Why Vaccines Should be Mandatory - Essay Sample

Smallpox used to kill at least 30% of affected persons, and the world today is free of the disease, thanks to vaccination (CDC, 2016). The global economy today is locked down, just because there is no vaccine for the novel coronavirus. The importance of vaccines cannot be overemphasized, considering the achievements they have had in controlling and eliminating diseases over the years. The BCG vaccine, Influenza vaccine, Measles, and polio vaccines have played a significant role in reducing the spread of endemics across the world (CDC, 2016). Despite the proven importance of vaccines, they are still not mandatory; vaccination is voluntary. One should at least understand the significant advantages of treatment, and that should lead to an acceptance that vaccines should be mandatory. Vaccines should be viewed with the utilitarian lens, where benefits for the majority should guide decision-making. Having witnessed so many deaths resulting from vaccine-preventable diseases, I believe that it is time to make vaccines mandatory. Nevertheless, let us all understand the merits of vaccines first.

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Immunization can save a life, time, and money (Orenstein, 2019). When a child is immunized, they are protected from the said disease. Some killer diseases like polio have vaccines today. A child vaccinated with the polio vaccine is protected from the risk of death posed by the disease. In saving time and money, vaccine-preventable conditions can cause long-term disabilities; committing a family to medical expenses for a long time (Orenstein, 2019). Therefore, the noble thing would be getting the vaccine and saving in the long run. Apart from the one involved, a vaccine can protect others.

Some of the vaccine-preventable diseases are highly infectious. Whooping cough, for instance, is highly contagious. The disease is spread through coughing and sneezing. If one child in a classroom of fifty is infected with whooping cough, he or she is likely to infect all the classmates and, in time, a large portion of the school. The results of this could be devastating for all the people involved. Therefore, vaccination is not just a matter of self-protection but also protecting others (Bester, 2017). However, some believe the merits of vaccines are not enough to warrant mandatory immunizations.

Critics of vaccination have always had a barrage of reasons to reject immunization efforts. