1 Running head: SHOULD WE MAKE VACCINATIOINS MANDATORY?

Should We Make Vaccinations Mandatory?

Gods Bible School and College
Hannah Sutton

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Abstract

In this synthesis paper I examine reason for and against mandatory

vaccinations. Although there is a strong argument for mandatory
vaccinations I think that the argument against is stronger. In this paper I
discuss the reason why people think vaccinations should be mandatory. I also
discuss why they should not be mandatory, using credible sources for both
sides.
Keywords: Vaccinations, Risk, Choice

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We all have had the fear of the needle. We all have seen and/or heard
of young children being traumatized by vaccinations, but is this all
necessary? Are vaccinations truly saving lives? If someone is not vaccinated
does that put others in danger? Should we make vaccinations mandatory?
The way I see it, I think that in some cases vaccinations are most certainly
needed, but then on the other side there are times the shot does more harm
than good.
In 1796 Edward Jenner discovered a method to protect against
smallpox. The method involved taking matter from a blister of someone
infected with cowpox and inoculating it into another persons skin. This
procedure was called arm-to-arm inoculation. However by the late 1940s,
scientific knowledge had developed enough, so that large-scale vaccine
production was possible and disease control efforts could begin in earnest.
Often the geographical areas of an epidemic were in areas of filth,
overcrowded areas, and ill-nourished people, so naturally removing those
factors the disease rate would drop. I think its fair to argue that inoculations
back then saved lives, but honestly some of the illnesses doctors say we
must vaccinate our children from today are usually nothing that will cause
life lasting effects to the child if they happen to catch the virus. They say
that the vaccinations are perfectly safe and without them the child will be
harmed and cause danger for others. Are the vaccines truly safe? Statistics
would say that they are not 100% guaranteed safe and I will share these with
you later in the paper. Michael Edwards writer for the Liberty Beacon argues,

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If vaccines are safe, why are laws being passed to protect the drug
companies from any liability? There must be a reason for creating laws to
protect the drug companies.
On the other side of the topic, Phil Plait explains why vaccinations
should be mandatory from his perspective. A parent does not have the right
to have their child in a public school if that child is unvaccinated, and for the
same reason health care workers should not be unvaccinated. It all comes
down to a very simple reality: It puts other children at risk. He keeps going
on his reason of why to vaccinate but does not give any of backing his
argument. Yes in a sense a child could be at risk of getting a non-life
threatening illness, if they are around those who have not been vaccinated,
but the children are also at risk of having huge allergic reactions to the shots.
Because someone is not vaccinated does that really put others at risk?
Anyone who works in a health care facility should be required to be
vaccinated on the grounds that they are in a position to put vulnerable
people at risk. In this statement by Erin Walkinshaw, writer at CMAJ News
explains that it is not fair those who are put at risk because of others
choosing not to vaccinate. Erin also argues that in certain areas, mandatory
vaccinations should happen. The numbers suggest that mandatory
immunization policies are appropriate in certain environments. I agree with
Erin on the topic that certain environments should be vaccinated, but I do
not think that those environments are typically going to be in areas of clean
water, clean air, and really just healthy living circumstances in general.

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The issue is, not all children do have a reaction to a vaccination, but
there are some who are at risk of this. Why should the parent not be allowed
to choose? It is their child. No parent should ever feel pressured into
vaccinating their child when they dont find it necessary. Lets look at what
the statistics say. The United States has the highest number of mandated
vaccines for children under 5 in the world and the highest autism rate in the
world which is, 1 in 150 children. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention reported that for the 2012-'13 season, the vaccine had a 38% fail
rate. This is consistent with all the evidence from previous years, placing the
fail rate anywhere from 30% to 50%. Anyone who thinks about it can see
that vaccinations can cause more damage.
Michael Edwards from Liberty Beacon made this statement on autism
being linked to vaccinations; Our autism rates, along with many other
neurological disorders that can be attributed to the preservatives in
vaccinations, are skyrocketing with a direct and very clear correlation to the
number of immunizations children are receiving. Fortunately, today, pretty
much everyone knows that vaccinations can cause autism and other
neurological disorders.
Cameron English writer with PolicyMic.com argues the reasons why
there should be mandatory vaccinations. Perhaps the best argument against
mandatory vaccination is the libertarian notion that you own your body, and
thus only you get to decide what to put in it. Mandatory vaccination is merely
a way to protect individuals from harm and reduce the risk of a public health

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crisis, which leads to another important point. The argument from freedom
described above takes good health for granted. English went on to explain
that since we are so used to clean and healthy living environments an infectious
disease outbreak doesn't often occur to us.
Cameron English shares his other reason against vaccinations not
being mandatory; The only other possible justification for avoiding
vaccination is the scientific argument that vaccines, or certain ingredients
in them, are somehow harmful. Everybody laugh at that suggestion with me,
will you? He shows evidence through an article/study done by New England
Journal of Medicine, to back his claim that vaccines are not harmful. The
study he used was an article that was 10 years old from the time he wrote
his article which was in 2012. Although I am not saying that Englishs
argument is invalid I personally know someone who was dramatically
affected from a shot as a baby. That baby now has extreme autism. He was
born completely healthy with no problems until he had a reaction to his
shots.
There are many other cases where people have been badly affected
from vaccinations, often from the flu shot. Lisa Marks Smith shared her story
on Family Health Freedom Network of how, following her flu shot and near
death experience in 2005, she learned about alternative therapies that have
helped ease some of the problems of post-infectious myositis. The
autoimmune disease that she got from the vaccination was paralysis or
Guillain-Barr Syndrome (GBS) which is a known side effect of the flu

