Introduction
Vaccines can be considered as wonders of medicine. This discovery has become successful throughout the years in fighting against certain diseases which potentially harm the future of the world, the children. As of now, scientists and doctors continue to create more and more vaccines to protect the health of the children as there are new strains of viruses and bacteria that are surfacing. As a response, it is a requirement that children should comply with taking the mandatory vaccines.
Public health is a top priority of local governments in United States. To protect the health and safety of the people against communicable diseases, legislators enacted laws that provide the necessary health care of the people. Such laws include the use of health measures such as quarantine, isolation and mandatory vaccines (Cole & Swendiman, 2014).
The development of the first vaccines occurred in the nineteenth century, when it was developed to fight against smallpox. Jacobson pioneered the enactment of law which requires all the people to be treated with mandatory vaccines with the purpose to protect the public health against the then-deadly small pox (Cole & Swendiman, 2014). Though questions were raised concerning the rights of every person to be free in maintaining their own health, mandatory vaccines are still reasonable because of its intended purpose to provide public health safety (Cole & Swendiman, 2014).
Body
There are several reasons as to why mandatory vaccine should be required to all children. Vaccines’ efficiency reaches to a minimum of 90% in terms of preventing common child diseases (ProCon.org, 2016). This only means that children, whose age is one of the most prone to acquire diseases, will be saved from acquiring diseases. According to statistics, due to the efficiency of the vaccines, almost 300 children are being saved every hour (ProCon.org, 2016). Note the numbers, because based from this, it can be inferred that children are easy to catch diseases and with vaccination, their lives would not be wasted. In addition, the vaccines are long term protection, so the parents will not have to worry for the children’s future in relation with acquiring certain diseases. It is because the principle behind the effectiveness of vaccines is that they alter our immune systems to produce antibodies, the substances responsible for fighting diseases (How Vaccines Work, 2014). When vaccine is applied, the body will immediately gain active immunity against the disease in which the vaccine is intended to. As a result, children will not have to worry about being affected by communicable diseases because vaccines can easily recognize these diseases, and will produce antibodies to counteract the negative effects of these diseases (How Vaccines Work, 2014).
Parents do not need to worry about the ingredients used in making children vaccines. Potentially harmful chemicals such as mercury and formaldehyde are not included in the ingredients (ProCon.org, 2016). It is contradictory on the belief that vaccines contain such chemicals, but in actuality, it is not. Children vaccines are made especially for ages ten and below, and the reason on why it is safe to take is that the ingredients are free from harmful chemicals to prevent other side effects (ProCon.org, 2016). Besides, vaccines that are distributed in the market or in public hospitals are clinically tested first before being sent for usage. This means that parents will not have to worry as the government assures that the quality of the vaccines is high even if they are given for free. Note that the government that presides over the testing of vaccines are the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which are both authorities when it comes to disease prevention and food quality control.
Also, if the parents are worrying about the expenses to provide the vaccines needed, they must not be. The only thing they need to do is to prepare for the disease in advance. It means that parents should get their children vaccinated for as early as possible. Vaccines cost only for about $200 per shot, and if the parents cannot afford such price, they can go to public hospitals and provide the necessary documents so that their children will be granted vaccines for free (ProCon.org, 2016). After all, laws are issued not only in United States, but also in other parts of the world where vaccines are given for free. In addition, several government and non-government movements and organizations are providing free vaccination from time to time, and people should take advantage of those opportunities. People do not need to worry about the safety of those who provide free vaccination. As stated earlier, vaccinations are only released if they passed the standards and they are safe enough to be consumed by the children. Parents do not need to worry about the resources; they just need to keep updated with government programs or availability of vaccines in public hospital. Government always promotes public health safety, so it will initiate program regularly to attain this goal, and surely, they will be ready to provide vaccines in extremely worst situations.
Conclusion
Vaccines are significant contributions in the medicine world (Fineberg, 2005), so why not make use of it? With the severity of diseases especially to the young ones, an individual without health protection will more likely to contact communicable disease accidentally as daily activities are being done. Children are no exception to this, because they are curious about their surroundings and they might end up getting illness as they tend to touch everything they wanted to. So, for the parents to stop worrying about letting the children play outside, they must provide their children complete vaccination. This will not only ensure the children’s safety against illnesses, but also this will let them enjoy their childhood as they can play without anything to worry about.
References
Cole, J. P., & Swendiman, K. S. (2014). Mandatory Vaccinations: Precedent and Current Laws. Congressional Research Service.
Fineberg, H. (2005). We Must Not Lose the Wonders of Vaccination. Medscape General Medicine, 7(3), 53.
How Vaccines Work. (2014). Retrieved February 07, 2016, from http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/pages/how-vaccines-work.aspx
Should Any Vaccines Be Required for Children? (2016). Retrieved February 07, 2016, from http://vaccines.procon.org/
