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Thoughts on mandatory flu shots
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With the flu season approaching the policies on the flu vaccine seem appropriate. During the months of September until May our organization all patients are offered this as an optional vaccine. During this same time period healthcare centers mandate that all staff get the flu vaccines or they are required to wear a mask at all times. According to Health Impact News (2015) “...new mandates in Obamacare kicked in, requiring medical care facilities to have 90% compliance to the flu vaccine as a requirement to receive full reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid.” I agree that vaccinations are the key to prevention however this policy is not completely effective. There is still the factor of “provider preference” and many people will follow the
Should the Flu Shot Be Mandatory? Vaccines have been proclaimed by many people as one of the miracles of modern medicine. Vaccines are credited with saving thousands of lives and wiping out many contagious diseases. Recently, there has been a tremendous debate whether annual influenza vaccines should be mandatory. Influenza vaccines should be voluntary because people have the right to examine data on vaccinations and make their own informed decisions.
Vaccination was first introduced globally for small pox and later on extended to other communicable diseases which are now known as vaccine preventable disease. Vaccination is beneficial both for individuals and community. This bring us to the ethical dilemma - Vaccination of a healthy child with the intention of protecting both the individual child and the community at the same time exposing the child to the theoretical risk of exposure to disease products whether live, attenuated or killed. There was a time when people never questioned the government or their physicians. Now because of more public awareness and accessibility to medical information, they are questioning the safety aspects of vaccines.
Parents must be forced to vaccinate their children. The detrimental effects of failing to vaccinate a child can be spine chilling for not only your child but you and your loved ones around. Despite our best efforts to keep our children safe, their lives are unhygienic, a proverbial germ fest some might argue. Children must be vaccinated as they are unaware of their surroundings and a vaccination will save their life; only the child’s but also the people around them.
Through the years, controversy has surrounded vaccinations such as, whether or not they have harmful side-affects, are a government scheme, or simply unnecessary. Parents today have a choice whether or not to vaccinate their children, but should vaccinations be choice? By mandating vaccinations, fewer people are likely to contract diseases. Although vaccines have been subject to scrutiny, vaccines have worked for many years, are not harmful, and use safe ingredients.
One of the major criticisms of mandatory vaccinations is the shift of balance in autonomy and choice versus the protection of the public (Anomaly, "Public Health and Public Goods"). I can see how from a Kantian perspective that mandatory vaccinations could be using people as mere means for the greater good of the public health, but when one’s individual rights and choices endanger my personal safety there needs to be some regulation. The idea of herd immunity may follow from a utilitarian framework that vaccinations bring about the greatest possibly good and minimize harm and ultimately maximize the happiness of the public, but it is a practice that promotes the health of our future generation. Individuals against mandatory vaccinations argue against the need for vaccinations due to the potential harmful side effects they may result in. The fear driving what vaccinations contain is based off misinterpreting data. The CDC provides great amounts of knowledge of the potential and tolerable side effects of vaccinations. Another major argument against mandatory vaccinations is the cost. Like mentioned above the vaccines that are currently required to go to school are measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), Polio, Whopping Cough, Diphtheria, Varicella, Hepatitis B and Hib, which can be a costly doctor visit. The likelihood that these vaccines will no longer be mandatory for school-aged children is
Holding children’s hands while crossing the road, buckling them up in the car, and teaching them to stay away from strangers, are all important when it comes to child safety. But what about vaccinations? It is necessary that each child be properly vaccinated for many reasons, but most importantly for their health and well-being. With the help of vaccinations, many diseases have been eradicated and many lives have been saved. If parents do not properly vaccinate their children, health issues and other complications will arise for everyone, leading to a higher disease and death rate worldwide.
Schools, offices, and any workforce should require students and employees before entering to protect those who surround them from getting sick. Students, in fact, before they enroll to school, they are required to get their yearly flu and other required vaccinations. Hence, this should continue so none of the students and staff would get infected. Despite that many people still do not believe in vaccinations, there is more proof shown that vaccinations had been a great help to many. It decreases the number of people getting sick and getting infected with serious diseases. Furthermore, it lessens the pain of a person who is ill because he or she is protected due to the vaccinations that was given to him or her. However, people should not take for granted of getting vaccinated, especially for the parents. Immunizations will protect their children and themselves from getting sick. Vaccinations are surely safe and they, indeed, prevent illnesses such as measles, chickenpox, shingles, polio, etc. that anyone may encounter. Hopefully, more vaccinations would develop and continue to be given for different types of diseases that may develop in the future. People need to keep in mind that the more people will vaccinate, the more healthier and safer the surroundings will become. All the more people will be encouraged and they will believe that
Federal laws mandating vaccines do not exist; nonetheless, each state has its own mandatory state laws. All 50 states allow medical exemption from vaccine and some states allow religious or philosophical exemptions. It has been reported that since the 1990s states which allowed religious and philosophical exemption saw a 250% increase in non-medical exemptions. This drastic increase has vaccine supporters worried. They argue that these types of exemptions should be more difficult to obtain as there are serious negative consequences from not vaccinating every child that can be safely vaccinated. They...
