Essay on The Vital Importance of Vaccinations

In the United States, the law states that vaccinations are required for children entering school unless they have a valid reason that prevents them from receiving the vaccinations. Starting when children are born, they begin the regimen of vaccinations that continue throughout their adolescent years and adulthood. Each year children receive a variation of shots to protect them from the illnesses they will encounter in the world, especially once they attend school. The most common reasons parents forego getting their children vaccinated are religious beliefs, medical exemptions, and personal beliefs. Due to the rising number of parents declining to get their children vaccinated, the number of outbreaks of preventable diseases has increased. The question is now should parents/guardians be forced to vaccinate their children?

Over many years, we have gained more and more knowledge in the medical field. We have learned new information about diseases, cures, and technology that can be used to help our society stay healthy. Vaccinations are one of the ways doctors help prevent people from getting various diseases such as polio and the measles. However, some peoples’ beliefs and religions get in the way of them taking vaccines. Also, some parents believe that vaccinations are linked to autism and refuse to let their children get vaccinated. For many years, people have been having controversies over this subject, but I believe that we should require kids to have vaccinations to keep society healthy and stable.

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.

Is it ethical to allow parents to be exempt from vaccinating their children before they begin attending school due to their religious or personal beliefs? Childhood vaccinations have been around since the 1977 Childhood Immunization Initiative. It is important to have your child vaccinated for both the benefit of your child and your surrounding community. Vaccinations help prevent the spread of diseases that can lead to hospitalizations and sometimes even death. In the United States, only medical exemptions are allowed throughout all 50 states. Exemptions that are religious or personal vary from state to state. These exemptions are given due to the fact that individuals have a constitutional right to exercise such beliefs. An important fact to keep in mind is that many cases of diseases like measles, smallpox, and polio have been prevented from turning into an outbreak because a majority of the population in the United States is immune to them. If it were not for this majority, diseases would be spreading rapidly. We have progressed as a society to protect each other’s health and allowing an alarming number of individuals to opt out of getting these vaccinations will cause a serious threat to our society. Is it ethical to allow people to put the lives of others in danger?

Throughout history, vaccinations have been used to help the prevention of infectious diseases; some of which can produce serious illnesses, crippling disabilities, and ultimately be the cause of death. There is evidence of ancient culture’s attempting to treat transmittable diseases with various forms of inoculations. Developments in the research of vaccinations increased during the mid-twentieth century because of the established of more advanced laboratories, improved equipment, and new innovations. The progression of medicine during history has helped further the development of research into vaccinations. Several cultural, ethical, and religious issues have resulted from the development and use of vaccinations in our society. The topic of vaccinations has caused a strong debate amongst our culture about the safety and danger of treating infectious diseases with such methods.

First of all, religion has become a frequently used excuse. Recently, a case arose in New York City when three families obtained vaccination exemptions due to religious reasons (NYC Court 1). Because they chose to not vaccinate their children, their children were not allowed to attend school during times when another student had a vaccine-preventable illness (NYC Court 1). Naturally, this sparked an uproar among the parents, who then sued the city by claiming it was a violation of their First Amendment right to religious freedom and their 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law (NYC Court 1). The dogma of several mainstream religions references vaccines and whether or not they are necessary. For example, “the Catholic Church strongly supports vaccination, even making it a moral and

Under the Immunization of School Pupils Act a child can be exempted from immunization for medical reasons or due to conscience or religious belief. A medical exemption must be signed by a physician stating either a medical condition that prevents them from receiving the vaccine or evidence that the child already has immunity to the disease. A conscious or religious belief exemption is only provided after an education session that covers information about basic immunization, vaccine safety, Ontario immunization law, and community health has been completed. Vaccination skeptics say there is no need for provinces to have strict immunization policies. The main argument is that vaccines should be a parent’s choice and therefore not legislated by

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.

In 2003 there were two million deaths in children that were prevented because of immunization. This is a huge number; these lives were saved by vaccines. Children who are young and whose immune systems are not fully developed can die of illnesses that we as adults think are routine or not life threatening. What we do know is that if children are not immunized, illnesses like polio, measles, rubella, meningitis, and tetanus to name a few, will indeed return, with the cost being lives. There are also many social and economic risks associated with not immunizing children. It’s not only for their safety but for the safety of those around them. Recently parents have stopped immunizing children because of study

Most of us, normally go to the doctor every year or so, they tell us we need a vaccination, we get the shot and go on with or day. For some people, they disagree. They believe that vaccinations are taking away their freedom and rights. They also believe that their children shouldn't get vaccinations which cause them to be prone to many different diseases and viruses. The only reason that people are allowed to do this is because of the current law that states, in california, people can exempt themselves from vaccination for medical, religious, and philosophical reasons. The benefit to all this i believe to be miniscule, but again, the ten percent who believe otherwise would disagree.

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.

“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.

Children begin to make friends and develop complex relationships at young ages. Peer interaction is essential to a child’s cognitive development and can also improve their social skills later in life. One of the places where these social interactions take place is school. However, unvaccinated children may soon be unable to attend schools. All 50 states have vaccination requirements for students in public schools, private schools, and even daycare centers. However, there are exemptions to these requirements. Schools allow unvaccinated children to attend the school if the parents claim they did not vaccinate their children for religious or philosophical reasons. However, there are several states making it so parents cannot be exempt from vaccinating their children based on religious or philosophical reasons. Unvaccinated children in these states must be homeschooled, which closes them off to a big part of potential social interaction. In addition, unvaccinated children who contract potentially deadly diseases may be put into quarantine, which basically closes them off to all social interactions and the rest of the

Introduction: Public health achievements in the areas of vaccinations to prevent disease, disease prevention and control, laws to limit the consumption of tobacco, maternal and infant health, and cardiovascular disease are achievements on their own. With public health, improvements in one area often have an effect on a different area of public health. Improvements in vaccinations, for example, will improve maternal and infant health as a reduced number of mothers and infants will fall ill from diseases preventable by vaccination. In addition, vaccinations control the spread of infectious disease, and reduce the incidence rate of the disease in a population.

During the 20th century, the infectious disease death rate decreased from 800/1000 deaths to less than 100/1000 deaths. This is mainly due to the introduction of immunisation. Vaccination has clearly prevented millions of deaths over the last century; nevertheless, the anti-vaccination movement has grown significantly in recent years. Some of the reasons why people join this movement include the belief that vaccines don’t actually work, the belief that vaccines are unnatural and therefore unhealthy and the belief that vaccines contain toxins that cause bodily damage and neuropsychiatric problems (eg. Autism). This essay will discredit the beliefs associated with the anti vaccination movement through infectious disease statistics,