preview

Persuasive Essay On Mandatory Vaccination

Good Essays

Vaccinations; it’s an intimidating word. Imagine your child being stabbed with needles containing diseases just because your pediatrician said it helps. While a good portion of the audience here today can understand this issue, my question is why are vaccinations such a problem? More specifically, what are the altercations of religious exemptions to vaccines? While it seems to be a personal issue, the choice to or not to vaccinate affects the lives of everyone in your community. All I ask is that you keep an open mind and listen to the information I will present today in hopes that you will better understand vaccinations and the necessity for mandatory vaccination. While the anti-vaccination movement appears to be a present issue, it has roots in 1866 England. Immediately following the formation of The Parliament of England Compulsory Vaccination Act, anti-smallpox propaganda spread. The argument against mandatory vaccination was it was a way, “to steal away our medical liberties one by one,” (Cawkwell). To have a more unified message, they formed the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League. In four years it had about 10,000 members (Cawkwell). Pamphlets and periodicals were published throughout Britain to illuminate the issue of mandatory vaccination.
Following in America, mandatory vaccination was not a national issue until the 1980s. Mandatory vaccination stayed on a school by school basis prominently in the New England area. Massachusetts was the first state to enact

Get Access