safety and effectiveness,” (ProCon.org, 2012) therefor there should not be any reason to risk the health of any child. Vaccinating our children not only ensures their safety but also that of their future to come.

To the average individual, the word ‘vaccination’ means to prevent illness. Vaccinations have many advantages; they allow us to be less susceptible to a variety of illnesses and diseases. Many individuals believe that vaccinations should not be mandatory. However, the benefits from vaccinations greatly outweigh the risks from side effects. The judgments are factual and ethical and are supported by testing and research findings from multiple sources.

In contrast, a positive aspect of many people having vaccinations is herd immunity. Herd immunity is the occurrence where a large proportion of a specific population is vaccinated to provide them immunity, and as a result, it also gives some protection to the people of the population who have and yet developed immunity. This happens as the a large group of vaccinated individuals are protected from a virus and creates difficulty for the it to spread because there is only a small percentage of the population left that could be infected by the disease. It is a very crucial aspect of immunity for the community as the people who cannot receive vaccinations (i.e. people with weak immune systems, very young children and patients who are too ill)

Imagine two children; one who has been completely vaccinated, and the other has never been vaccinated. Both children fall ill from the same virus, but the child who had been vaccinated fully recovers, while the child who was not passes away due to complications. That child’s life could have been saved if the child received the proper vaccinations. Ever since the invention of the Smallpox vaccine more than two centuries ago, there has been an abundance of controversy over the morality, ethics, effectiveness, and safety of vaccinations and immunizations. It has recently been argued whether laws should be introduced that render some or all vaccines mandatory for all children. Parents, health care specialists, nurses, teachers, and children

Ragan & Duffy (2012, p.23) have also shown high immunization rates have resulted in a substantial decline in vaccine preventable diseases, particularly vaccination has eliminated smallpox worldwide. In addition, in a study by Bawah, Phillips, Adjuik & smith et al (2010, p.95) found that vaccination has resulted in a large and statistically significant reduction child mortality. The risk of dying for children younger than five who are fully immunized is reduced by more than 70% compared with those who are not immunized or partially immunized. Moreover, research by Dawson (2011, p.1032) also suggests that vaccination is a vital intervention in reducing illness and death rates in children and he estimated approximately 2.5 million deaths could be prevented each year by vaccination. In addition to personal immunity Vaccination programs also bring herd immunity which ensures even greater protection for the community from communicable diseases. The level of vaccination required to provide herd immunity varies with virulence and transmissibility as well as vaccine efficacy. While vaccinating