“According to the World Health Organization, the measles vaccination rate in 2013 was 91 percent in the United States—lower than in Zimbabwe or Bangladesh” (Smith 6-7). It is somewhat astonishing that, despite having a significantly more developed healthcare system than both Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, America has a lower vaccination rate. In an article published for Opposing Viewpoints in Context, Neil Z. Miller, director of the ThinkTwice Global Vaccine Institute, argues that mandatory vaccinations are a moral outrage and should be eliminated. Despite the negative propaganda they often receive, vaccines are safe, necessary, and essential to guaranteeing the health of the greater human community and should therefore be mandatory, barring medical
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However, this is ignorant and insensitive; it does not acknowledge the esistence of children who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. Rylee Beck is a young girl with leukemia whose family was at Disneyland when the recent measles outbreak initially started. She cannot be vaccinated because of her compromised immune system that resulted from the cancer (vaccines rely on a person’s ability to fight off a “deactivated” version of a disease so that their immune system knows how to fight off the actual virus, but when a person has a compromised immune system, often as a result of cancer or an autoimmune disorder, they lose the ability to fight off the virus and cannot be vaccinated). Her mother, Melissa Beck, says that, “‘It’s a matter of life and death for these kids’” and hopes that parents would be more open to vaccinating their healthy children to help kids like Rylee (Smith 6-7). Not only can children like Rylee not be vaccinated, but, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, children who medically cannot receive vaccinations “are often more susceptible to the complications of infectious diseases” compared to the average child (Makielski 1876). Parents cannot just think of their own children. Everyone is responsible for making the world safe for children who are ill already. Every person is part of a worldwide community of health and must account for others beside
However, this is ignorant and insensitive; it does not acknowledge the esistence of children who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. Rylee Beck is a young girl with leukemia whose family was at Disneyland when the recent measles outbreak initially started. She cannot be vaccinated because of her compromised immune system that resulted from the cancer (vaccines rely on a person’s ability to fight off a “deactivated” version of a disease so that their immune system knows how to fight off the actual virus, but when a person has a compromised immune system, often as a result of cancer or an autoimmune disorder, they lose the ability to fight off the virus and cannot be vaccinated). Her mother, Melissa Beck, says that, “‘It’s a matter of life and death for these kids’” and hopes that parents would be more open to vaccinating their healthy children to help kids like Rylee (Smith 6-7). Not only can children like Rylee not be vaccinated, but, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, children who medically cannot receive vaccinations “are often more susceptible to the complications of infectious diseases” compared to the average child (Makielski 1876). Parents cannot just think of their own children. Everyone is responsible for making the world safe for children who are ill already. Every person is part of a worldwide community of health and must account for others beside