The Importance Of Vaccine Policy

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 protects the spread of diseases around us. Getting vaccinated doesn’t only mean helping yourself, it means helping other people around you too. “The U.S. has seen 118 cases as of mid-May, compared with the 56 cases a year from 2001-2008” (Ropeik). This is important because it’s saying that the rate of vaccination is decreasing, which disease will be increasing. We shouldn’t let this continue because diseases would be spreading faster than ever. We should be alarmed and need to take action for our future and get vaccinated now. Getting vaccinated means protecting ourselves and our community. That’s the reason why vaccine were there in the first place, to

“Vaccines save lives; fear endangers them. It's an unpretentious message parents need to keep hearing.” –Jeffery Kluger. The change in seasons can be intense for some people. It triggers them to become ill and get sick if they do not take care of themselves. Children, among these people, are more prone to becoming ill because their immune systems are not yet fully developed. A great number of parents do not know that getting their children vaccinated when recommended by doctors is a simple solution to childhood illnesses. Therefore, there should be stricter legal regulations that encourage parents to ensure that their children receive vaccinations. This will raise the awareness of vaccinations which will help more people receive them so

While supporting the voluntary immunization for children and defending the right to have information regarding the risk involved with vaccines, the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) oppose the elimination of or possible barriers of entry to obtain Non-Medical Exemptions. In an effort to reduce vaccine related injuries and/or death and support those who do not want to receive vaccines due to personal, spiritual, or religious beliefs, the NVIC supports the right to Non-Medical Exemptions. The primary purpose of this paper is to analyze the safety, efficacy, and economic burden of vaccines, as well as the right to choice in regards to Non-Medical Exemptions.

In June of 2015, a law known as SB 277 was passed. This law was to ensure that children attending school, private or public, were to be vaccinated before attending. The ultimate goal is “to boost vaccination rates by ending personal exemptions”( Whitman). The bill was first prompted following the huge measles outbreak that happened in late of 2014. The outbreak was “linked to the Disneyland Resort Theme Parks in California [where] the outbreak quickly became a multi-state public health incident that resulted in a total of 147 cases” (Year in Review). The idea of requiring vaccination arose once it was found “the majority of patients were unvaccinated or had an unknown or undocumented vaccination status.” They continued to push the idea of required

Jerry Brown has signed a ‘controversial’ legislation. Senate Bill 277 is trying be passed through each state, and now passed by Mississippi and West Virginia. The bill is about that all school kids have be vaccinated. Due to the outbreak of me seals in Disneyland Jerry Brown and Richard Pan are pushing for this to be passed. It’s one of the ‘strictest’ bills that has ever been passed about vaccines. In the bill itself it says that if your child does not get vaccinated for the 10 shots then they have to attend homeschool, unless a doctor has proven that your child cannot get this vaccine. Now this bill removes personal belief exemptions, including religious objections for vaccinations (Chabria). Now if they child does not get vaccinated they

Choosing to vaccinate or not vaccinate children has become a large topic of contention between parents and medical personnel. Rates of non-medical vaccine exemptions for children entering public school continue to increase across the country. This increase has coincided with a resurgence in outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, or VPDs (Lynfield, 2014, p.1). There are a variety of reasons why a family might apply for a non-medical exemption and the validity of these exemptions varies from state to state. Regardless of the justifiability of an exemption, growing numbers of non-vaccinated children entering school will increase the prevalence and mortality from VPDs (Lynfield, 2014, p.2).

Implementing childhood vaccination policy in the United States has sparked controversy among parents and public health officials in determining the ethical implications of immunization mandates. The arguments of parents who refuse vaccinations for their children are multidimensional and tend to include a lack of clear understanding of safety measures and how their decisions affect society. In order to effectively communicate with parents with opposing perspectives while respecting their personal autonomy, it is important to intensify informational sessions that include the dangers of viruses that are preventable.

A very significant portion of a well-functioning democratic society is obtaining individuals who will be obligated by moral decision making regarding political and personal policies. This paper is going to discuss Rick Perry’s decision to mandate that all girls eleven years and older receive the HPV vaccine before entering the six grade which has caused some controversy among the people of Texas. Positive and negative features of the decision will be discussed from four different articles that help provide clarity on the matter.

In the 1850s the first school vaccination requirement were enacted to prevent smallpox. Federal and state efforts to eradicate measles in the 1960s and 1970s motivated many to mandate policies. By the 1990s, all 50 states requirement for children to be enrolled in school must receive certain immunizations and if these requirements were not met than children were not allowed to be enrolled in school (Center for Disease Control Prevention, 2010). For example, in the state of California, private public school or daycare cannot admit children unless vaccinations were received for all ten of the diseases. If the California Department of Public Health implements a requirement for vaccination parent can be allowed to obtain personal belief exemptions that would allow parents to opt out of vaccination for their children if form is filled out by healthcare professional that states vaccinations were countered to personal beliefs. This law has not been implemented as of yet but should be in 2016. The healthcare of policy decision in laws can have an influence on individuals based on the decision that are made. Health care policy and issues can affect providers and patients in many different ways. Stakeholders’ in the policymakers for vaccination main concern is the safety and health of children so the implement exemptions of laws from concern about vaccine

Millions of lives have been saved thanks to a global effort to vaccinate for deadly diseases. Peter Yeo reports “Immunizations have saved more children than any other medical intervention in the last 50 years” (Reforming the U.N. 118). Yet, a new trend for parents is opting out of vaccinating their children for personal beliefs or religious exemptions. Although, the majority of Americans believe vaccines protect children, and conclusive evidence has proven vaccines can prevent the spread of deadly diseases. Still, a few parents believe vaccinating children is not essential for their health, additionally, they believe an increase in mandatory vaccines has insufficient scientific research to prevent serious medical side effects.

When children who have been vaccinated do contract a disease, despite being vaccinated against it, they usually have milder symptoms with less serious complications than an un-vaccinated child that gets the same disease. It is true that some children who receive vaccinations may still become ill when exposed to other disease-ridden children. Research shows that 70-90% of the entire population must be vaccinated to attain “herd immunity”, “the resistance of a group to attack by a disease to which a large proportion of the members are immune.” (Farlex, 2012) When herd immunity is accomplished the spread of the disease can be averted throughout. If all parents were to take proper responsibilities and keep their children’s immunizations up-to-date, herd immunity would be achieved against all 16 of the major life threatening diseases.

These finding prove that vaccinating children could yield big monetary savings for the specific families affected as well as for society as a whole. Choosing not to vaccinate one’s child could potentially affect the monetary health of the family, forcing parents to take time off work and pay for expensive medical treatments. Having a vaccinated population also brings benefits to the society as a whole. This shows that stricter vaccination laws need to be put in place by the states in order to prevent monetary loss in the future and help the overall community.

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

Since this vaccine debate, “about 40 percent of American parents today has chosen to delay certain vaccines or outright refuse to allow their children’s physicians to vaccinate their children with one or more of the recommended or mandated vaccines” (Largent). As the rates of being vaccinated go down, it is putting not only that child in danger but also the whole community. Diseases that were once gone are on the rise.” A 2013 study published in the journal Pediatrics reports that California’s worst whooping-cough outbreak, which infected more than 9,000 people (Rothstein)”. Also “the CDC reports that from Jan. 1 to Feb. 28, 2014, 54 people in the U.S. have reported being infected with measles” (Sifferlin).