You may think Vaccinations aren’t important, but they are. One reason they are important is because by not getting vaccinated, you could be at risk of serious diseases. These diseases can include influenza, pertussis, and shingles. Another reason would be because you could increase the risk of complications such as a chronic heart disease or a weakened immune system. Also it’s important because no one has the time to get sick or ill. The last one is that you can reduce the chance of passing serious diseases to others.
Children are part of the public. Therefore, children in California are required to receive vaccinations. The government has basically taken away their freedom of choice and could take away more of their freedoms. There are some exemptions when it comes to getting vaccinated. Personal and religious beliefs are exemptions one could use to not receive a vaccination, or they would need to see their doctor for a medical exemption. Throughout the years, millions of people have received the flu vaccine. Some individuals think there is no need to get vaccinated because of the body’s natural immunity. There is a universal flu vaccine scientists have been discussing that has not been created yet, although, it is a possibility for the future. Getting vaccinated could prevent illnesses and diseases, however, children, teens, and adults should not be mandated to receive all vaccinations because of the risks and side
This is evident in the changing regulations insurance companies place upon what they will or will not cover from year to year, with the non-covered items list appearing to increase every fiscal year. A great number of insurances do cover vaccinations for children however and assistance is available for children who either do not have health insurance or are underinsured through the use of programs such as the Vaccines for Children program. According to vaccines.gov, “children younger than 19 years of age are eligible for VFC vaccines if they are Medicaid-eligible, American Indian or Alaska Native or have no health insurance. "Underinsured" children who have health insurance that does not cover vaccination can receive VFC vaccines through Federally Qualified Health Centers or Rural Health Centers” (vaccines.gov, accessed July 24 2016). Although there may be fees associated with the utilization of the VFC program, children are protected against denial of vaccination if their family cannot cover the monetary fee, according to the vaccines.gov website. Those who are fortunate enough to have insurance which pays for vaccinations yet still feel that the cost is too high should consider the fact that although the cost of keeping a single child
Immunizations have saved millions of lives over the last hundred years. Currently vaccination rates are at their highest in the United States. Most vaccinations are given during infancy through adolescents. Infants especially are more susceptible to infectious diseases; this being the reason it is so important to guard via immunization. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention immunizations help prevent disease from spreading and protect infants and toddlers against threatening difficulties of diseases such as polio and measles.(2004) Data compiled by the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) states that children today now receive as many as 49 doses of 14 vaccines before they reach age six, this is about 12 times higher than the number of vaccines administered to children back in 1940. (Huff, 2013) Immunizations were developed to eradicate diseases such as polio and measles. There is no longer polio and measles in the United States, so why are our children still being immunized against them? Are all these immunizations still necessary? Although there is understanding in why certain immunizations are essential there are many vaccines that can cause harm to us, especially infants and children. Vaccines have been shown to cause autoimmune diseases and other serious reactions, suppress the immune system and contain toxic ingredients bringing about neurodevelopment diseases.
The American people have rights, and one of those rights is to decide what we want administered into our bodies. I think it is very important to educate others on the risks of vaccines so that they can decide what is fit for them. I also want to bring awareness to the difficulties people face to keep vaccines out of their bodies and their children’s bodies. It should not be a struggle. We have rights to our own bodies and we should not be treated any differently for choosing not to vaccinate. I do not get the flu shot, nor do I get every new shot thrown my way by doctors, and I am perfectly healthy. In fact, I rarely get sick. I depend on natural immunity and other natural means for my health, and that works great. (“Vaccines ProCon.org.”) Barbara Low Fisher, Co-founder of National Vaccine Information Center, stated, "If the State can tag, track down and force citizens against their will to be injected with biological products of known and unknown toxicity today, there will be no limit on which individual freedoms the State can take away in the name of the greater good
Each year, about 2.1 million people die from vaccine-preventable diseases. Many children may not receive their necessary first year vaccinations because of lack of availability, religious beliefs, and safety concerns (Healy, Rench, and Baker 540). The dictionary definition of a vaccine is a biological preparation that improves the immunity to a certain disease (Healy, Rench, and Baker 540). Although all 50 States in the United States require children to be vaccinated to certain diseases before entering school, the states also have exemptions for these vaccinations (Lu 870). Parents often choose not to get their children immunized, and it has proven harmful to the health of the global population. It is important for parents to have their children vaccinated against diseases such as measles, mumps, and polio because it is important to promote the welfare of the human race (Parkins 439).
By relinquishing the right of adults to choose whether they get vaccinated or not, the government is devaluing the individual, in essence, the government is putting the collective ahead of the group, this concept is a key foundation in democratic centralism, better known as Communism. Individual rights was a huge basis on the foundation of the US(US Constitution), denying the rights of the individuals to chooses whether they get or not, breaks this foundation(Darrell). Requiring vaccination also brings many issues into play, such as making the time to take all the vaccinations, and many vaccinations can’t be taken all at once, and this results in them breaking their normal schedule. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a former ophthalmologist, agrees while vaccines are a wondrous thing, but freedom should not be compromised in the sake of universal vaccination(Rand