Vaccinating Children Persuasive Essay

​Over the past decade, the concern among parents regarding the safety and effectiveness of childhood vaccinations has become a concern in the United States and other countries around the world. A survey of physicians showed that 89% of the physicians who were surveyed reported at least one refusal of childhood vaccinations by parents each month (Gowda & Dempsey, 2013). Other researchers have noted that as many as 77% of parents have concerned about one or more of the childhood vaccinations that are recommended for children (McKee & Bohannon, 2016). However, organizations such as the World Health Organization (2017) note that not only are childhood vaccinations safe, the reduction in children receiving childhood vaccinations has brought back diseases such as measles that had been completely wiped out in the United States. It is clear that there are opposing viewpoints about childhood vaccinations that need to be understood and examined to determine which side has a better argument.

The vaccination of children is a common practice in the United States. It has helped prevent the spread of infectious diseases that has plagued our society since the dawn of time. Since the decline of those infectious diseases, the United States and other countries have gone to what is called “herd immunity,” which is a mandatory vaccination of a majority of children to protect the mass population from contracting those easily communicable diseases (Orenstein & Yang, 2015). However, as of late the numbers of unvaccinated children are going up. Why is this happening? Why are so many parents choosing not to vaccinate their children? To answer those questions one must look at the reason why childhood vaccinations are required and why people choose to have their children vaccinated. Many parents believe some vaccinations help build their children’s immune system, but for other parents vaccinations are looked at as a risk to their children’s health and well-being. Many studies have been conducted to compile information to quantify the need for mass vaccinations, but childhood vaccinations have become so common in today’s society, that it’s hard to find a large percentage of unvaccinated children to gather a significant amount of data from. This is because the groups of unvaccinated children are too small and wide spread to consistently provide relevant data. This has led to a very controversial debate between parents, medical professionals and government officials about

“Sustaining high vaccination coverage among school-age children is vital to prevent outbreaks and avoid reestablishment of diseases that have been eliminated in the United States” (Zangger, 2017). Most of the articles found, stated a variety of issues involved with noncompliant parental decisions made about not vaccinating their children. Of these issues, to my attention, the main problem with compliance of vaccines comes from the lack of knowledge about adverse effects and contraindications. What parents are missing is the fact that these childhood diseases are totally preventable diseases. We also are seeing a lot of parents choose to use an alternative vaccination schedule (AVS) instead of what is recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that leads to the same kind of issue (Committee on Practice and Ambulatory Medicine and council on the community, 2011). The studies show that parents have an increased likelihood of refusing to vaccinate due to the lack of education provided on the subject itself.

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.

Are you doing something wrong as a legal guardian to a child? Is there something that you could do to ensure the health and well being of your child? Well, the answer is simply get them vaccinated. One of the greatest health developments of the 20th century are vaccinations, they point out the illness that your child could potentially encounter. If you are a legal guardian to a child, you need to get your child vaccinated ASAP. By getting your child vaccinated, your not only protecting them from getting a serious life threatening illness, but you are protecting those around your child. Major medical organizations recommend that your child gets vaccinated as soon as they are eligible for certain vaccinations. By getting just a simple shot into your child's arm, you could help save your child's life.

Vaccines are important for preventing deadly diseases. If a child is not vaccinated against preventable diseases, not only is the child at risk but also the entire community is at risk. This would include newborns in the community who are too young to have been vaccinated, people who cannot receive vaccines due to medical reasons, and people who may not have responded to a vaccine. With more people opting not to vaccinate their children, there has been a rise in the outbreak of preventable childhood diseases such as measles in certain communities. The reason most parents decide not to vaccinate is due to being misled by the media and the internet (Daley, 2011). Our healthcare professionals must do a better job at communicating the counterarguments. Physicians must begin having a discussion with parents at a much earlier time than what the recent norm has been which is usually at the two-month check-up. If a discussion over

We all know what it’s like to get a shot whether it’s a flu shot or tetanus shot. But, have you ever thought about how important these vaccinations are? Vaccinations save lives everyday, yet millions of Americans choose not to vaccinate their children. 10 to 20 percent of parents choose not to vaccinate and the number is slowly rising. Many parents choose to not vaccinate, because they're concerned with safety. Sure, there are some possible side effects, but the benefits far outway the risks. States should require parents to vaccinate their children, because it if parents don’t vaccinate it endangers their children, spreads dangerous diseases, and puts people who are unable to vaccinate in danger.

