Picture two young children; one fully and completely vaccinated and the other never having received any kind of vaccination at all. Unfortunately, both of these young children fall drastically ill from the same virus. Consequently, the child who had previously become vaccinated and took all preventative actions made a speedy and full recovery while the other child passed away due to complications obtained from the virus. What if that one child's life could have been saved if he or she had received the proper vaccinations earlier in his or her life? If people had the opportunity to prevent future epidemics, why would they not use the resources at hand to do so? American scientist, Dr. Carl Sagan (1998) said, “Advances in medicine and agriculture have saved vastly more lives than have been lost in all the wars in history” (para. 11).
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As a result, many parents in today's society do not make it a high priority to have their own children immunized for deadly and highly contagious diseases such as measles, chickenpox, and whopping cough. The relative absence of these deadly diseases results in an under-appreciation of disease related complications that may occur in all ages, and in all countries. Over 15% of children today are under-immunized due to the fact that their parents hold skeptical attitudes about the necessity of becoming immunized (Rabinowitz, Latella, Stern, & Jost, 2016). Since many parents believe these diseases only existed in the past, the disease has an increased risk of becoming a disease of the future due to the lack of unimmunized children. In addition, parents who decide not to immunize a child increases the risk of their child contracting a potentially deadly disease through a contagious person their child may encounter at home, school, or in any public setting. Until a virus becomes eliminated worldwide, it still poses a threat to any unvaccinated person exposed to the
As a result, many parents in today's society do not make it a high priority to have their own children immunized for deadly and highly contagious diseases such as measles, chickenpox, and whopping cough. The relative absence of these deadly diseases results in an under-appreciation of disease related complications that may occur in all ages, and in all countries. Over 15% of children today are under-immunized due to the fact that their parents hold skeptical attitudes about the necessity of becoming immunized (Rabinowitz, Latella, Stern, & Jost, 2016). Since many parents believe these diseases only existed in the past, the disease has an increased risk of becoming a disease of the future due to the lack of unimmunized children. In addition, parents who decide not to immunize a child increases the risk of their child contracting a potentially deadly disease through a contagious person their child may encounter at home, school, or in any public setting. Until a virus becomes eliminated worldwide, it still poses a threat to any unvaccinated person exposed to the