Should Vaccinations Be Mandatory: How They Save Lives

Getting vaccinated is a controversial topic. In “Should vaccinations be mandatory?' argumentative essay author make a deep analysis of this question as it has both positive and negative sides. People are either for getting vaccinated or they are against it due to beliefs or medical reasoning. For the longest time, the majority of people have been pro-vaccinators but recently there is a handful of people who are completely against vaccines. Vaccines help protect people from diseases and help keep diseases from spreading. In many cases, vaccines have eliminated the spread of certain diseases and some diseases have even disappeared. When parents choose not to vaccinate their child, it puts other’s children in danger of being exposed to diseases that they are not fully protected against yet. Vaccines should be mandatory among all generations to prevent future outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.

An effective way to prevent sickness is with vaccinations. When someone gets a vaccine it “helps [their] body’s immune system to recognize and fight pathogens like viruses or bacteria, which then keeps [them] safe from the diseases that others cause”. More than 25 extremely harmful or life concerning diseases, including measles, polio, tetanus, diphtheria, meningitis, influenza, tetanus, typhoid and cervical cancer, are preventable by vaccines. For the most part, a large amount of children receive their vaccines on the correct scheduled time. However, about 20 million reaching throughout the world still bypass getting them “putting them at risk of serious diseases, death, disability and ill health”.

Vaccines used to not be available in the 20th century. Many generations suffered from life threatening diseases that they had no control over or a way to stop it from spreading. For example, Dr. Stir, a professor at Lonestar, taught in class that in the 1300s, the disease known as the Black Plague killed nearly killed 200 million people. During this time no one knew how or why this disease was spreading and the ones affected by the disease had to suffer with it until possible death because there was no cure for certain diseases during that era. Many generations later, scientists have developed several vaccinations that prevent such things, like the plague, from happening again. If there was a vaccine back then to prevent this then there is no doubt that people in the 1300s would opt out on the opportunity of protecting themselves against the plague, so why are people in today’s society taking the risk and skipping their vaccinations?

Ten years ago, autism was somehow related to vaccinations which made several people panic and not want to vaccinate their children anymore. The story of vaccines giving children autism has been debunked by professors and medical research journals. But, parents still to this day do not want to vaccinate their children. Many anti-vaccinators sat that vaccinations are “too dangerous” or “they are poison”. Research shows that vaccinations are not as dangerous as the actual disease it is trying to prevent. It is unwise for upcoming parents to ignore the medical improvements and successes with vaccinations. The more people who are protected against certain diseases, like measles, means the less likely it will spread and cause another epidemic.

80 children died in a weak because of the deadly disease measles in the year 1922. However, parents still fail to simply vaccinate their children. Frances Childs, a comprehensive school teacher in southern England, says, “there were 1,348 confirmed cases in England and Wales,” of children who had measles in 2008 and two children died from it the past following years. A fellow parent, Joanne, that Frances knows does not have her child vaccinated and she relies on other things to protect her child against harmful diseases. Joannes alternative to getting her child vaccinated is to concoct potions which she insists will ward off vicious childhood illnesses. Frances wonders what children’s parents in 1922 would have said to women like Joanne, “who are turning their backs on vaccination and relying on quacks peddling magic pills.” People like Joanne are contributing to the comeback of measles. Since its elimination, about three-hundred and fifty measles cases were diagnosed in our country last year, the second highest number of reports since 2000. This disease has been slowly creeping its way back since 2008 and it seems it is going to get worse in the year 2019. Since January 1st, around 35 people, mostly children, have been diagnosed with measles in Washington State. In New York during this past month, around 40 more individuals have been treated for measles and this added to the 186 cases since October. Public health officials say that because of the increasing number of parents who are refusing to vaccinate their children, that outbreaks will continue to spread further. The common issue on all cases and future cases is the people who do not have the appropriate vaccines to protect them from these harmful diseases. A change needs to be made before our country suffers from an epidemic that our ancestors have already fought.

Vaccines have successfully almost eliminated some diseases but because a select few do not participate in getting vaccinated, the increases in these vaccine-preventable diseases are on the rise. Parents are refusing to vaccinate their children because of various reasons but the most popular issue is that vaccines will cause a mental health problem for their children or their religion is against vaccinations. It is understandable that these parents have the right to have concerns for the effects of vaccines and that it is important to respect what they believe in. However, research has shown the positive outcome of vaccines and what they have done to improve people’s health. Without them, many more people would have lost their lives due to outbreaks. Disease was an issue in the past that no one understood how to prevent but with today’s medical advancements this world is steps closer to eliminating deadly outbreaks. The research and time doctors and scientists have put into curing disease does not matter if not everyone participates. The spread of disease is increasing again and there is a simple and effective way to stop it.

Everyone has their own opinion on the topic of vaccinations. A person is either for or against them and there is no in between. Vaccines have improved the lives of people in today’s society compared to the lives of their ancestors. When vaccines were not a thing, disease spread quickly and killed millions of people; vaccines eliminated this problem. Around the year 2000 many diseases were almost completely gone but a rumor that vaccines could cause a child to develop a mental disorder discouraged parents into getting their child vaccinated. This led to an uprise in outbreaks of diseases like measles. Medical research has debunked the rumor but parents are still finding issues with vaccinating their children. Vaccines help protect an individual from life-threatening diseases and also protect communities of people. Every individual of every generation should be required to get vaccinated to prevent future outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases.

Works Cited

• Atkin, Emily. 'America's Epidemic of Vaccine Exemptions.' Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2019. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/JQUXFE441595696/OVIC?u=txshracd2543&sid=OVIC&xid=4a0010ae. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019. Originally published as 'America's Epidemic of Vaccine Exemptions,' The New Republic, 31 Jan. 2019.
• Childs, Frances. 'Mandatory Vaccinations Reduce the Risk of Disease for Everyone.' Should Vaccinations be Mandatory?, edited by Noël Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010616207/OVIC?u=txshracd2543&sid=OVIC&xid=bfb2b5f5. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019. Originally published as 'How the Middle-Class MMR Refuseniks Are Putting Every Child at Risk,' MailOnline, 2009.
• “Vaccines.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 19 Sept. 2019, https://www.who.int/topics/vaccines/en/.