Essay On Mandatory Vaccine

A vaccine is a man-made, biological preparation that provides active immunity to a certain disease. Ever since the inception of vaccines their use has been surrounded by controversy. A lot of issues arise from whether or not building up a natural immunity to a disease is better than a vaccination. Many people were afraid, and some still are, that by getting the vaccination, the recipient will actually get the disease they are trying to prevent because of what is in the vaccine. However, the most debate comes from whether or not the government should have vaccines be mandatory.
The government has required vaccines in public schools for almost 170 years now, starting with the smallpox vaccine being mandatory in the 1850’s. This has caused
much political debate over whether or not a school should have the ability to deny a student entry to their program because they could not show their vaccination papers. However, the benefits of vaccines greatly outweigh the risks: they have already proven themselves to be effective, the risk of disease spreading is too high in public schools for them not to be required, and by making vaccines required, students are then protected ( with most vaccines) for the rest of their lives. Vaccines have already proven their effectiveness, so what is the point of not making them mandatory? Vaccines have not only immunized millions of people, but they also have completely eradicated some diseases. For example, Polio, which caused deformities in the limbs of infected individuals and sometimes paralysis, had a vaccine that was invented and administered to the public in the early 1950’s. According to The College of Physicians in Philadelphia, the disease has been completely eliminated in the United States with zero reported incidents since 1979. Another vaccine success story was the war on smallpox. Smallpox was not only eliminated in the US, but has been completely eradicated from the entire world since 1977. Smallpox was a disease that left 35% of its victims dead, and many others scarred or blind. This terrible disease was made nonexistent by vaccines, saving countless lives. While vaccines have not truly eradicated any other diseases since, they have diminished the threat of many. Worldwide, Polio cases have dropped from 350,000 in 1989 to less than 1300 in 2004. (“Why are children dying?”). Then, in 1921, there were 15,000 deaths caused from diphtheria (causes swollen tonsils, nose, throat, and skin); in 2002 to 2014, only two cases were recorded (“What Would Happen If”). With these major successes for vaccines, it would be a step in the wrong direction for them to not be made mandatory in public schools. Even if the countless lives saved was not enough evidence to keep vaccines in public schools, the rate at which diseases can spread and their effect on children should be risks too high to take.
Although the risk of diseases can be diminished or even eradicated by vaccines, some diseases have been shown to come back. Japan has shown this with their whooping cough epidemic in 1979. Back in 1974, about 80% of Japanese kids were vaccinated for whooping cough and only 363 cases were recorded that year. When only 10% of kids were vaccinated in 1979, the disease spread like wildfire: 13,000 cases were recorded with 41 deaths (“What Would Happen If”). The whooping cough epidemic shows that diseases do not just go away, and they can come back with a surprising amount of force. A more recent example would be the United States measles outbreak of 2015. There was an outbreak of measles in Disneyland after America previously declared measles “vanquished” in 2000. Within a week, it had already spread to 14 states ranging from California to New York and had 1,000 cases in Arizona alone (“Vaccine Critics Turn Defensive”). Although measles is a disease that is required to have a vaccination in all public schools, it still spread across the country in only seven days. Often the disease is brought in from unvaccinated travelers from foreign countries, and can be spread here among the unvaccinated. (“Frequently Asked Questions About”) A more recent measles outbreak involved homeschooled children. The number of homeschooled children has nearly doubled since 1999, and while 48 states require up-to-date vaccination records for incoming kindergartners, many states have no requirements for homeschooled kids. These at risk kids contribute are obviously susceptible to getting diseases like measles when an outbreak occurs. ( “These States Don’t Require”) It is clear that in states where vaccinations are mandatory for school attendance, thousands, if not millions of people are
protected from getting this terrible disease. Also, since public schools have a lot of people in a confined area, it would only spread even faster due to the close contact of students. The rate at which diseases can spread and harm people is alarming, and it would be illogical for public schools to not make vaccinations mandatory for enrollment. While it may seem that vaccinations are only protecting kids from diseases during their schooling, it actually protects them into their adult lives. Getting a vaccination means that your body gains the antibodies to fight off a disease, which means you cannot contract it. If you cannot contract the disease, then the people around you cannot contract it from you. Since most students go to public schools, the mandatory built in protection from vaccinations is essential. Although not everyone will get the vaccination, the more people that are vaccinated means that the disease is harder to spread. The harder it is to spread, the less people that contract it and the cycle repeats, until no one can contract it anymore. Vaccinations from public schools not only protect students throughout their schooling career, but also throughout their entire life. Another major argument against vaccinations came about after a study came out in 1998 from Andrew Wakefield that stated vaccines cause autism. Parents were connecting their child’s development of autism symptoms to the MMR vaccination, in particular. However, even in unvaccinated children, symptoms of autism often emerge around the age of 2, but parents desperate for a cause of this terrible disease led them to buy into Wakefield’s report. This would be a valid argument if there was any actual evidence to help prove his case, but his experiment could not be replicated. There also have been over 100 studies proving his study incorrect, and advancements in technology might show that autism occurs before a child is even born (“Both Vaccinated and Unvaccinated”). It also is important to mention that there are also many children that have not been vaccinated, yet are still on the autism spectrum. If vaccines are what cause autism, then why are unvaccinated children on the autism spectrum? Vaccinations have, and will continue to be, the best and most effective way to help immunize millions of people. The most effective way to get as many people to be vaccinated is through mandating it through public education, as it already has been and should continue to be. Because of that, there have been so many people saved from possible infection. The opposition to vaccines in the form of vaccines causing autism has been disproven and is a completely irrelevant argument. Not only should vaccines be mandated in public schools, they should be mandated in all schools across the United States.