Child Immunizations

The topic I have chosen to write about for the rest of the semester is the issue whether or not children should be vaccinated. I believe that all children should be immunized no matter what their parents say. Obviously, there are many reasons people should be vaccinated, but the obvious one is so they are less likely to contract a life-threatening disease. The benefits of a vaccination greatly outweigh the small risks of having a tiny needle stuck in you for around a second. It seems like more and more parents are saying no to getting their child immunized and I think it is because they are just not educated enough on how important they are. The United States has worked very hard to get herd immunity in most places, but once a significant number of children stop getting vaccinated then we will lose this immunity and old diseases will start coming back and harming a lot of people. The side effects of a vaccine are very mild and usually don’t harm the child at all; however, if the child does not get immunized they could get an awful disease that could potentially take their life. I know that mothers want what is best for their child so it would make sense for them to have their children immunized.

The action I’m calling for is for parents to vaccinate their children. I believe that it should be mandatory for every child so that we can keep our herd immunization. There are countless diseases that could be completely prevented by instilling mandatory vaccinations such as small pox, tuberculosis, whooping cough, and many others. By simply requiring all children to receive vaccinations, much disease and hardship could easily be avoided. The problem remains with the cost of the vaccinations. There needs to be an affordable way for all people to be able to vaccinate their children without worrying about the financial toll it will take on every other aspect of their lives. The health of upcoming generations should be one of the most important things that we are looking after in the world today. We need to ensure that we are always taking a step forward in medicine and learning from our mistakes and advancements in the past. By simply mandating vaccines, we can ensure that the future generation will not have to go through the same pain that previous generations had to go through. We know how to prevent certain diseases, and it should be required for all children to get vaccines to prevent them.