Argumentative Research Essay: Should vaccinations be mandatory for children?

Should Vaccinations Children be Mandatory?
Laura Nwaigbo
Keiser University
Research Writing ENC4313G2
Should Vaccinations Children be Mandatory?
Vaccines work by preventing diseases. Vaccines reduce your child’s risk of infection by working with his/her body’s natural defenses to help safely develop immunity to disease. Making sure vaccines are safe is a priority for CDC. CDC and FDA take many steps to make sure vaccines are very safe both before and after the public starts using the vaccine. Vaccines can prevent infectious diseases that once killed or harmed many infants, children, and adults. Without vaccines, your child is at risk for getting seriously ill and suffering pain, disability, and even death from diseases like measles and whooping cough. Diseases that used to be common in this country and around the world, including polio, measles, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), rubella (German measles), mumps, tetanus, rotavirus and Haemophilus influenzae Type B (HIB) are prevented by vaccination. Vaccines contain the same antigens (or parts of antigens) that cause diseases. A child can gets protection without having to get sick. Through vaccination, children can develop immunity without suffering from the actual diseases that vaccines prevent. Despite the various disadvantages that would arise, vaccinations should be made mandatory for children. Therefore, vaccinations in children should be mandatory because they prevent diseases, their safety is a priority for public health organizations, and are cost-effective.
Vaccinations in children should be mandatory because they prevent deadly diseases such as polio, measles, and smallpox. Through vaccinations, immunity can be induced in the bodies of children to prevent them from contracting diseases. According to Pickering and Orenstein (2015), for most diseases in children preventable by vaccination, their incidences have been reduced by more than 99% (p.1242). Vaccination in children has helped in the eradication of smallpox while polio is close to being fully eradicated. Besides, diseases like rubella and measles are no longer endemic. Were it not for vaccinations, millions of people could have died from these diseases. Vaccinations create herd immunity that protects vulnerable members of the population. For example, for measles, herd immunity requires between 92% and 94% vaccination coverage (Pierik, 2018, p.387). This means that vulnerable members of the society such as infants and those with other medical conditions are protected. Those in opposition to vaccinations underestimate the dangers of diseases and argue that outbreaks of the disease vaccinated against are limited. However, they forget that outbreaks have not occured because of high vaccination rates in the country (Pierik, 2018, p.386). Given the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing diseases and protecting the vulnerable members of society, they should be mandatory in children.
Beyond disease prevention, the safety of the vaccines has been prioritized by public health organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These organizations serve the primary role of protecting the health of the public and their recommendations are made in the best interest of the members of the public. According to Pickering and Orenstein (2015), monitoring vaccine safety is the responsibility of FDA, CDC, and vaccine manufacturers (p.1248). This monitoring is dependent on reports gathered by the Adverse Event Reporting System, which plays a vital role in evaluating the role of vaccines in causing adverse events. The monitoring ensures the safety of the vaccines and therefore, the opposition to children immunization due to safety is unwarranted. According to McKee and Bohannon (2016), safety concerns are potentially the greatest reason for parents refusing to vaccinate their children (p.107). However, the authors point out that concerns are based on information received from acquaintances or the media (p.107). Nevertheless, with the CDC and FDA monitoring the safety of vaccines, parents ought to trust them.
Besides safety, the cost-effectiveness of vaccinations also justifies why the process should be mandatory. It is common knowledge that one of the major challenges facing the American healthcare system is escalating healthcare costs. According to Rйmy, Zцllner, and Heckmann (2015, p.1), for every dollar that the government spends on vaccinating children, $10 is saved in terms of direct and indirect healthcare costs. Diseases occurring in adulthood that could have been prevented by vaccination add to the burden of healthcare costs that the country facing. However, with vaccinations, the funds can be allocated to other significant issues. Some vaccine denialists seek to raise their children in ‘purity’ without ‘contaminating’ them with vaccines (Pierik, 2018, p.383). However, they are putting themselves and the government at financial risks that may occur from diseases caused by non-vaccination. The cost-effectiveness to individuals and the government necessitates mandatory vaccinations in children. This will also promote better care for the children as well as ensuring that care is provided at affordable rates.
However, previous researchers have raised concerns against making children vaccinations mandatory. According to MacDonald et al. (2018), vaccinations should not be made compulsory since they would increase the financial burden for parents. The authors have addressed severe issues surrounding compulsory vaccination in developed, developing, and under-developed countries. MacDonald et al. examine the rationale in mandatory childhood vaccination with data from different countries. The article argues that vaccination among children is not effective enough to eradicate preventable diseases. This has resulted in states enacting mandatory child vaccination to reduce this gap. Furthermore, the article has summarized limited outcome data that is related to compulsory vaccination. The authors have also suggested vital elements that must be considered when contemplating mandatory childhood immunization. Moreover, the article suggests that governments should ensure financial stability and equal access to vaccination to all the population. The report focuses on the issues underlying mandatory immunization across the world with relevant data from high and low countries. As such, the findings, conclusion, and findings of this study shows why childhood immunization should be required to fight against preventable diseases.  
One of the issues that limit compliance with vaccination is limited knowledge on the safety of the vaccinations. As such, there is a need to ensure that such issues are addressed before making vaccinations compulsory. Gaillat et al. (2019) analyze the reasons why vaccine hesitancy is common in social networks and mainstream media. The authors have also addressed some of the reasons behind mandatory immunization for diseases like whooping cough, epidemics, and measles in France. Furthermore, the article provides data and literature on some of the approaches to address a mandatory vaccination. The report suggests that health authorities must communicate in a science-informed way and transparent on vaccine safety issues. The research concludes by sayi...