Mandatory Vaccination Research Paper
Imagine a world without disease. A world where vaccinations were no longer advertised at doctor’s offices because there were no diseases to prevent. This type of world may one day be possible if vaccinations were completely mandatory. Vaccines should be completely mandatory because people who willingly decline vaccines are a danger to public health, dangerous diseases are still present, and it is possible to wipe out preventable diseases with 100% vaccination.
The people who willingly decline vaccines are not only a danger to themselves but to public health. Vaccines work by their recipients gaining immunity to a virus through their body defeating the weakened dead virus or replicated virus delivered through their vaccination shot. Vaccines are designed to provide protection of diseases to the recipient as well as others. This is called “Herd Immunity” (Adashek 1), meaning that every healthy person receives …show more content…
vaccines, reducing the exposure of ill people to vaccine preventable diseases. Some people are not able to receive vaccinations due to health issues, and depend on herd immunity to avoid contact with vaccine preventable diseases. Once people decide to not vaccinate, herd immunity is compromised and affects the people who are not able to receive vaccines of their own (Adashek 1). The people who decide to not vaccinate may also find themselves contracting dangerous diseases that could have been easily prevented if they had been vaccinated Dangerous diseases are still present in the world.
Their cases may be rare, but when they occur news coverage will swarm over the case. Without vaccination a disease such as polio can spread through a simple sneeze. The United States has been polio free for a while, yet “It would only take one traveler with polio from another country to bring polio back to the United States” (“Polio and the Vaccine” 1). Many diseases in the United States that are quite dangerous are preventable through childhood vaccinations. These can sometimes be rare or not present at all. However these diseases are passed on to new victims through hosts that are not vaccinated, bringing up a valid reason to have max participation in vaccinating every healthy person. If the majority of the population took up the mindset that since these diseases were so rare they did not need to vaccinate anymore, a rise in the number of preventable diseases will be inevitable. If 100% of people received all possible vaccinations, the world wouldn’t need to worry about most of the dangerous
diseases.
Some Preventable diseases could be wiped out if the world’s population was in complete compliance with receiving 100% of the vaccinations needed. Parents would not have to worry about their children going to school with unvaccinated children. “Elimination of deadly diseases can be prevented successfully through immunization or vaccination” (Chakravarthi et al). The reason that the vaccine preventable diseases are still affecting people is because not all candidates for vaccines are receiving them. This in turn produces hosts for the diseases to replicate in. If it is so simple to eradicate these diseases, why are they still around?
Not all people are eager to receive all their vaccinations for many reasons. Some people are concerned over the possible side effects the vaccinations may cause. An example of this being that the vaccine will cause the child to develop the illness. These stem from a misunderstanding of how vaccines work and are created. A common misconception is that the common reaction from an inactivated flu vaccine is from the recipient developing the flu. The reaction can be mild from irritation at the injection site to fever. The flu vaccine is a weakened flu strand, and will cause the immune system to react and develop immunities. Despite the risk of the recipient not feeling well, the actual flu is by far much worse. Complications of a person developing the flu can range from hospitalization to death. (“Flu vaccine for Preteens”1).
Another concern that people against receiving vaccines have is why should they be vaccinated against diseases that are so rare they are barely seen in the United States. The belief here is that since these are so rare the likelihood of them being infected with this disease is very low (Fine et al 914). This is a dangerous notion; since the reason people are still vaccinated for these diseases are because they still exist. If all people in the United States decided together they would cease receiving the polio vaccine, we would once again have polio outbreak. This is despite the fact no cases have been seen in the past twenty-year in the United States (Fine et al 912). The United States has visitors from many countries, and nothing is stopping these visitors from carrying diseases. If an unvaccinated person decides to travel, nothing will protect them from these preventable diseases unless they are vaccinated.
The push for mandatory vaccination is one of the strongest defenses for a healthy population available right now. A quick look into the number of deaths in the past compared to now from an easily preventable disease such as polio (McFee 1) shows that preventative medicine is headed in the right direction. For the population to decide to cease use of vaccinations would be reversing the advances made in medicine. With 100% compliance to vaccinations from people opposing vaccines, herd immunity would be restored, dangerous diseases would be eradicated and the use of vaccines would no longer be needed with the total eradication of vaccine preventable diseases. There is no place for preventable diseases in 21st century medicine.
