Whether or not to have mandatory vaccinations is a debate that people have been having for years in the United States. A vaccination is defined as “the injection of weak disease-causing agents that help the body develop immunity against specific infectious diseases” (Vidula). Currently, unvaccinated children are sometimes prevented from attending schools, camps, or from participating in sports due to being a public health risk. This argument dates back to the 1800’s when in 1809, Massachusetts passed a law that “granted city boards of health the authority to require vaccination 'when necessary for public health or safety '" Then in 1905 when required to take a Polio shot, Henning Jacobson took the case to the Supreme Court where the Supreme
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Compared to other first world countries, the US has a very high child mortality rate and is ranked 42nd out of all countries in the world (“Mortality”). Other first world countries, such as Japan, have found ways to combat major diseases, but due to not having mandatory vaccinations, causes problems. In 1974, Japan had a successful pertussis (whooping cough) vaccination program, with nearly 80% of Japanese children vaccinated. [...] But then rumors began to spread that pertussis vaccination was no longer needed and that the vaccine was not safe […] by 1976 only 10% of infants were getting vaccinated. In 1979 Japan suffered a major pertussis epidemic, with more than 13,000 cases of whooping cough and 41 deaths. (“Why Immunize”). Most major diseases are preventable and vaccinations help very much to do so. In countries like Japan, a large portion of the children were taking their vaccinations, thus the pertussis disease was at an all time low; however, as people started to believe that the pertussis disease was not as dangerous, they stopped giving their children vaccinations, thus resulting in 13,000 cases of whooping cough. If the government had made it mandatory for children to get the vaccination for pertussis, 41 lives may have been saved and 13,000 cases of pertussis may have been prevented. The U.S. can take this as an example and make it mandatory to take vaccinations for diseases, such as Polio and Pertussis, as a way to not only decrease the number of infected children, thus decreasing the child mortality rate, but also to prevent a future epidemic. Preventing an epidemic before it occurs is the reason vaccinations were created. For example, half of all HPV infections are preventable and are in people aged 15 - 25 years (Donahou). If the U.S. were to make it mandatory for all children to be
Compared to other first world countries, the US has a very high child mortality rate and is ranked 42nd out of all countries in the world (“Mortality”). Other first world countries, such as Japan, have found ways to combat major diseases, but due to not having mandatory vaccinations, causes problems. In 1974, Japan had a successful pertussis (whooping cough) vaccination program, with nearly 80% of Japanese children vaccinated. [...] But then rumors began to spread that pertussis vaccination was no longer needed and that the vaccine was not safe […] by 1976 only 10% of infants were getting vaccinated. In 1979 Japan suffered a major pertussis epidemic, with more than 13,000 cases of whooping cough and 41 deaths. (“Why Immunize”). Most major diseases are preventable and vaccinations help very much to do so. In countries like Japan, a large portion of the children were taking their vaccinations, thus the pertussis disease was at an all time low; however, as people started to believe that the pertussis disease was not as dangerous, they stopped giving their children vaccinations, thus resulting in 13,000 cases of whooping cough. If the government had made it mandatory for children to get the vaccination for pertussis, 41 lives may have been saved and 13,000 cases of pertussis may have been prevented. The U.S. can take this as an example and make it mandatory to take vaccinations for diseases, such as Polio and Pertussis, as a way to not only decrease the number of infected children, thus decreasing the child mortality rate, but also to prevent a future epidemic. Preventing an epidemic before it occurs is the reason vaccinations were created. For example, half of all HPV infections are preventable and are in people aged 15 - 25 years (Donahou). If the U.S. were to make it mandatory for all children to be