Vaccines have become a hot-topic issue in today’s world. Some parents take the side that vaccines are useless, as they claim the side effects are more harmful than the disease itself, while others take the opposing side that all kids should be vaccinated, as they are greatly effective at stopping these sometimes deadly diseases. Growing up, vaccines were something that were so routine, so the question is how did we get to the point were there’s a debate on whether or not kids should mandatorily have to get them?
The side of the argument in support of vaccines being mandatory is that vaccination has gotten rid of, and continues to prevent, disease. In a newsela article(https://newsela.com/read/pro-con-vaccines/id/41934/) the pro side of vaccines explains from research that “The Centers for Disease Control estimates that nearly 750,000 American children were saved from 1994 to 2014 because of vaccines. These programs are 90 percent to 99 percent "effective in preventing disease," according to the American Academy of Pediatrics”. Besides these facts, still not everyone is convinced that vaccines are effective. Their other argument is that unvaccinated kids are at dangerous health risks: “Unvaccinated kids are 6.5 times more likely to be hospitalized with pneumonia, according to Scientific American. They are 23 times more likely to develop whooping cough and nine timesmore likely to catch chickenpox”.
The opposing viewpoint is that vaccines should not be required, only encouraged. Some parents believe that the vaccines side effects might be worse than the actual disease itself, or that vaccinated children are actually more sick than non vaccinated, and therefore some people believe that parents should have their own decision on whether or not to vaccinate their children. They believe that the government should not interfere with their own or their child’s medical care, although they could potentially be putting themselves and others at great risk if not vaccinated. Do you think that, even if it puts others at risk, people should be able to choose to vaccinate their kids? Or should it be mandatory by the government, and if parents don’t follow this mandatory rule to vaccinate their children, how should the government handle it?
