Rivera 1

Jose Rivera Mrs. McBeth-Smith English 1010 28 April 2014 Vaccinating Children: Should It Be Mandatory?

Introduction Despite of what all the media has been saying about vaccination and how people should have a choice in vaccination children, vaccination should mandatory for all children. It is important and there are a lot of reasons why someone should be vaccinated. Many parents believe that immunizing their child would hurt him or her. While others believe that immunization benefits not only the child, but also the people in the surrounding community. Since the time of its development in 1796, it has protected the human population from the measles, smallpox, polio, rubella, and even the seasonal influenza virus. It is no wonder that health professionals always recommend parents to get their child, or anyone, vaccinated at the appropriate time. But what really is in a vaccination that prevents someone from getting a virus? First of all, we need to understand what a virus is capable of doing to our bodies. We will start with a common question, what is a virus? Viruses are not cells. They are pieces of deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA that are incapable of doing anything on their own without a host. That is why viruses attack living cells. Knowing more about the virus can help us find cures for viral related diseases.

Rivera 2

How do vaccinations work? Because viruses cannot do anything on their own, they need a living host in order to reproduce. The way a virus works in a living organism is by attacking the host. Therefore the host releases antibodies that can kill or weaken the virus. At that viral stage, the vaccine is made then injected into the person receiving the vaccination. Because the virus has been killed or weakened, it will no longer harm the person receiving it. Keeping in mind that the person who received the vaccine will trigger an immune response and will send out antibodies that will fight the virus. The antibodies will recognize the virus at later events and will fight it off quicker if the person was ever exposed again. That is why a person can only get measles, mumps, or chicken pox once in their lives because their immune system already knows how to eliminate the virus.

How Vaccinations Are Made. The host that the virus is growing in can vary. In 1796, people have discovered a smallpox-like illness in cows; they named the illness, cowpox. They noticed that the cowpox virus had the same structure as the smallpox so they vaccinated people with the weak or dead cowpox virus to prevent smallpox. Today, modern techniques and technology has shown that vaccines created in different species of animals can transmit harmful diseases to humans. What type of host do we use to nurture these viruses then? Since we cannot use adult humans as viral farms, pharmaceuticals use aborted human fetuses to grow viruses like polio, mumps and rubella (Mercola, 2011).

Rivera 3

Community Issues For many years we have been developing many types of medical supplements that can prevent us from getting various types of illnesses. One of the most common illnesses in the United States, sometimes called the last large plague of mankind (Ryan 2012) is the influenza virus or the flu virus. But who are the majority of people that are most likely able to get the virus yearlong? The elderly have commonly been the sickest majority of all groups because of their poor immune response to the virus. The health public officials has focused on immunizing the elderly because of the epidemic crisis. However, the health public officials should focus more on vaccinating the children of the community. Because of their vast curiosity, children are everywhere and they could catch anything that could trigger their immune response. Most of the time, their immune system can get rid of the foreign invader, while other times they are not so lucky and become sick. Moreover, children also come in contact with older people whose immune system have declined over the years. A theory is conducted by Kathleen Ryan, an associate professor in the University of Florida's department of pediatrics and a member of the Emerging Pathogens Institute, which states that if all children were to be immunized with the influenza vaccination, then the elderly would have less likely chance of getting the virus. A study was conducted in Japan in 1957 where the school systems were to have all children mandatorily immunized due to the reports of flu-related deaths throughout the country. The study lasted for about ten years. After the study, they noticed that the ratio of flu-related death fell by half. During their research, they have conducted a theory that for every 420 schoolchildren immunized, one life was saved, predominantly among the elderly (Ryan 2012).

Rivera 4

Immunizing a child could potentially save the lives of millions of people, especially people with a weak immune system.

The Spread Among Others Many parent choose not to vaccinate their children due to religious or philosophical reasons. However, children who miss their recommended vaccinations at the appropriate time are 28 times more likely to developing whooping cough (Children Who Miss Vaccinations, 2013). The appropriate time being is at the age of two years old. Whooping cough is a serious threat to society because it is a highly contagious bacterial disease that causes shortness of breath. In 2012, there has been over 41,000 cases of the bacterial disease that have been reported by the US Center for Disease Control. Roughly around 30 percent of the children have not been vaccinated whooping cough because of parental refusal (Children Who Miss Vaccinations, 2013). For years, the United States has ordered all schools to immunize their students. However, the schools have the option bypass the immunization due to the personal beliefs of their parents. Children in schools and daycares can be effected by these types of disease when at least one child has not been immunized. Children under the age of two would be exposed to serious illness because they are too young to receive the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccination.

Religious and Philosophical Excuses? One of the greatest excuses for refusing to vaccinate their children is religion. After researching about religion, Anthony Ciolli, a graduated from law and medical school in the

Rivera 5

University of Pennsylvania, states that the majority of religions do not prohibit the use of vaccinations. However the other religions, for example smaller religions like the Amish and the Christian Scientist, which do prohibit vaccinations have been the source of many preventable disease outbreaks in recent years. The situation among non-religious philosophical beliefs is just as bad as religious outcomes. People who believe in philosophical beliefs and natural well-being do not believe that vaccinations have any effect on the body and could harm us instead. They also may not trust pharmaceutical companies and believe that they are feeling us lies. Little do they know that they too are the cause of viral disease outbreaks in the United States. In fact, viral diseases impose about $10 million worth of healthcare cost and 30,000 deaths in America each year (Ciolli 2008).

Conclusion Despite of how they are made, I still believe that vaccination should be mandatory. If they were, then the United States would not have to spend $10 billion on healthcare costs nor deal with 30,000 preventable viral-related deaths. Vaccinations can help us, the elderly, and people with weak immune systems from getting ill. People who say that their religion or philosophical beliefs are preventing them from getting a vaccination should reconsider the facts and overlook at the numbers of deaths related to viruses that should have been prevented. We should conduct the same test that the Japanese made and see if it works in the United States. If it does, then we would see a safer environment for everyone and even may not see any outbreaks of measles, polio, rubella, viruses in America.

Rivera 6

Work Cited
Ciolli, Anthony. "Mandatory School Vaccinations: The Role of Tort Law." National Center for Biotechnology Information. National Library of Medicine, 1 Sept. 2008. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. Caplan, Arthur L., et al. "Free To Choose But Liable For The Consequences: Should Non-Vaccinators Be Penalized For The Harm They Do?." Journal Of Law, Medicine & Ethics 40.3 (2012): 606-611. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Apr. 2014 "Children Who Miss Vaccinations At Increased Risk For Whooping Cough." Formulary 48.10 (2013): 316. Business Source Premier. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. Mercola, Joseph, Dr. "Human DNA in Vaccines Linked to Autism, Vaccine Dangers." Mercola.com. Mercola RSS, 10 July 2011. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. Ryan, Kathleen A. "Target The Super-Spreaders." Scientific American 307.4 (2012): 14. Health Source - Consumer Edition. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.