Medical science has made leaps and bounds in the past hundred years. Curing diseases that killed thousands of people and being able to prevent people from ever contracting them. Vaccines are miraculous and available to everyone.
Unfortunately, some people turn their noses up at the medical miracle. People choose not to vaccinate their children against deadly diseases that could be easily prevented. There are currently vaccines for mumps, polio, pertussis, measles, hep B, tetanus and many others.
According to the World Health Organization, immunization stops an estimated 2 to 3 million deaths every year and 1.5 million more could be saved if the spread of vaccinations were to improve.
There are several groups that exist to convince parents that vaccines are unnecessary and even harmful to children. The most popular theory, that vaccines cause autism, has amassed quite a following. People believe that the combination of vaccines at such a young age leads to autism. This claim has been put to the test in several different environments and it has been concluded that vaccinations and autism have no effect on each other.
Another objection to vaccination is religious reasons. People believe that vaccines and doctors themselves are unnatural and not part of God’s plan. They think if they pray hard enough, they do not have to worry about diseases and their faith will take care of them. It is perfectly fine to have faith and even to pray when someone is sick, but it is also important that medical professionals be able to do their jobs and help people.
Vaccines have saved millions of people’s lives and have prevented the mass spread of life threatening diseases. If a child is not vaccinated, it affects not just them but the people around them. If a vaccine is not redone when the appropriate age is reached or if adults do not receive vaccines before traveling to other countries, there is very little to stop the contamination of a lot of people.
Of course people can exempt from vaccinations for religious or ethical reasons but it is ludicrous that they would want to. A few shots could save the life of a child and some people want to ignore this simple solution.
People should live their own life however they see fit, but they should not force their children to suffer because of some squabble they have with modern medicine. Vaccines are safe, available, and should be utilized by everyone.