A Few Shots for Years of Deadly Disease Prevention
As a kid, I grew up hating shots just as much as the next kid. Well technically I still hate shots, but who doesn’t? At the time nothing seemed like it was worth the one second of pain. It was merely something my parents made me do and I was always taught parents know best. I guess because of these things I never really thought about what the shots were for or why I was getting them. Once I became a little older and learned about what vaccinations are for, I still didn’t think twice about getting my shots. They are doctor and parent recommended and they saved people’s lives. Seemed pretty straightforward to me. Why would anyone even question getting vaccinated?
We all know that in today’s political climate there can be a lot of debate and controversy over the government’s role in practically any social issue. Recently, the dispute revolving around a variety of personal health issues has risen in popularity, including mandatory child vaccinations. Everywhere you look on social media people are posting questions to which there is no right answer. Where does the government need to draw the line with involvement in family health decisions? How much say should parents have in denying their children “life-saving” medication?
Shouldn’t people really be asking what the best decision is based on the facts, before just judging all of the opinions?
In 1855, Massachusetts became the first state to pass a US state law mandating vaccinations for school children. Currently, there is no US federal law requiring vaccines for kids, but all 50 states require certain vaccines in order for children to attend public schools. Although children can be barred from public schools for not following vaccination requirements, most states have medical and religious exceptions. If a child has severe allergies to a vaccine or its components, or if they have an immune system disorder, they can be exempt from vaccination. An exemption is also applicable if an organized religion prohibits vaccination.
At first, this seemed like an unfair system to me, the idea of depriving kids of a proper education. Then I realized all of the alternative options.
The banning of kids in public schools pushes parents to find private schools or to home school their kids in order to protect the health of thousands of other students. A child who is not vaccinated is a health risk in a public school setting because if there’s an outbreak of any kind of disease, the child can bring it into the environment and possibly spread it to other unvaccinated students. These rules the government loosely put in place are meant to be a safety precaution to protect the mass of people instead of solely the individuals. Although the previous statement sounds discriminatory towards the special cases, it’s not the government’s job to accommodate everyone’s specific needs. If this was the way the already ineffective government ran, then nothing would ever get done due to the sheer number of “exceptions.”
There is no denying the fact that the 16 vaccines currently available to the public have up to a 99% effectiveness rate at preventing the diseases targeted. With this statistic alone, I find it really hard to see why people would opt out of getting vaccinated. There are accounts of a few mild side effects to vaccinations, but severe side effects are considered to be extremely rare. Why risk having your child contract a serious disease and possibly die, because of “mild irritability”? The FDA and many other organizations inspect all aspects of vaccines before they are put on the market and recommended for widespread use. These organizations look into the places the vaccines are made as well as the effectiveness and safety of the medicine. The CDC also monitors the side effects possibly associated with vaccines in order to evaluate the risk of vaccinations on the population.
“Herd” immunization is when a whole community benefits from a vaccinated population once a certain level of immunization is reached. Experts recommend that communities have a vaccine coverage rate of about 90–95% in order to prevent outbreaks. The “herd” immunization idea is becoming more popular among parents who don’t support vaccination, which is, in turn, hurting the effectiveness of “herd” immunization. When more parents opt out of vaccinating their kids, the level of immunization in the population decreases. So basically, when parents get the mentality they don’t need to vaccinate their kids because “everyone else is doing it,” they’re just wrong. Because everyone else is not doing it. If one parent has such a mindset then there’s another parent out there who is following the same philosophy, which leads to fewer and fewer vaccinated kids.
Forbes Magazine published an article January 31, 2019, that states the overall number of vaccinations in this country is decreasing below the recommended vaccination rate and the potential side effect is the re-emergence of diseases that we have long considered a thing of the past. For example, measles cases in the U.S. have almost tripled since last year. In my mind, a shot that can help potentially avoid a widespread outbreak of highly contagious diseases is worth the negligible risk of potential side effects. The consideration is not just one of one person’s own children, but the immediate and long-range effect of unvaccinated kids getting these diseases. If a disease that has been eliminated resurfaces because multiple unvaccinated children get the disease, it increases the risk that the disease mutates, putting even vaccinated kids at risk. Also, as highly contagious diseases spread, the likelihood of the number of deaths increases, potentially turning thousands of deaths into millions. This, in turn, can create panic and fear among the general public along with the lifelong psychological damage from the conditions it creates. It’s not just about the choice of one parent to choose for their child — it’s the potential physical and physiological damage that can come from said choice.
Furthermore, many pediatricians refuse to treat patients who won’t be vaccinated. If a medical professional is denying treatment to a child because of a LACK of medication, don’t you think that medication is important? Pediatricians also stress the fact that the initial vaccinations need to be built on over time with more vaccines, otherwise the immunization effectiveness will decrease.
So, why do parents continue to make these decisions and put their kids at risk, despite what the statistics and highly trained medical professionals say?
People who are against medication tend to lean towards the argument that the medicine contains harmful ingredients and can cause “serious and sometimes fatal side effects.” While they aren’t wrong, medications would not get approved for public use if these issues were a major concern. Think of every commercial for a medicine or a health care product on TV. The narrator’s monotone voice always says the product “can cause serious and sometimes fatal side effects,” yet despite this warning, people continue to buy what is advertised. It’s because those people have decided that dealing with or curing the affliction they have far outweighs the harm that could come from the potential side effects. Vaccines aren’t any different. Yes, they contain ingredients that could possibly be considered harmful, but not in the dosage of the vaccine. Yes, they could cause those “serious and sometimes fatal side effects,” but the amount of casualties is small and the side effects aren’t a certainty. The potential risks associated with vaccines do not outweigh the real benefit they provide to the larger population.
The reality is, people hate government intervention. There’s been a long history of conflicts revolving around government infringements on people’s rights and freedoms, and it’s a conflict that is not any closer to being resolved now. Individuals should be allowed to make their own decisions when it comes to their health since it is their life and body that is being affected. The thing is, that’s not what the government is addressing. It’s not why the government puts the guidelines in place that they do. It’s not their problem. People love to take things personally and look at government intervention as a way the government specifically targets the individuals who disagree with the regulations. The bottom line is, the government needs to look out for the wellbeing of the population as a whole, which is why vaccines are promoted and required for public schools. It’s in the best interest of children as a whole.
Without vaccinations, the diseases that are now eradicated or close to elimination would still be present today. The United States does not have nearly as many dangerous diseases as other parts of the world, yet the possibility of a deadly outbreak is only a plane ride away. All it takes is one person carrying the virus into the country to cause a national outbreak. It’s more than the risk this poses to one individual child or even a small community, it is the risk that a widespread outbreak of disease can have lasting and irreversible damage to our communities and to humankind physically, emotionally or mentally. Is that really a risk you’re willing to take?
