An Argumentative Essay on Vaccine

Vaccination of children against various diseases is one of the most significant medical breakthroughs to be achieved by human beings. According to a study that was carried by Roberts, child vaccination has immensely contributed to the safety of children by preventing over 10.5 million cases of infectious disease and has saved roughly 33000 lives annually since it was implemented (192). However, many parents are skeptical about vaccines, and they believe that immunization should not be a mandatory requirement for their kids to join school. This is contributed by different factors such religious beliefs, assumptions on the effectiveness of vaccination and researchers that show that infectious diseases no longer exist. The reality of the matter is that immunization is essential for children and all of them must be vaccinated before enrolling for schools to maintain a healthy ecosystem. The primary objective of this paper is to discuss the importance of vaccines and why the opponents of vaccination should adopt it.

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Vaccination is a common practice that majority of people have undertaken in the course of their lives. Vaccination is an essential part of keeping children healthy, but some parents believe that it is dangerous and it contains a substance that causes autism. The vaccine acts as a means of eradicating and eliminating diseases. Vaccines are modern medical advances that play pivotal roles in saving lives through disease eradication. Smallpox was one of the deadliest infectious diseases that was eradicated by vaccination. The elimination of the disease would not have been achieved without persistence on universal vaccination. Thus, it is appalling that some parents still do not want their children to be vaccinated based on some baseless religious reasoning. Such parents exist in a relatively large number across the globe. For instance, roughly 9% of parents in the U.S.A. have not allowed their children to be vaccinated (Ada 1278). However, the number has reduced overtime since the government passed mandatory vaccine policies after the outbreak of measles in 2014.

Vaccination is an intervention method of eradicating pathogen in the long run that re-emerges once the process is complete. With the entire eradication of smallpox through vaccination, it is highly possible that other infectious diseases can be wiped out on earth when effective vaccination is adopted. However, this is only possible when there is a high level of "herd immunity" across the world over a long period (Brennan 40). It would be hard to achieve an effective eradication of pathogens when the public is given the freedom to choose vaccination. As such, the government should enhance rules that promote mandatory vaccinations to completely eradicate the pathogens. Polio is one of the significant global challenges that require a united effort in its eradication. The U.S.A has made tremendous efforts in eradicating polio since different research shows that it no longer exists in the country. The country's success in polio eradication is attributed to its consistency in vaccinating newborns. Complete eradication of polio together with other infectious diseases can only be achieved through enforced childhood vaccination. It is imperative to note that elimination of the infectious diseases is possible on a local scene even without eradicating the pathogens from a global perspective. For instance, measles transmission has been contained since transmission does not occur locally. The spread is not also rampant when the source of the pathogen is a foreigner. For instance, the spread of the measles virus in 2014 was not rampant since 95% of the U.S. population had achieved immunity (Isaacs, Kilham & Marshall 394).

Vaccination has also immensely contributed to the reduction of mortality and morbidity rates among children. Efficacious vaccines can protect one from the pathogens before and after exposure. Some of the diseases of the children have been majorly controlled by pre-exposure immunization (Roberts 191). However, the usage of the vaccine is diminishing based on the controversies that surround its effectiveness and universality. According to Brennan, roughly 5 million infant mortalities have been prevented by vaccination in the world. The infant mortalities related to the nine diseases that the U.S.A healthcare department have encouraged immunization on have grossly reduced. Infectious diseases used to kill a lot of people in the past century, with the health records indicating that rubella killed 47740 people annually, diphtheria caused 21000 deaths, mumps caused 162340 deaths, and measles, 530200. With the intervention of vaccination, these figures have reduced by 99%. However, there are some few cases where some children have lost their lives and obtain permanent scars due to vaccine-preventable diseases. These cases are mainly found in conservative societies that do not want to embrace vaccination, or they may be as a result of sheer ignorance. Vaccination can only be effective if a large number of the children is vaccinated. The more significant population acts as a protective barrier against the probability of disease transmission, and mortality in the community, thus protecting the small population that is not legible for immunization due to other reasons.

The cost of healthcare has grossly been reduced by vaccination that has minimized numerous diseases that could have been costly to treat. The annual economic burden of infectious diseases that can be controlled by vaccines is estimated to be $30 billion in the U.S.A. (Hawkes et al. 1613). This considerably high amount of money is connected to the low uptake of vaccines. The burden could have been higher if the affected adults were not immunized in their childhood days. Vaccination majorly contributes to curbing the high mortality and morbidity rates, hence saving the healthcare system from spending a lot of money. According to Hawkes et al., for every one dollar spent on vaccinating a child, the government saves ten dollars (1614). Control of an outbreak of a disease that can be controlled through vaccination is very costly. The cost of managing the epidemic could be avoided by championing for timely immunization. Hence, the reality that the opponents of vaccination must embrace is that it is an excellent investment since it is cost effective.

Vaccination is one of the greatest achievement of humanity in the healthcare sector. It has the potential to save millions of lives when administered at the right time. It prevents children from contracting infectious diseases that would cost their lives or leave permanent scars on their bodies. It also reduces government expenses on medicine since it minimizes the illnesses that the government should have spent money on to control. Parents who are still rooted in religious beliefs that do not allow vaccines should be taught the importance of vaccination. Hence, the government should enact laws that promote mandatory immunization. All children must be vaccinated to maintain a safe environment.

Works Cited

Ada, Gordon. "The Importance of Vaccination." Frontiers in Bioscience, vol. 12, no. 1, 2007, p. 1278.

Brennan, Jason. "A libertarian case for mandatory vaccination." Journal of Medical Ethics, vol. 44, no. 1, 2016, pp. 37-43.

Hawkes, Sarah, et al. "Vaccines to promote and protect sexual health: Policy challenges and opportunities." Vaccine, vol. 32, no. 14, 2014, pp. 1610-1615.

Isaacs, D., H. A. Kilham, and H. Marshall. "Should routine childhood immunizations be compulsory?" Journal of pediatrics and child health 40.7 (2004): 392-396.

Roberts, Kenneth B. "The Academic Pediatric Association: 50 Years of Contributions to Pediatric Education." Academic Pediatrics, vol. 11, no. 3, 2011, pp. 189-194.