Should There Be Mandatory Vaccination?

Superior Essays
Vaccination or not A collective subject that has caused much dispute in America is immunization. The current situation of vaccine has been a proponent of various maladies in society. Some people are against vaccination because they believe that vaccine can cause autism, while others think that compulsory vaccination laws is an affront to their freedom. Although “vaccines face a tougher safety standard than most pharmaceutical products,” researchers and concerned parents continue to challenge the claims of certain medical personnel that immunizations are safe (Kwok 436). The public demands to know if the vaccination is truly a utopian creation that can do no harm, but like …show more content…
Several rigorous tests and experiments have been conducted to end the dispute regarding vaccine, but as human nature has it, people believe what they fear the most. One of the many concerns of parents is that vaccines are the cause of many medical conditions and disorders in children. Scientist Natalie Smith made a comparison between the increase in the number of autism diagnoses and the change in the percentage of children who received the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine between 1980 and 1994 in California. Her results are summarized in the following statement: “Although a dramatic increase in the incidence of children with autism was reported, the percentage of children who received the MMR vaccine [remained] the same” (qtd. in Offit, “Vaccines”). The observations from Smith’s studies reveal evidence that the MMR vaccine and autism are most likely not related. Although experiments such as this one provide data that should calm parents, “children are [still] suffering and dying because some parents are more frightened by vaccines than by the diseases they prevent” (Offit, Deadly 191). In 1990, researcher Bart Classen proposed another issue regarding vaccines. He believed that the Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine was causing diabetes to appear in children who had received multiple doses. After a closer look into the concern, various scientists determined that “Classen’s …show more content…
Potential health risks can result from the production of some vaccines. The influenza vaccine, for example, is made in eggs and “about one half of one percent” of people are “allergic to egg protein” (Offit and Moser 34). The reactions that can occur in people who receive this vaccine can be fatal. Two other ingredients that have the possibility to cause allergic reactions in vaccine recipients are yeast proteins and gelatin. Yeast proteins can be found in “both the hepatitis B vaccine and one of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines,” and gelatin is “used in vaccines as a stabilizing agent” (Offit and Moser 72-73). Scientists still debate whether bread allergies are related to side effects that occur in patients who have received vaccines that contain traces of yeast protein. “The risk of severe allergy due to baker’s yeast is [still] theoretical,” but gelatin is “the most common identifiable cause of severe allergic reactions to vaccines” (Offit and Moser 73). Allergic reactions are a deadly side effect of vaccines. Although cases are rare, some proponents of vaccines would say that the consequences of vaccines outweigh their benefits to

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