Should Parents Be Mandatory To Vaccinate Children?

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Every parent wants only what is best for their tiny, new, little bundle of joy. Not many parents spend their pregnancy pondering the thoughts of vaccinations. However, when the time comes there is so much controversial information bombarding parents about vaccination nowadays it’s enough to give any parent, let alone new parents, nightmares. Are vaccinations safe? Should we vaccinate children? Do we have to? What happens if we choose not to vaccinate? Will the vaccination make our children ill? Will this cause a long term health issue….autism, even? Vaccinations are a broad subject. Everyone has an opinion one way or the other. Sometimes, we might not agree with vaccinating, but be required to vaccinate; that is a broad enough subject to write an entire research paper. Therefore, for the purpose of this paper, the topic will pertain to only the topic of pros and cons of vaccinations. First, let’s look at the pros (arguments for) of having your child vaccinated. …show more content…
Of course, the primary benefit of vaccinations is to prevent disease. These diseases can range from mild illnesses such as the chicken pox or the flu to the most serious and sometimes even deadly diseases. According to my research, (www.immunizeforgood.com) vaccinations have decreased the rate of disease quite drastically. In fact, they estimate that in the United States alone, 33,000 deaths have been prevented in one year alone. The number worldwide was estimated to be near 3 million deaths. This is besides counting any decreases in the hospitalizations due to severe illnesses that would have resulted from lack of vaccinations. Below is a chart taken directly from the website sited below the chart that details the drop in decline due solely to vaccinations? Disease Baseline 20th Century Annual Cases 2006 Cases Percent Decrease Measles 503,282 55 99.9% Diphtheria 175,885 0 100% Mumps 152,209 6,584 95.7% Pertussis (Whooping Cough) 147,271 15,632 89.4% Smallpox 48,164 0 100% Rubella 47,745 11 99.9% Haemophilus influenzae type b, invasive (HiB) 20,000 29 99.9% Polio 16,316 0 100% Tetanus 1,314 41 96.9% Source: The Impact of Vaccines in the United States Another pro of vaccinations is that they protect others too. Imagine a child coming to school who has an active case of Whooping Cough. (By the way, a school nearby recently closed for a few days due to an outbreak of Whooping Cough.) The infected child, (whose parents did not vaccinate) comes to school and infects other students in his/her class. The teacher is also infected by the student. The students go home and infect their parents and their younger siblings. The teacher goes home and infects her children and her aging parents that she cares for. It’s a domino effect. When we vaccinate our children, we are protecting others that we love and care for. We protect others in the community that has not been vaccinated themselves. It protects babies who are too young to be vaccinated, the elderly, pregnant women, and persons in the community with weakened immune systems for reasons such as chronic illnesses. Are vaccinations safe? This is perhaps the biggest debate concerning vaccinations. We have all heard stories in the news about the great controversy of vaccinations being unsafe and possibly being the cause of Autism. What does the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) say about this matter? In order to be FDA approved, the vaccination must go through an extensive safety process. The FDA concludes that “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccines have reduced preventable infectious diseases to an all-time low and now few people experience the devastating effects of measles, pertussis and other illnesses.) There is a link in the website to report and adverse reactions following a vaccination. Source: (http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/ReportaProblem/VaccineAdverseEvents/default.htm) What does the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Say about Vaccine Safety? The Institute of Medicine concludes in an extensive study, the last one being done in 1994, that vaccines are very safe and that it is a rarity for serious adverse reactions to occur. The Institute of Medicine reports the following: “Vaccines are among the most effective and safe public health interventions to prevent serious disease and death,” said Lainie Friedman Ross, M.D., Ph.D., FAAP, a member of the AAP Committee on Bioethics

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