The people who willingly decline vaccines are not only a danger to themselves but to public health. Vaccines work by their recipients gaining immunity to a virus through their body defeating the weakened dead virus or replicated virus delivered through their vaccination shot. Vaccines are designed to provide protection of diseases to the recipient as well as others. This is called “Herd Immunity” (Adashek 1), meaning that every healthy person receives …show more content…
vaccines, reducing the exposure of ill people to vaccine preventable diseases. Some people are not able to receive vaccinations due to health issues, and depend on herd immunity to avoid contact with vaccine preventable diseases. Once people decide to not vaccinate, herd immunity is compromised and affects the people who are not able to receive vaccines of their own (Adashek 1). The people who decide to not vaccinate may also find themselves contracting dangerous diseases that could have been easily prevented if they had been vaccinated Dangerous diseases are still present in the world.
Their cases may be rare, but when they occur news coverage will swarm over the case. Without vaccination a disease such as polio can spread through a simple sneeze. The United States has been polio free for a while, yet “It would only take one traveler with polio from another country to bring polio back to the United States” (“Polio and the Vaccine” 1). Many diseases in the United States that are quite dangerous are preventable through childhood vaccinations. These can sometimes be rare or not present at all. However these diseases are passed on to new victims through hosts that are not vaccinated, bringing up a valid reason to have max participation in vaccinating every healthy person. If the majority of the population took up the mindset that since these diseases were so rare they did not need to vaccinate anymore, a rise in the number of preventable diseases will be inevitable. If 100% of people received all possible vaccinations, the world wouldn’t need to worry about most of the dangerous
diseases.
Some Preventable diseases could be wiped out if the world’s population was in complete compliance with receiving 100% of the vaccinations needed. Parents would not have to worry about their children going to school with unvaccinated children. “Elimination of deadly diseases can be prevented successfully through immunization or vaccination” (Chakravarthi et al). The reason that the vaccine preventable diseases are still affecting people is because not all candidates for vaccines are receiving them. This in turn produces hosts for the diseases to replicate in. If it is so simple to eradicate these diseases, why are they still around?
Not all people are eager to receive all their vaccinations for many reasons. Some people are concerned over the possible side effects the vaccinations may cause. An example of this being that the vaccine will cause the child to develop the illness. These stem from a misunderstanding of how vaccines work and are created. A common misconception is that the common reaction from an inactivated flu vaccine is from the recipient developing the flu. The reaction can be mild from irritation at the injection site to fever. The flu vaccine is a weakened flu strand, and will cause the immune system to react and develop immunities. Despite the risk of the recipient not feeling well, the actual flu is by far much worse. Complications of a person developing the flu can range from hospitalization to death. (“Flu vaccine for Preteens”1).
Another concern that people against receiving vaccines have is why should they be vaccinated against diseases that are so rare they are barely seen in the United States. The belief here is that since these are so rare the likelihood of them being infected with this disease is very low (Fine et al 914). This is a dangerous notion; since the reason people are still vaccinated for these diseases are because they still exist. If all people in the United States decided together they would cease receiving the polio vaccine, we would once again have polio outbreak. This is despite the fact no cases have been seen in the past twenty-year in the United States (Fine et al 912). The United States has visitors from many countries, and nothing is stopping these visitors from carrying diseases. If an unvaccinated person decides to travel, nothing will protect them from these preventable diseases unless they are vaccinated.
The push for mandatory vaccination is one of the strongest defenses for a healthy population available right now. A quick look into the number of deaths in the past compared to now from an easily preventable disease such as polio (McFee 1) shows that preventative medicine is headed in the right direction. For the population to decide to cease use of vaccinations would be reversing the advances made in medicine. With 100% compliance to vaccinations from people opposing vaccines, herd immunity would be restored, dangerous diseases would be eradicated and the use of vaccines would no longer be needed with the total eradication of vaccine preventable diseases. There is no place for preventable diseases in 21st century medicine.