Arguments Against Mandatory Vaccines

Parents Rights or Public Health

” Nobody ever thanks you for saving them from the disease they didn’t know they were going to get. Vaccines are the tugboats of preventive health.” – Scientist, William Foege

“Vaccines have contributed to a significant reduction in many childhood infectious diseases, such as diphtheria, measles, and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib). Some infectious diseases, such as polio and smallpox, have been eliminated in the United States due to effective vaccines. It is now rare for children in the United States to experience the devastating and often deadly effects of these diseases that were once common in the United States and other countries with high vaccination coverage” (U.S. Food & Drug).

“Vaccination is the act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease. It is a process by which a person becomes protected against a disease through vaccination. This term is often used interchangeably with immunization or

inoculation” (CDC). Vaccines began as an antidote for public diseases that had run rapid throughout society and killed thousands of young children and adults. These deadly diseases included smallpox, cholera, and diphtheria, and yellow fever. In 1798, Edward Jenner published his work on the development of a vaccination that would protect against smallpox. Vaccines slowly progressed from antidotes to preventive and in 1813, US President James Madison signed into law an Act to Encourage Vaccination, which created the National Vaccine Agency (now part of the US Department of Health & Human Services) (Balding). 1893 City and State public health departments began mass production of diphtheria antitoxin, following its introduction in European laboratories (Coalition). Vaccinations extend beyond individual or localized rights; vaccinations contribute to global health. Therefore, parents should not have the right to refuse vaccinating their children because vaccinations are a defense against preventable diseases worldwide, vaccines protect future generations and because diseases haven’t disappeared (WHO).
It is well documented that vaccines are a defense against preventable diseases. We can examine disease in two ways, preventable and curable. “Immunity is the body’s way of preventing disease” (CDC). Years of study and research and most comprehensible is firsthand experience throughout history communicate uncontrolled diseases are dangerous and when left unconstrained even become deadly. According, to the CDC “vaccines decrease the risk of infection by working with the body's natural defenses to help it safely develop immunity to disease” (CDC). This reflects vaccines are a defense against preventable diseases, and shows parents should not have the right to refuse vaccinations for their children.
Vaccines protect future generations; “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” (Dictionary). We cannot view vaccinations as an all-inclusive individual right, we vaccinate to protect our global future. We don't vaccinate just to protect our children. We vaccinate to protect our grandchildren and their grandchildren. Vaccinations are one of the best ways to put an end to the serious effects of certain diseases (CDC). In an interview with USA Today, Dr. Lance Rodewald, Director of the CDC Immunization Services Division, suggested that receiving vaccinations is a social responsibility, since an unvaccinated sick person can infect many more people. As Dr. Rodewald stated, "When you choose not to get a vaccine, you're not just making a choice for yourself, you're making a choice for the person sitting next to you" (Vidula). All this shows parents should not have the exclusive right to refuse vaccinations for their child.
Parents should not have the exclusive right to refuse vaccinations for their children because diseases have not disappeared. It has been alleged better hygiene and sanitation will make disease disappear, so then vaccines are not necessary. This is false (WHO). The diseases we can vaccinate against will return if we stop vaccination programs. While better hygiene, hand washing and clean water help protect people from infectious diseases, many infections can spread regardless of how clean we are. If people are not vaccinated, diseases that have become uncommon, such as polio and measles, will quickly reappear (WHO).
The United States has very low rates of vaccine-preventable diseases, but this isn’t true everywhere in the world. Only one disease — smallpox — has been totally erased from the planet. Polio no longer occurs in the U.S., but it is still paralyzing children in several African countries. More than 350,000 cases of measles were reported from around the world in 2011, with outbreaks in the Pacific, Asia, Africa, and Europe. In that same year, 90% of measles cases in the U.S. were associated with cases imported from another country. Only the fact that most Americans are vaccinated against measles prevented these clusters of cases from becoming epidemics. Disease rates are low in the United States today. But if we let ourselves become vulnerable by not vaccinating, a case that could touch off an outbreak of some disease that is currently under control is just a plane ride away.
For some parents, however, vaccination is no routine matter. From the time of Jenner’s smallpox vaccine, vaccination has had its critics. In the two centuries since that time, many different types of objections have been raised (Balding). One key argument opponents have is concerns of unknown risks regarding vaccines, yet many individuals challenge vaccine programs because of a lack of information about vaccines. When we fully examine the vaccine programs, we conclude the benefits far outweigh the risks (CDC).
Another argument against mandatory vaccination has always focused on government intrusion into what is considered a personal medical choice; however, in the case of Jacobson vs.

Massachusetts in 1905 when an individual man named Jacobson sued the state of Massachusetts. Jacobson argued he had a right to not be forced into vaccination. The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled against him, and when he appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, they ruled against him as well. They admonished vaccination was not a matter of individual choice, and without vaccination, the public would be endangered (Balding). In recent history U.S. faced an outbreak of measles linked to a case at Disneyland in California, where someone had become infected while in another country. The virus spread to 667 people in 27 states, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of those infected had not received the two recommended doses of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccination also known as the MMR vaccine.

(Leonard)
Opponents may argue that vaccines can cause serious and sometimes fatal side effects. However, on the contrary vaccines are very safe. Most vaccine reactions are usually minor and temporary, such as a sore arm or mild fever. Serious health events are extremely rare and are carefully monitored and investigated. You are far more likely to be seriously injured by a vaccine-preventable disease than by a vaccine itself. While any serious injury or death caused by vaccines is one too many, the benefits of vaccination greatly outweigh the risk, and many more injuries and deaths would occur without vaccines (WHO).
In conclusion, the power of infection is that is it capable of being passed to someone else by germs that enter the body (Merriam-Webster). The higher question is “will we continue to encounter communicable diseases?” If so, how will we universally address how we care for outbreaks even at a local level. Will we patiently wait to see if a person’s own immunity will overtake the disease? Or, will we work to be prepared with preventive measures including vaccine if needed? This issue will take everyone working together to improve access to accurate and actionable health information and usable health services. By focusing on health literacy issues and working together, we can improve the accessibility, quality, and safety of health care; reduce costs; and improve the health and quality of life of millions of people in the United States and abroad (Washington).