Position Essay: Should Vaccines be mandated?
For ages, the issue of mandating vaccines has created much controversy among many people in our society. With latest outbreaks of measles in California and other states, the topic of mandating vaccinations has revisited the arena of the legislative body all over the country. Through research, science has demonstrated that vaccines are crucial in attaining and maintaining a world free of contagious diseases, on the other hand, others, do not believe that the benefits of vaccines outweigh personal and religious beliefs. The vulnerable population, those with a compromised immune system, the elderly, and infants less than two months of age, are at the center of this debate, their health is left at …show more content…
Vaccination Law,"). Despite the implementation of these laws, a huge gap remains open caused by the uncomplicated availability of philosophical and religious exemptions that compromise and disrupt herd immunity. Herd immunity has been described by Professor Crossley of the University of Pittsburgh as a circumstance that is caused by an increased number of people within a population that are immune to preventable diseases due to high vaccination rate or previous illness; thus, containing the spread of the diseases (Crossley 24). Herd immunity is the exclusive process by which our vulnerable population is protected from the vaccine preventable diseases. Professor Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Public Health Law and Human Rights has made the argument that in states where non-medical exemptions are easy to obtain, the incidence of outbreaks has dramatically increased by 50% as shown in a study conducted in 2006, demonstrating the correlation between both (Gostin …show more content…
As a parent, I can sympathize with this particular claim, as parents, we look to protect our children from the negativity in this world. However, I cannot help, but think about those parents who do not share the same privilege because their children have a condition that impedes vaccination; hence, rely on the conscious decision of the rest of us to help keep them safe. Vaccine hesitant groups and parents have further argued that vaccinating their children against contagious diseases that no longer exist is unnecessary. Another good point, yet, this is a direct benefit of herd immunity, and as previously mentioned, is attained through a high vaccination rate. The anti-vaccine community has also claimed that vaccines are unsafe and cause autism, naturally this would be devastating, but the truth of the matter is that the information provided by Andrew Wakefield, a former doctor, was found to be false and injurious to scientific study, which led to the revocation of his medical license (McCoy). Additionally, religious beliefs have been signaled as causative reasons for vaccine hesitancy; nonetheless, according to John D. Grabenstein, in his article, “What the World’s religions teach, applied to vaccines and immune globulins,” found that for most religions no real theological reasons exist that support vaccine hesitancy. In other words, where these
For ages, the issue of mandating vaccines has created much controversy among many people in our society. With latest outbreaks of measles in California and other states, the topic of mandating vaccinations has revisited the arena of the legislative body all over the country. Through research, science has demonstrated that vaccines are crucial in attaining and maintaining a world free of contagious diseases, on the other hand, others, do not believe that the benefits of vaccines outweigh personal and religious beliefs. The vulnerable population, those with a compromised immune system, the elderly, and infants less than two months of age, are at the center of this debate, their health is left at …show more content…
Vaccination Law,"). Despite the implementation of these laws, a huge gap remains open caused by the uncomplicated availability of philosophical and religious exemptions that compromise and disrupt herd immunity. Herd immunity has been described by Professor Crossley of the University of Pittsburgh as a circumstance that is caused by an increased number of people within a population that are immune to preventable diseases due to high vaccination rate or previous illness; thus, containing the spread of the diseases (Crossley 24). Herd immunity is the exclusive process by which our vulnerable population is protected from the vaccine preventable diseases. Professor Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Public Health Law and Human Rights has made the argument that in states where non-medical exemptions are easy to obtain, the incidence of outbreaks has dramatically increased by 50% as shown in a study conducted in 2006, demonstrating the correlation between both (Gostin …show more content…
As a parent, I can sympathize with this particular claim, as parents, we look to protect our children from the negativity in this world. However, I cannot help, but think about those parents who do not share the same privilege because their children have a condition that impedes vaccination; hence, rely on the conscious decision of the rest of us to help keep them safe. Vaccine hesitant groups and parents have further argued that vaccinating their children against contagious diseases that no longer exist is unnecessary. Another good point, yet, this is a direct benefit of herd immunity, and as previously mentioned, is attained through a high vaccination rate. The anti-vaccine community has also claimed that vaccines are unsafe and cause autism, naturally this would be devastating, but the truth of the matter is that the information provided by Andrew Wakefield, a former doctor, was found to be false and injurious to scientific study, which led to the revocation of his medical license (McCoy). Additionally, religious beliefs have been signaled as causative reasons for vaccine hesitancy; nonetheless, according to John D. Grabenstein, in his article, “What the World’s religions teach, applied to vaccines and immune globulins,” found that for most religions no real theological reasons exist that support vaccine hesitancy. In other words, where these