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vaccine. Guillain-Barr attacks the nervous system in our bodies causing

things such as paralyzing and even death.
Another case of harmful reactions to a vaccination is the story of
Catherine O Driscoll and her book entitled, My Flight for Health after
Vaccination In her book she shares how throughout her whole life she
repeatedly had major reactions to getting shots that the school required her
to take year after year. Many times she would become so sick that she would
be out of school for weeks. I was taken to hospital, semi-conscious and
diagnosed with a Meningitis type illness The doctors would often try to say
she was not sick. Besides her common reactions to the vaccines she also has
many life lasting effects from them as well.
New England Journal of Medicine suggest that mandatory vaccinations
should only occur in certain areas of a higher risk of attack, meaning areas
where it is more likely for disease to spread. Our model suggests that prior
vaccination of health care workers can be expected to save lives unless the
risk of an attack is low. Encouraging vaccination of the public can be
expected to save lives in coordinated multisite attacks but will cause
substantial harm under most other circumstances.-New England Journal of
Medicine. I think that they have a very sound argument here. I wont deny
that in some areas mandatory vaccinations might be beneficial; I just dont
find that the USA is one of those areas of high risk.

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You could argue if one does not have an allergic reaction to

vaccinations, that they are aware of, why not then just take the shot?
Cameron English made this closing statement to his article; Sometimes
there are legitimate questions about the effectiveness of certain vaccines,
and a small percentage of the population doesn't react well to vaccination. In
these rare instances, there's no reason to require vaccination. But for most of
us, and in most cases, that's no excuse to skip vaccines. I do not know if I
agree or disagree with him. In a way yes just take the shot if it will not hurt
you, but then again why do young children and babies, who are in no danger
of HPV are forced to take a vaccination for it. I still stand with the argument
that I think the parents should be able to choose without pressure.
Another supporting reason of why the government should not be
allowed to say whether or not we take a vaccination is because if a
government becomes powerful enough to control our healthcare, it is too big
to be controlled. In no time or place should the government be able to force
vaccinations. If we allow them to have this kind of power today, how do we
know that they will not use it for political usage later? The answer is they
will. I dont want to sound like one of those paranoia people who always think
that the government is attacking us. Well in a way they are attacking us.
They are attacking us in subtle way. They are doing this by removing the
values would stood for and trying to have more and more control over the
development of the children.

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We all should have the freedom of speaking and choosing for

ourselves. Michael Edwards made this statement on vaccinations; Even if
the efficacy of vaccinations could be proven throughout history, we cannot
recommend anyone inject something directly into their bloodstream that is
sourced from corporations that have proven time and time again that they
do not care about our health and wellbeing. I do not fully agree with the
statement on the corporations not caring about the peoples wellbeing. I do
however agree with that we cannot advise or even tell someone to put some
kind of mixture of chemicals into their body which is designed to help them
when it might actually hurt them.
Besides the argument that mandatory vaccinations allow too much
power to the government, we have also discussed that vaccinations are not
always beneficial, and can cause extreme life lasting effects. I have
discussed reason of for and against vaccinations throughout this paper.
Although I think that there are good reasons of why we should have
mandatory vaccinations, I have found that we cannot pass a law under the
guise for the common good while hurting that smaller percentage that is at
risk. I think anyone would agree that they would rather have the flu then get
Guillain-Barr as a result of taking a shot to protect against the flu. It is and
still should be a personal choice.

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References
English, C. (2012, Dec 13) PolicyMic
http://www.policymic.com/articles/20685/why-vaccines-should-be-mandatoryfor-most-americans
Walkinshaw, E. (2011, Nov 8 vol. 183 no. 16) CMAJ Medical Knowledge that
Matters. http://www.cmaj.ca/content/183/16/1830
Edwards, M. (2013, Sept 23) The Liberty Beacon
http://www.thelibertybeacon.com/2013/09/23/vaccine-side-effects-and-whyyou-shouldnt-vaccinate-12445/
Samuel A. Bozzette, M.D., Ph.D., Rob Boer, Ph.D., Vibha Bhatnagar, M.D.,
M.P.H., Jennifer L. Brower, Ph.D., Emmett B. Keeler, Ph.D., Sally C. Morton,
Ph.D., and Michael A. Stoto, Ph.D. (2003, Jan 30) New England Journal of
Medicine http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa025075#t=abstract
Plait, P. (2013, Sept 24) Bad Astronomy
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/09/24/mandatory_vaccinati
ons_unvaccinated_public_school_students_face_suspension.html
Theisfeldt, J. (2013, may 22) Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel [statistics]
http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/mandatory-vaccinations-deservevigorous-debate-b9916013z1-208572841.html
Marks, Smith, L. (2014, Fed 10) Family Health Freedom Network
http://www.fhfn.org/a-mothers-flu-shot-nightmare-unedited-version/

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O Driscoll, C. (2013) My Flight For Health After Vaccination