Vaccines Should Be Mandatory Essay

Requiring vaccinations is a highly debatable topic in the United States today. An article by Ronald Bayer, “The continuing tensions between individual rights and public health,” is one of the most reliable sources in the case study. The author has a PhD from the University of Chicago and focuses his research on issues of social justice and ethical matters. Bayer has also previously been a consultant to the World Health Organization on ethical issues related to public health. This makes him very knowledgeable about the topic and a highly credible source.

Immunizations can save a child’s life; due to the medical advances that have taken place, kids are now protected from many illness/ diseases. At one point in time, Polio was a horrible illness that is now preventable by simply receiving a shot (USDHHS, n.d.). Immunizations protect not only the individual receiving the vaccination, but others as well. Certain individuals are not suitable for specific vaccinations, therefore, if everyone else has the vaccination, the people who cannot are more likely to be safe from the illness (USDHHS, n.d). Generally, immunizations are safe, effective, cheaper in the long run, and can save families time.

It is important for all people to be vaccinated to protect themselves from contracting communicable diseases, from spreading these diseases, and from the high cost of treating these preventable diseases. It would make sense to do so. No one wants to contract diseases, or be laid up if they can prevent it. Getting vaccinated will prevent anyone from spreading contracted diseases to others. It can also be very costly when trying to treating a communicable disease that could have been prevented with a vaccine.

It is believed that an individual’s medical choices should not be governed. This is also a valid point. However, the decision to not vaccinate ones child not only affects the child’s health but the health of others. This point alone validates why it necessary to mandate vaccinations for all

One of the many benefits of vaccinating children is it saves them from life-threatening diseases. The many diseases which children are immunized from include, Measles, Mumps, Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis (whooping cough), Polio, Hepatitis A and B and much more. Long before the time of vaccines, there was a shocking rate of deaths that occurred worldwide.

The question of whether or not children should be vaccinated has being in the minds or parents for quite a long time and parents in California will no longer be able to make that decision. California legislature has passed a new law that requires every child attending school to be vaccinated. The only exception to this rule will be for medical reasons, not religious or personal reasons. Parents are now questioning whether or not California lawmakers have the authority to have a say in their children lives. Although it may seem as if California lawmakers are trying to control your child’s life, vaccines do have significant benefits.

Your sick child takes a drink without you looking, you take a drink after him not knowing that he is carrying the flu virus. You get up in the middle of the night, feeling sick to your stomach, running a fever, and feeling queasy. You think back to the last time you have shared or gotten close to anyone sick, you remember that your child is sick and think back to the last time you or him got a flu vaccine, or any vaccine. Vaccines help protect us from sickness and build up antigens to fight the virus off. Children should get vaccines for the protection of others.

Required Immunity Mandatory vaccinations for children in public schools have been the center of much debate since laws were first developed to regulate immunization. Fears from parents about side effects and adverse reactions have steered many away from wanting to vaccinate their children despite the numerous infectious diseases they prevent. These debates have gotten in the way of progression in schools for preventing the spread of disease. To me, the risks of not vaccinating children are far greater than the risks of adverse reactions.

Vaccines are able to prevent disease in a single child, but their usefulness to society lies in their ability to prevent outbreaks. Vaccines prevent disease through the concept of herd immunity. Herd immunity is the idea that a disease will have a harder time spreading if the majority of the population is unable to contract it (Martinez). For example, if more than 90 percent of people are vaccinated against measles, an outbreak is unlikely to happen even if a person in the community is infected (Oster).

Many people may think that vaccination is a bad thing, that instead of preventing it causes illness, that is not natural. Natural or not, there are many reasons as to why we should vaccinate us and the younger generation. Most of the time children don’t like vaccination because it hurt, but is the responsibility of a parent to seek the wellbeing of his or her child. Vaccination it’s a preventive measure of various diseases. Unfortunately, things like the anti-vaccination movement, the misinformation on the Internet, and the believe that vaccination causes more damage than is worth, have led our society to think that it’s right not to vaccinate.

How likely is it for a child to get a disease? “Statistically, the chance of your child getting a vaccine-preventable disease may be relatively low. You are making a wager” (Childhood 1). Mainly, parents don’t want their children to be vaccinated in order to attend public school or tend to lack taking them on time to get the shots. A vaccination is being introduced to the body which will then produce an immunity to a specific disease.

In every case where compulsory vaccinations were challenged, the Court upheld their constitutionality because they do not infringe on any rights. Notably, in Prince v. Massachusetts, the Court ruled that mandatory vaccines do not violate freedom of religion (Chemerinsky, Goodwin 606). In fact, the Court ruled religious exemption clauses as unlawful, since they only apply to students of a recognized denomination, as concluded in Brown v. Stone and Davis v. State (Chemerinsky, Goodwin 607-608). Furthermore, mandatory vaccines do not infringe on religious freedom because, “no matter how much a law burdens religious practices it is constitutional under [Employment v.] Smith so long as it does not single out religious behavior for punishment and was not motivated by a desire to interfere with religion” (Chemerinsky, Goodwin 609).

Globally, vaccination has proved as a tremendous asset in curbing the spread of communicable diseases. Communicable disease such as smallpox, which is highly infectious, was thoroughly eradicated in the 20th century with the help of vaccines. Other notorious contagious diseases, such as measles, polio and rubella are also in the brink of eradication in this modern age through the widespread application of vaccines. By implementing mandatory vaccination, it’s not impossible to achieve that due to vaccination preventing new human carriers of disease from appearing. As vaccination prevents an individual from contracting a particular disease, the individual will not be a carrier for that disease, thus limiting the spread of the disease to others.

I would have to side with the requirement that vaccinations should be mandatory because it is not just the health of a single individual but the health of the entire human civilization. As a Christian, I believe that vaccinations help our health. They are something that God has given us. We should use them to our best knowledge to help our body. Although, I see the reasoning behind not requiring vaccinations.

Vaccinations can help prevent future diseases or viruses in the upcoming life of a child. According to an article from vaccines.gov, “Because of advances in medical science, your child can be protected against more diseases than ever before. Some diseases that once injured or killed thousands of children, have been eliminated completely and others are close to extinction- primarily due to stay safe and effective vaccinations.” Throughout the years more viruses have been prevented due to vaccinations in children. There has also been an increase in the amount of children that get vaccinations at a young age.