Vaccinations
By Nina Laville
Parents should be required to vaccinate their children.
Parents should be required to vaccinate their children. First, the virus is more dangerous than the vaccine. Second, without the vaccination there could be a measles comeback. Third, without taking the vaccination it puts communities in danger. Fourth, they develop herd immunity. Also, without vaccinations, disease rates are rising. Finally, most parents don't have a good reason for vaccinating their children. These reasons all point to the side that vaccinations should be required for every child or else everyone is in danger.
Reasons why
- The Virus is more dangerous than the vaccine. "With measles, there is no question: The virus is the danger"(Siegel).
- Without the vaccination there could be a measles comeback. "The frequency of complications and the extreme contagiousness are why public-health officials are terrified of a measles comeback" (Siegel).
- Without it, it puts communities in danger. "The percentage of kindergarteners who weren't vaccinated last year because their parents don't like the idea of immunization reached more than 14%, well above the level considered safe to keep kindergarteners more protected from the disease"(Los Angeles Times).
- Vaccinations develop herd immunity. "Herd immunity played an important role in the successful eradication of smallpox, and it is vital in preventing diseases such as polio and measles" (Britannica).
- Without vaccinations, disease rates are rising. "In the first half of 2012, Washington suffered 2,520 cases of whooping cough, a 1,300% increase from the previous year and the largest outbreak in the state since 1942" (Offit).
- Most parents don't have a good reason for not vaccinating their children. "More than 13,000 parents nationwide claimed on forms that vaccinating their children from preventable diseases like measles violated their 'personal beliefs" (Siegel).
Opposing reasons
Children can get sick from vaccinations.
"The child then landed in the hospital with what appeared to be whooping cough after his next round of vaccinations" (Foxhall).
Parents should be able to decide.
"Parents love and want what is best for their children" (Perry).
They don't always work.
Jeffrey Singer said, "Not everyone who is vaccinated against a microbe develops immunity to that microbe" (Welch).
Summary of vaccinations
Vaccinations have been a controversial topic for a while. Some think they should be used on every child while others think differently. Vaccinations are used to make the body immune to a pathogen, or virus. They look similar to a shot and people receive it at a very young age. Some parents worry that vaccinations aren't safe, while others think that without vaccinations there could be a measles comeback.