What Are Some Principles That You Place The Most Value On Your Own Life? Essay

Religious beliefs are fundamental rights of the people. As such they are inviolable, within reason. A person cannot simply make up whatever religious beliefs they choose and expect these to be honored by society. Nevertheless, vaccinating against diseases is a practice that has well established resistance among many religious people. Such resistance, as an issue of faith among many people, should be respected by school systems (McFall, 2008).

Today, thanks to state laws that required all children to be immunized before attending school, there aren’t many unvaccinated adults. However, there are individuals who still believe that vaccinations are not effective and may cause adverse effects. Although public health history has demonstrated the immense benefit of vaccines, compulsory vaccination is still not free of controversy. Thus, some states allow medical, religious, and even philosophical exemptions from immunizations (“Disease Eradication”,

Mandatory vaccinations in public school in my opinion play a major role in children’s lives. They are safe and effective, they protect others we care about, and will protect our future generations. Throughout the years there have been thousands and thousands of children’s lives lost due to outbreaks of diseases such as polio and the measles causing many deaths among young children. Vaccinations that have become effective over the years, limiting these diseases if not getting rid of them period are the most effective way to get rid of these diseases. However, there are still some parents that refuse to have their child/children vaccinated due to their own beliefs. In this passage you will find out how these mandatory vaccinations are

In America, the popular belief is that people have complete control over their lives and make their own decisions. But yet, when laws are put into place requiring parents to give their children vaccinations, parents nationwide ignore the fact that they can no longer choose what they think is best for their children. Laws requiring vaccines causes parents to immunize their children with no choice in the matter. Instead of government laws mandating vaccinations for every child, parents should have the choice whether they want to immunize their children. Vaccinations should not be mandatory, as forced vaccines go against religious or personal beliefs, are potentially harmful to young children, and have biased rules and regulations.

The recent measles outbreak occurring at Disneyland in December 2014 became widespread news and rekindled an ongoing debate of childhood vaccination. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is the United States government agency responsible for the protection of Americans from health threats, there were 159 incidents of measles arising from this outbreak (“Morbidity and Mortality” 373). Considering this outbreak, it is not unexpected that the role of vaccination would come to the forefront. The CDC presently advocates 29 vaccinations for children from birth through the age of six years old (“2016 Recommended Immunizations” 1). However, each state respectively establishes the laws for vaccination and corresponding vaccine medical, religious, and philosophical exemptions. For comparison purposes, in the early 1970’s, only three vaccinations were recommended (The Merck Manual 1462). This growth is a 314% surge in the number of vaccinations encouraged by the CDC. Thus, the subject of vaccinations and corresponding exemptions is contentious, divisive, and widely debated. Indeed, some believe that childhood vaccinations should be mandatory in order to protect every individual from preventable diseases (Gostin 1100). Instead, vaccination should be an informed parental choice, not mandated by the federal government, because vaccine safety is questionable, diseases being vaccinated against have fundamentally

From January 1st to April 24th of this year, 166 people from 19 different states and the District of Columbia were reported to have measles in the U.S. (“Measles Cases and Outbreaks, 2015). This recent outbreak has sparked a conversation in the media about whether or not parents should be required by law to immunize their children. Even though no mandatory federal vaccination law currently exists, all 50 states require children to be immunized before starting public school. However, all 50 states issue medical exemptions, 48 issue religious exemptions, and 19 issue philosophical exemptions (“School Vaccination Requirements,” 2011). Proponents of vaccinations argue that vaccines are safe and one of the greatest public health developments of the 20th century. They state vaccines are saving millions of lives and are preventing illnesses like rubella, diphtheria, smallpox, polio and whooping cough. On the other hand, opponents of vaccinations argue that children’s immune systems are capable of fighting most infections naturally and injecting questionable materials into a child, or any person for that matter, may cause deleterious side effects. Although many counterarguments regarding the efficacy of vaccines are valid, others are not supported by evidence. Overall, the benefits of vaccines far outweigh any risks.

A recent controversy has been, whether parents should or should not be permitted to opt their children out of required vaccinations. Parents should not be able to opt out of required vaccinations because they are beneficial and can cause serious risks if not taken. In “Refusing Vaccinations Puts Others At Risk”, Ronald Bailey remarks that parents are putting others at risk by not vaccinating their children. In the article “The Return of Measles”, Seth Mnookin stated as well, that by opting out of vaccinations, others can be put in jeopardy. Although there is also another side of this controversy with people who believe parents have a right to opt their children out of vaccinations. In an excerpt from “Vaccinations and Free Will”. Jeffrey A. Singer implies that people cannot be forced to have their child receive a vaccination. Finally, in “The Science is Not Settled”, Sandy Reider claims that vaccinations cause further harm than good. While Reider and Singer claim that parents should be able to opt out, it is clear that parents should not be able to opt out because it places others around them in danger.

