Mady

Atkinson
Section 007
Issue Paper

Vaccinations

Vaccinations are seen to be one of the greatest health developments of the

20th century. Immunizations have saved millions of lives and prevented a great
amount of disease in the United States over the past 50 years. A rising number of
parents are refusing to give their children the required immunizations, because they
dont think they are safe and many are worried about side effects they may cause.
The two opposing view regarding vaccinations are; immunizations should remain
mandatory for all children or they shouldnt be mandatory and parents should be
able to choose.

Vaccines should remain mandatory for all children, and state laws regarding

vaccines should be even more enforced than they already are. 80 to 90 percent of a
communitys population needs to have been vaccinated in order for it to be fully
protected against disease. This is known as herd immunity. More and more
children are not being immunized which causes the percentage to fall below 80,
making our community more susceptible to the harmful diseases. There have been
recent outbreaks of serious diseases that vaccines had basically wiped out in the
United States. One began in Disneyland late last year. 159 children across 18 states

were diagnosed with measles. Measles is a disease the government had declared
eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. Vaccinations are essential to protecting the herd.

Should we really be injecting healthy kids with all these things? Children now

get twice as many vaccines as they did in 1980. Most babies receive up to 20
injections before turning one. The increased number of vaccines could be the blame
for the increasing number of children with autism. A British gastroenterologist,
Andrew Wakefield, published a study of 12 children that linked the measles, mumps,
and rubella combination vaccine with intestinal problems that he believed led to
autism. Vaccines can cause serious and sometimes fatal side effects due to some of
the harmful ingredients in them. The government should not be involved with
personal medical choices. Parents/caregivers should be completely in charge of
medical decisions for their children.

In concluding, I personally think vaccinations should remain mandatory.

Immunizations are a major success story, saving millions of lives and basically
eliminating deadly diseases. Andrew Wakefields article was later found to be
fraudulent and his medical license was taken away. There have been at least 7 major
medical studies that have shown no association between vaccines and autism. With
that being said, I dont believe immunizations can cause autism. Although, there
have been quite a few cases regarding harmful side effects from them, which we
should always be cautious about. Most doctors say that the odds of experiencing a
vaccine-related side effect are greatly outweighed by catching a vaccine-preventable
disease. All in all, Im thankful we have immunizations for protecting us from

harmful disease, and I believe they are essential in keeping our country healthy as a
whole.

References:

www.parents.com/health/vaccines

www.ibtimes.com/vaccination-controversy-no-autism-mmr-vaccine

www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/vfc