Many parents stress over the choice of deciding whether or not to vaccinate their children. The reason why deciding to vaccinate children is so difficult is due to the wide range of myths and side effects that are connected with vaccinations. Myths spread to parents all over the United States that the diseases don’t even exist anymore, rumors of vaccinations weakening a child’s immune system, and the risk of a child becoming autistic due to thimerisol in vaccinations. Side effects also scare parents out of getting their children vaccinated like brain damage, seizures, or allergic reactions, but then parents are pulled back to the thought of the possibility of

There has been much controversy over the topic of children receiving vaccines. Many believe vaccines are dangerous and do more harm than good, regardless of what they hear or read about. Many are misled about the information they learn about injections from the internet or the opinion of others. Vaccines affect people in different ways, mainly depending how your body responds to it. When a vaccine is being administered, a synthetic substitute is injected into your body, and is acting as an antigen without giving you the disease. This topic is contentious because part of the disease is injected so your body becomes immune to it. This is one reason parents do not want their children to receive vaccines because they think they will develop and produce the disease.

Skipping vaccinations may not be the leading cause of death in the children of the United States, but it can cause quite a few problems for them as they grow and others around them. Vaccinations are important for many reasons such as preventing diseases, allowing medical advances, and it protects future generations to come. Ultimately, vaccinating your child can save many lives.

Primarily, most parents generally opt for vaccinations towards children in the United States of America. The perception of why parents make this judgement is due to the benefits of vaccinations outweighing the potential of any health risk. Carole Joyce stated, “As many as three million children deaths are prevented and approximately 750,000 children are spared disability, worldwide, each year” (Joyce). Joyce’s statement shows that vaccines have proven to be one of the most efficient public health ingenuities in modern history. Improving overall public health and preventing children from being contaminated from preventable diseases are major benefits from vaccinations. Nevertheless, there are parents who delay the vaccination of the child due towards simply

In the world today, there are many diseases and other illnesses that there are vaccinations for. Some having minor side effects, but others preventing of any other serious diseases from happening, or even death. There has been a debate about whether or not parents should vaccinate their children. Those parents that do not think this is a good idea, mostly believe that these vaccinations can cause autism in their children from being so young and being vaccinated. Other parents are for it, so that their child can be healthy, stay away from any other diseases, and are helping those children who can’t be vaccinated. Those children who can’t be vaccinated are usually those that are too young, or are too ill, such as those with leukemia for example. If a child who has the option of getting vaccinated but doesn’t, it can severely harm that child who is too ill. All children, if they are able to, should, and need, to be vaccinated to keep these diseases from spreading any further.

As a parent immunizations for a child are always a big decision. Most parents decide to vaccinate their children without a second thought, while some struggle with if the positives outweigh the negatives, negatives sometimes being serious side effects, and sadly there are some parents that simply cannot afford to vaccinate their children or do not have the necessary resources. There are many communities worldwide that do not use immunizations, due to religious reasons or a lack of resources. (Miller, 2006) These communities see many negative health complications due to people and children not getting vaccinated. Countries with vaccine programs have seen a decrease in preventable diseases due to the vaccines given to children at early

There is extremely large numbers of vaccinations for many diseases and illnesses. By getting a child vaccinated early in their life, gives them a greater chance to not accumulate these illnesses. The American Academy of Pediatrics stated that "most childhood vaccines are 90%-99% effective in preventing disease."(Vaccines) This means that there is only a 1%-10% chance they won’t help or work at all. Most parents rather give their children a chance at a strong immune system rather than not trying at all. The Centers for Disease Control estimated that 732,000 American children were saved from death and 322 million cases of childhood illnesses were prevented between the years 1994 and 2014 due to being vaccinated.(Vaccines) In a span of 20 years vaccinations have saved over more than half a million lives.

Immunization is very important to the safety and health of everyone, especially children. Whether on not to vaccinate is the big question here. The only reasonable choice to make is to vaccinate. Immunization is not bad; moreover, the choice to not receive shots is dangerous. The choice to vaccinate your child could be a choice of either life or death. Vaccines are safer and easier than many people think. Immunization can protect from loss of time and money due to hospitalization, and can save future generations. Becoming educated on vaccinations and how they work will save lives one day.