Mandatory Vaccination Pros And Cons

Mandatory Vaccinations: An Ongoing Debate
The potential side effects of vaccinations are considerably low compared to the potential risk of outbreak among the population if not vaccinated. Therefore, for the safety of the population immunizations should be mandatory for all children and adults. It has been proven that the safety and effectiveness of immunization and vaccines protect children and adults from infectious diseases.
Ever since vaccines for diseases like diphtheria and measles were introduced in the twentieth century, the number of deaths related to these diseases decreased by more than 500 percent. (McMahon-Pratt, 2005). Death rates from the pertussis (whooping cough) declined from 12,000 deaths per year in 1905 to less than 1,000
deaths per year in 1950 – 12 times less. Since the vaccine was introduced and popularized, the number of deaths decreased to less than 50 per year, which means the vaccine does help prevent pertussis-caused deaths .Therefore, health care specialists do have their reasons to conclude that “low disease rates have been attained through high rates of immunization” (Ring, 2002).
There has been much controversy over the ethics, effectiveness, and safety of immunizations. It has been argued numerous times whether laws should be introduced that render some or all vaccines obligatory for everyone. It is surprising how much reassurance that is needed to be made, to people about their safety and benefits of immunizations, this is due to the success of immunization programs; as the diseases become uncommon in the public; it increasingly turns its attention to the rare risks of the vaccines. (Cooper, 2008),
Recently, there has been controversy about the deaths caused by low-quality vaccines or improper vaccination process, as well as the spread of many allergies and chronic predispositions to certain medication, as a result of individual body response to vaccination. These are the risks that, unfortunately, cannot always be foreseen and avoided. Due to these low risk and lack of education about vaccinations there are people who are against vaccinations. In light of all the argument presented above, it is important to make vaccinations mandatory. People who do decide to take a risk and not vaccinate, have to still be alerted that they face the risk of getting infected simply because another person, has not been vaccinated against the disease. There is always a risk of getting infected. Unvaccinated population is at an increased risk of acquiring and transmitting vaccine-preventable diseases. Most side effects from vaccination are mild, such as soreness, swelling, or redness at the injection site. Some vaccines are associated with fever, rash, and achiness. Serious side effects are rare, but may include life-threatening allergic reaction or seizure.(CDC) The primary importance of vaccination is its direct impact on the quality and duration of the life of every citizen; exposing anybody to an unjustified risk of being infected by vaccine-preventable diseases is simply inhumane.
Throughout history, disease has struck time and time again.
Outbreaks have come and gone, and always came back again. Countries were overcome with illness at times and lives were lost due to lack of medical knowledge and research. Once vaccinations were discovered, diseases they treated were stopped dead in their tracks. It is possible for another outbreak. Some disease can be completely stopped; but not unless 100% of the population is vaccinated against them. The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (April 2001) explains "Herd immunity, the concept of decreased infection in susceptible individuals as a result of vaccination among household or community contacts, is generally thought to have a positive effect on the public health. Because of herd immunity, the incidence of several vaccine-preventable illnesses has dropped precipitously even though significantly less than 100% of the eligible population has been immunized." (Taylor,
2001)
Currently, all states in the US require documentation of vaccination for school entrance.
Many states also have laws requiring vaccination for licensed day care and college. Some states specify which vaccines and how many doses are required in the law itself, while there are many benefits to state requirements for vaccination but there are limitations to what they can achieve. Each state has different exemption laws such a religious or philosophical exemption. Some states do not require strong proof or documentation. The lose laws make it easily for parents to falsely use exemptions to avoid having their children and themselves vaccinated. In turn, causes a risk to many people in that state. We see high outbreaks of preventable diseases in states that have these lose laws. This makes many people believe that the government needs to step in and make mandatory
laws.
If the United States make vaccinations mandatory it would be for the best intentions. No one wants to die from a preventable disease. The government has a right to mandate vaccination for the overall health of the population. When a disease is thought to have a need for universal vaccinations they are put into effect to save lives and prevent the huge economic loss caused by contagious disease. When diseases are spread, the economy is effected, and the more serious the disease, the more serious its effects on the nations productivity. A disease can take over without warning and destroy a community in more ways than health. Vaccinations are much less expensive than most treatments, and less painful with less risk of permanent side effect. This is something we need to consider for the future of our country .Vaccinations should be mandated as soon as they are readily available to prevent the world from a massacre. Mandatory vaccinations should be instated when a disease is a potential threat to the health and well-being of a country.
The vast majority of people who are leery of vaccinating their kids are simply confused because they’ve been given bad information and not properly educated on vaccinations. It’s a moral and civic issue. The United States is incredibly privileged to have access to vaccines. In many places around the world, people don’t have easy access to them; our privilege confers responsibility as well. We live in a society, where our actions have consequences for others. It’s our responsibility to protect our children and our neighbors, by making vaccines mandatory.

Work Cited
McMahon-Pratt, Diane. TLR1/2 activation during heterologous prime-boost vaccination (DNA-MVA) enhances CD8+ T Cell responses providing protection against Leishmania (Viannia) (2005). Yale University School of Public Health. Ring, Mary. Disease and Vaccines: Relation (2002). The Seattle Write-Up.
National Center for Immunization and Respiratory, Diseases Center for disease and control www.cdc.gov
James A. Taylor. MD Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2001;