The Importance Of Vaccines

The argument encompassing whether or not parents should vaccinate their children is ongoing. It is a very interesting matter to learn about and I possess some strong feelings about the case. This issue interests me because there are parents who don’t have their children vaccinated, and there are parents who do have them vaccinated. But all these parents share one particular quality: they all would like for their kids to be safe.

Can you imagine life without vaccine? In the reading "Not Being Vaccinated is not Acceptable" by David Ropeik argues that we should all get vaccinated because it’s necessary. Vaccinations are designed to help us go through our daily everyday life. A vaccine is a modern type of medicine that has been added to the world early on in life to prevent us all from diseases. It is called a modern medicine because of how many lives it has saved throughout the world. The earliest documented examples of vaccination are in the 17th century from India and China, people infected with smallpox were used to protect against the diseases. Vaccine have become better, to where they are safer for the human body. Vaccinations protect you and everyone around you, saves public money, protects future generations and it’s reliable.

Thesis Statement: Today, the choice on whether to vaccinate children or not is a thriving topic that many parents are starting to look deeper into. Ultimately, the sole purpose of vaccinations are to promote immunity. When parents decide not to vaccinate they are not only putting their child at risk for contracting diseases, but other children as well. Claim: When parents decide not to vaccinate they are not only putting their child at risk for contracting diseases, but other children as well.

Throughout the world, approximately three million people die from vaccine-preventable diseases each year; half of the people who die are children who are less than five years of age (Offit, 2014). When a person dies from a disease that has an available vaccine, that death could have been prevented. Parents do not vaccinate their children for an abundance of reasons. Although they feel that they are protecting their children, they are actually exposing them to countless life-threatening diseases. People who are not vaccinated cause problems within society, and unless there is a medical reason as to why a person cannot be vaccinated, vaccinations should be mandatory.

The advances in medicine, such as the discovery of vaccines has presented a tremendous impact on health, and prevented future epidemics. Despite its incredible benefits, the amount of parents choosing to refrain from vaccinating their children continues to increase. This controversial topic began in the early 1800s as a reaction to the widespread smallpox vaccination. The public’s reaction led to the study of vaccines, which has shown that failure to vaccinate would put people at a higher risk of contracting diseases. A risk that parents are willing to take because of their deep-rooted beliefs, which claim that vaccines harm more than they help. Parents should not be able to opt out of vaccines for their children because they are threatening

Vaccines are said to be one of the greatest public health achievements in history. They date back to 1796, when Edward Jenner used cowpox material to create immunity to the smallpox disease. (Historyofvaccines.org 2014) Now over two-hundred years later they’ve helped dramatically reduce the instance of viral diseases in children. For example, old childhood diseases such as Polio, Smallpox, and Diptheria have either been completely eradicated or are rarely seen in the United States thanks to vaccines. However, in recent years we’ve seen a sharp increase in parents who opt out of having their children receive these life-saving immunizations. This is mostly due to accusations over different

In recent years, parents have become increasingly weary against vaccines and their rumored negative health effects. This is proving to be a national crisis, as it limits children from doing things like going to school and obtaining a variety of professions in the future. Before making any irrational decisions, parents must first strive to understand the threat of vaccinating verses not vaccinating, the risk that comes with each, and the limitations their children will face until they are vaccinated.

Parents should be forced to vaccinate their children no matter what the circumstance. There are multiple reasons why parents should vaccinate their children. If a person does not want their child getting diagnosed with a viral disease, than why would they not want to vaccinate them? This seems like an issue that should not even need to be discussed because of the extremity of the consequences of not getting a child vaccinated. Without vaccines, epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases would return (What Happens When You Don’t Vaccinate). This research paper will discuss many upsides and downsides of vaccinating children.

Over the past decade the debate concerning the safety and necessity of childhood vaccines, as well as the correlation between vaccination and autism, has been overwhelming the media and the minds of conscientious parents. While freedom of choice is valued above all else in this country, when it comes to vaccination, blindly following the anti-vaxxer rhetoric puts at serious risk the health of many, especially the most vulnerable citizens. Immunization is a safe method to prevent many common infectious diseases and has been proven to be extremely effective in morbidity and mortality prevention; and a full course of medically recommended vaccination should be mandatory for all school-age children who do not have

People have already devoted their lives to researching ways new ways to protect the public against disease, and as time passes even more people will find that this is their passion as well. It is important that parents take advantage of modern medical technology for their own children so that the general population is as protected as possible. The major healthcare companies that have done research, have tested, and who have advocated for the use of vaccines are on the side of the public, and have dedicated their lives to protecting the lives of other people. One child can cause an infectious outbreak to begin, while at the same time one child becoming vaccinated can also prevent an outbreak from happening. This fact, as well as the possibilities that vaccines hold for the general population in the future are reason enough for why parents must make sure that their children are vaccinated as soon as

Large numbers of people don’t know how preventable children’s illnesses and deaths really are. By using vaccines, children have a much smaller risk of getting sick or even potentially dying. The benefits of vaccines clearly outweigh the risks from any perspective (Bailey). Hundreds of thousands of children can be saved each year by receiving their vaccinations according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. By making vaccines mandatory for children, time, money, and lives will be saved, and also future generations will be protected.

More than 10 million vaccines per year are given to children who are less than one year old, usually between 2 and 6 months of age. At this age, infants are at greatest risk for certain medical adverse events, including high fevers, seizures, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Some infants will experience these medical events shortly after a vaccination by coincidence (“VAERS Data”). Other parents in general would say all children should have their vaccines because no one would want to catch any diseases that are spreading around. Most would agree that all parents should make sure their children are vaccinated because a lot of children are dying from preventable disease, they cannot go to school or travel and they don’t cause autism.

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)

During the last ten years or so, there has been a debate on childhood vaccinations. This debate all started from the acquisition that vaccines cause autism. Since the debate, many parents have been skeptical on whether or not they will get their children vaccinated. From the negative comments that are going around from highly respected people new parents doubt vaccines importance to the world. Parents are concerned, which they should be, about if vaccines are beneficial or harmful to their kid’s health? Some claim that vaccinations are needless and unsafe. With the misleading information in parent’s ears they are stuck with the big question. Should I vaccinate my child?

Despite vaccinations being credited for the control and elimination of several childhood diseases, there are still many critics who raise concerns about the necessity of vaccination. In a national study of parents performed in 2000, 19% indicated they had “concerns about vaccines” whereas in a subsequent survey performed in 2009 this number had risen to 50%. There has also been a rise in non-medical vaccine exemptions that has occurred over the last several years. In a 2010 national survey of physicians, 89% of respondents reported at least one vaccine refusal by a parent each month (Dempsey & Gowda, 2013). Opposers argue that making school vaccination mandatory is against their right to make personal medical decisions. They feel that the government has no place to force parents to vaccinate their children if the parents decide it is not in their child’s best interest. Many parents are disagreeable about the multiple vaccinations received at one time, which results in possible pain and discomfort for the child. Another argument against vaccination is the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Critics are concerned about the unknown risks vaccines pose to children. Some parents noted their child acquiring a “high fever” or beginning to “act different” after the administration of a vaccine. There is a belief that there is a connection between the measles vaccination and autism. Another theory is that the influenza