Herd Immunity Argumentative Essay

Our population is continuously growing, with newborn children being greeted into the world every day. Unfortunately, these greetings are short lived as micro bacteria and viruses plague every surrounding corner, with the potential to infect every newborn in its path with life-threatening illnesses. Vaccines are used to combat these unnecessary micro-organisms by using immunization chemicals to adjust the newborn's immune system. The first vaccine originated in 1797 for the smallpox virus that stole the lives of nearly 300 million people. Gradually vaccines have become an everyday system where even children around the age of two, commonly have 23 vaccination shots in order to combat severe bacterial infections such as the measles or Hepatitis
In the theory of herd immunity is it suggested that if a large group of citizens have immunization shots, some diseases will be eradicated, which allows those who cannot obtain vaccination shots, such as cancer patients or young children, to benefit. However, if several people do not obtain their vaccination shots, Herd Immunity does not exist, and diseases can begin to spread. An example of the failure of a society not obtaining Herd Immunity could be considered the Indiana measles outbreak in 2005. The outbreak was do to the unvaccinated 17 year old girl who had recently returned from a mission trip in Romania, where she “unknowingly” contracted the measles virus. Undeterred by the predominant symptoms she had contracted, she willingly went to a church study, where several other unvaccinated children also attended. Due to the large decrease of receiving vaccinations in that society the standard Herd Immunity was offset and unbalanced. This resulted in one of the largest measles outbreaks in America since 1996. Yet, people still avoid their vaccines and threaten dangerous outbreaks such as