Throughout time many people on this planet have depended on vaccinations to be maintain a healthy lifestyle. Although vaccinations can fight off disease they can also affect kids in negative ways. There are also parents who depend on certain vaccinations too much which can cause more problems in the long run. As the amount of kids who are not vaccinated grows, the amount of diseases that were once wiped away start to return. When kids are born they are right away taken to get vaccinations. One of the reasons that young kids need more vaccinations is because kids have weaker immune systems. Whether people decide to vaccinate their children depends on certain factors like, income, ethnicity, and religion. There are many people who choose not to vaccinate their kids. This can either affect the young kid in a positive or negative way. Today certain states are responsible for the overall care of others and require people to get vaccinated. In many cases parents are required to vaccinate their kids before they enter grade school or child care centers. This idea can be good and bad in many ways. For one it requires all kids to be vaccinated for viruses which would eliminate the diseases that exist in kids. Some people might state that requiring children to be vaccinated before entering school would eliminate a family 's freedom of speech by having kids vaccinated against parent’s will. In some cases families can refuse to get kids vaccinated because of religious beliefs. Starting

Even after vaccines were made popular, there have always been parents who have been concerned about immunizing their children. It has become such an issue that there has been some debate on whether or not the government should get involved and require vaccination by law. As with every issue, there are two sides who stand firmly with their beliefs. Parents who do not vaccinate claim that they have the right to decide what is best for their kid’s health, and for some, it interferes with their religion. The other side argues that children need vaccines to ensure the overall safety of the individual and others around them. Though both sides provide a compelling argument, statistics show that parents should be required by law to vaccinate their child.

In the United States, all fifty states have some form of immunization requirements in order for children to attend school. All fifty states allow for medical exemptions and require evidence for such. However, there are currently forty-seven states that allow exemptions for religious views and eighteen states that allow exemptions for philosophical reasons or “personal beliefs.” This lack of consistency from state to state is a contemporary issue facing public education and this discrepancy needs to be addressed. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in non-medical exemptions. Whatever the reasoning may be, parents have been choosing not to vaccinate their children and as a result, the well-being of the general public has been put at risk. In order to insure public health across the nation, the Center for Disease Control needs to enforce that all fifty states in the U.S. implement strict and synonymous immunization requirements, making all vaccines mandatory (unless proven to be medically or religiously exempt).

Each year, vaccines save between 6 and 9 million lives around the world including the lives of 3 million children (Emily Lee, Lindsay Rosenthal, Gabriel Scheffler, 2013). This statistic has been greatly influenced by the introduction of vaccine mandates in the United States. All 50 states have the requirement that children receive vaccinations to attend public schools. This being said, almost all of them allow parents to not have their children vaccinated for a variety of reasons from religious to philosophical. This number of exemptions is growing at an alarming rate. “Children with exemptions from school immunization requirements are at increased for measles and pertussis and can infect others who are too young to be vaccinated, cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, or were vaccinated but did not have a sufficient immunologic response” (Omer, Salmon, Orenstein, DeHart, & Halsey, 2009, p. 1981). Allowing children that are not vaccinated

Twenty-seven states have exemptions from vaccinations for either religious or personal reasons (citation needed). The issue of respecting people’s rights is a fundamental issue. But it is also a major ethical issue, pitting the wishes of individuals against the needs of the community. Immunization by vaccine saves enumerable of lives (is there a way to cite this?). Due to the protective benefits of vaccines, it is essential that as many people as possible receive vaccinations. There should be as few obstacles as possible to such a program in order to save as many lives as possible. Many argue that the government should not be able to force an individual to be stuck with a needle. Additionally, many explain that it is their personal choice,

Many countries require their citizens to receive certain immunizations. In the United States, state laws dictate mandatory vaccinations, some of them are vaccinations required for children to enter school. Controversies over the efficacy, safety, and morality of compulsory immunization stem from the longstanding tension between two, sometimes opposing, goals: protecting individual liberties and safeguarding the public’s health. “Individual versus health priorities were

It is a parent’s instinct to protect their children. They want to make the best decisions possible for their children. This can be difficult when parents might need to make a decision that is against a state or federal law. It can become difficult to determine when government has the right to veto a parent’s wishes for their children. This is a major concern with vaccinations. School aged children may be required to have vaccinations to attend public or private school. This regulation has raised many concerns on the ethical and legal spectrum.

Furthermore, public opposition focuses on the threat to personal liberty not only to choose what to do with one’s own body, but also to choose how to raise one’s own children. The right to self-determination and freedom of religion is not absolute. “Every court to consider challenges to compulsory vaccination laws has upheld the statutes” (Chemerinsky & Goodwin, 2016). The need to protect the people at large ultimately overrides an individual’s right to make a vaccination choice for their children. The legal precedent has been set. Furthermore, all major religions and faiths have no explicit objections to vaccinations, undermining the entire religious exemption. In a systematic review by Wang, Clymer, Davis-Hayes, and Buttenheim (2014), philosophical