Pros And Cons Of Childhood Immunizations

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.

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.

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? Parents with infants and young children have been tussling with this proverbial question for several decades now. With the advent of the internet and the World Wide Web, parents have been bombarded with a plethora of information about pros and cons of vaccines from all kinds of sources, some creditable, and some are not. To the non-scientific community, these conflicting information can create problems in the decision making process; thus, forcing parents to make the wrong choices and putting their offspring and others at risk. However, this article will attempt to address the importance of vaccinations, how vaccines work, why we should vaccinate, and why parents should not be afraid to vaccinate their offspring.

[Vaccinations have lowered the death rates of Americans over the years. According to McNeil “in November 2007, death rates for 13 diseases that can be prevented by childhood vaccinations were at all-time lows…nine of the diseases, rates of hospitalization or death had declined more than 90 percent. For three…death rates had dropped by 100 percent” (Paragraph 3). This study shows that vaccinations are beneficial to children. With these vaccinations, children will be less exposed to these diseases, which will prevent them from spending time in the hospital or in some cases dying.

Should we be giving our children vaccines? Giving our children vaccines have many pros and cons. But should we really rely on vaccines that we don´t need? I will be fighting for the non-use of a vaccine for children. If we get vaccines every year they can possibly cause serious or fatal side effects. They also contain many harmful ingredients that they don´t want us to know about. The government should not intervene in personal medical choices.

Childhood vaccinations have not been a topic of controversy until recent times. Due to the recent outbreaks of diseases that were thought to be eliminated, people are now investigating vaccinations. State representatives and Congressional people have even gotten on the bandwagon to emphasize the importance of vaccinations. Many states already require children to be vaccinated before entering school, but states allow religious, medical, or personal exemptions. Getting rid of these exemptions would be beneficial to not only parents and children, but also to members of society. Having children vaccinated at a young age when the immune system can respond correctly to vaccines will benefit the future health of children. Children are more at danger at a younger age to catch infectious diseases. Vaccines are a safe way to prevent the child from getting sick. “Proponents say that vaccination is safe and one of the greatest health developments of the 20th century”

Death by diseases that can be prevented with the use of childhood vaccinations is becoming more prominent in our society today. With infant and toddler vaccinations being around for centuries this should not be so prominent in today’s society. Childhood vaccinations should be a necessity for all children because they not only protect the child that receives the vaccination but also the children that can’t receive the vaccination for heath and age restrictions. Throughout my research I have found these five articles to be the most helpful to prove my argument in my research paper, “Vaccination greatly reduces disease, disability, death and inequity worldwide”, “Should Any Vaccines Be Required for Children?”, “Immunization in the United States: Recommendations, Barriers, and Measures to Improve Compliance”, “Vaccination: The Best Return on Investment”, and “Vaccinations and childhood type 1 diabetes mellitus: a meta-analysis of observational studies”. With two of the sources being popular articles and three of them being scholarly academic journals the credibility of each source differs. The article titled “Immunization in the United States: Recommendations, Barriers, and Measures to Improve Compliance” is proven to be more credible because it’s use of evidence and logos.

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.

Almost everyone has heard of the benefits and dangers of childhood vaccines. Parents are especially eager to do what is best for their child to protect him or her. Some people have different opinions on what the best specifically entails when it comes to childhood vaccines. Vaccinations are a controversial discussion as parents question whether it should be mandatory or optional when they feel the cons outweigh the pros. The government says it is the right thing to do for parents and their families to remain safe from illnesses and diseases. However, there have been opinions of opposition voiced by parents and health

Over the years, there has been much controversy surrounding the subject of childhood vaccinations. With differing opinions, many are in favor about childhood vaccinations being required for children. Children vaccinations have been proven to be an effective means of preventing serious effects, including fatalities, from childhood illnesses yet there is still controversy over whether the risk of side effects from the vaccines outweighs the risk of contracting diseases. The belief behind mandatory vaccinations has been linked to people wanting vaccinations to be required for children because it will prevent the spread of childhood diseases, but there are still questions and concerns around why childhood vaccinations should be required. Questions surrounding this topic are: why should vaccines be required, are there any serious risks involved in vaccinating your child, and should children be turned away from school if they do not have vaccinations? There is also the question of should these vaccinations be mandatory or should this solely be a choice that the parents of the child should make? In order for us to be able to take our stance on the subject, we need to examine the answers to the question.

The intended purpose of this presentation is to provide facts and scientific research that persuades the audience members regarding the use of vaccinations. My intention is that the audience will support the use of vaccinations and consider the facts before making decisions that affect the entire community. My central idea is that inaccurate data exists with regards to vaccination; instead, that vaccinations should be viewed as essential for protection of society, both from extreme illness as well as life threatening, and sometimes fatal, diseases.

“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.

The childhood vaccinations that have been created by scientists and researchers so far prove to be 90 percent to 99 percent effective in protecting children from specific disease. This statistic displays the power vaccines have in saving the lives of children. These accomplishments are clearly present and available for pro-vaccine individuals’ to use to strengthen their argument regarding the overall benefits of a regular immunization schedule for young children. A partner association to the United Nations Foundation, Shot@Life, remarks that “vaccines save 2.5 million children from preventable diseases every year, which equates to roughly 285 children saved every hour” ("Should Any Vaccines"). This statement puts into the perspective the extent

It has been clinically proven that “vaccinations [are] the reason that we don’t see the suffering, disability, and death from whooping cough, measles, polio, and other infectious diseases like we used to” (Meadows, 6). Scientists have demonstrated the positive effects of vaccinations by presenting the statistics related to the number of deaths caused by diseases before and after the vaccines were implemented. Immunization seems to be humanity’s best defense against infectious diseases and without it, it’s much more probably that people can contract and transmit the diseases from person to person. Additionally, “routine childhood immunization has greatly reduced the economic costs of infectious diseases” (National Institute, 1). The costs for yearly immunizations for children are petty compared to the expenses of hospitalization and treatments which are far more probable for kids that do not get immunized from a very young age. In other words, people can save more money by preventing the disease in the first place rather than attempting to cure it after they have been infected. Furthermore, vaccinations also help develop immunity and protects the body. Vaccines allow people to teach their body to fight a certain strain of bacteria and provides artificially acquired immunity, an easier and much less risky method to gain immunity. Like anything else, vaccines are not always 100 percent effective and may not work the same for everybody else, but developing and implementing a vaccination is an arduous and thorough process which leaves very little room for scientists to make mistakes that could harm people. “Experts point out that the risk of being harmed by a vaccine is much lower than the risk that comes with infectious diseases,” and that is completely true because effects

“Vaccines will prevent about 322 million illnesses, 21 million hospitalizations, and 732,000 deaths among U.S. children born over the last 20 years, according to a recent report by the University of Washington in Seattle” (“Safeguarding”). The numbers suggest how critical vaccines are for the general well-being of society. Thus, the federal government needs to take a powerful stance to require vaccines for all children as vaccines are safe and effective, a preventive measure against diseases and promotes herd immunity and stability. People may argue that the human immune system is strong enough to fight diseases without vaccines and could harm health. However, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggest that diseases are