Ever since I was little, I always thought that getting vaccinations were mandatory. I thought that they helped to prevent children from getting sick throughout the years. But, in recent years, vaccinations have become a huge controversy for parents across the world. There has been some people say that vaccinations cause autism spectrum disorder or that the illness that the vaccination is for is not very serious. Some parents believe that vaccinations should still be mandatory for every child, yet some, believe that it should be optional and that they have the ultimate decision whether to vaccinate their child or not. I think that when deciding if vaccinations should be mandatory or not, we first need to consider the background of vaccinations and how the medical history of vaccinations have advanced over the past years.
Vaccinations and immunizations has been one of the most significant advances in medical history (Flanders 2000). Even in the early twentieth century, when vaccinations were first being introduced, they had an immunization for small pox and even some polio cases. Which before they discovered a vaccination polio, it was considered a huge threat to public health. The vaccination for polio was a revelation for many people across the United States. In the Washington Post, a woman stated that “when the news was broadcast that Salk had created a polio vaccine, church bells started ringing across the country, factories stopped for moments of silence” (Vaccines 2016). Over the years, they have advanced the vaccination for measles, mumps, and the flu. Although cases, such as polio, did help prevent the disease, there were some cases over the past years that did cause the patient to develop polio. But, even though there was a couple outbreaks due to getting the vaccination, polio has been eliminated since the 20th century. Since vaccinations have been invented, many of the cases have decreased over the past years. Since the advance of medicine in the recent years, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been able to protect citizens against a variety of illnesses and save the lives of many children and adults. As vaccinations medical history has grown, so has the ethical concerns of the parents.
Although there are many ethical concerns about vaccinations, the most common ethical concern is that vaccinations cause autism spectrum disorder. A reason that many parents believes that vaccinations because autism is because when a child is of age to get their vaccinations, it is at that age when the autism spectrum disorder is able to be detected. Children get vaccinated around two years old, but, specialist can tell if they have the autism spectrum disorder at a younger age. The vaccine that parents are claiming that could cause the autism spectrum disorder is the MMR vaccine, which is effective at preventing measles, mumps, and rubella. Back in 1997, there were some cases of children developing the autism spectrum disorder following exposure to many cased to the measles mumps rubella vaccine (Wakefield 2014). There have been many studies done with children with the measles mumps and rubella vaccination and some without the vaccination, and the evidence showed that neither the group vaccinated nor the group without the vaccination was more likely to develop the autism spectrum disorder (Evidence 2014). Although there have been many studies done about the connection between autism and vaccinations, there is no evidence that vaccinations indeed cause autism. The causes of autism are still questioned, but vaccinations are not a contributor to the autism spectrum disorder as many people are claiming. As parents are considering these ethical considerations with vaccinations, they are also looking at the pros and cons of having their child vaccinated.
Although some parents see many downfalls and risks to getting their child vaccinated, there are many reasons why all parents should at least consider vaccinations. One of the biggest reasons to consider getting a child vaccinated is so they are protected by many diseases and potential outbreaks. There is a chance that the United States could experience a resurgence of diseases that have been drastically or entirely curbed domestically, but are still endemic in other parts of the world (Stimola 2005). One example that could resurge in the United States is the whooping cough. Although this disease has decreased in recent years, if some parents opt out of having their child vaccinated, it could contribute to spreading an endemic from other parts of the world. Getting children vaccinated could protect the people of the United States from this potentially outbreak. Another thing to consider is that if a child gets a vaccination, their parents will be saving money. When a child gets a vaccination, it can prevent them from getting sick and going to the doctor and having to spend money on prescriptions. Vaccinations have also diminished diseases like smallpox and polio. Children are not having to get vaccinated for small pox and polio anymore because the disease is not present anymore due to vaccinations. Small pox and polio were some of the worst diseases in the United States years ago. They both killed thousands of people. But, since there have been vaccinations for both, they have diminished and now do not exist. The most common reason parents should vaccinate their children is because it could potentially save their life. Measles, the mumps, and the flu have caused deaths in the United States for years. But, since vaccinations for these diseases have been developed, it has saved millions of lives. Although this is just some of the benefits of vaccinating children, there are many more reasons to get vaccinated. But, for every benefit to getting vaccinated, there are also some risks to consider before you decide if vaccinations are for your child.
One downfall to vaccines is that parents will not know exactly what all is put into the vaccine or what they contain, which could be harmful in some ways. Many vaccines still contain traces of mercury, which is a dangerous additive. The new HPV vaccine, or the human papillomavirus vaccine, contains particles of sexually transmitted viruses which are now being injected into an entire generation of young girls (Miller 2013). Another reason vaccines might be questioned is that some vaccines have serious side effects. When I got the flu shot a couple years back, I got a side effect of the flu. Although it wasn’t a serious side effect, I still got pretty sick for a week. Some people also believe that if a disease that has decreased over the years, or that has completely diminished all together, there should not be a reason to get a vaccine for that particular disease. If the disease isn’t present anymore, then there should not be a reason to spend money on a vaccination that is not needed.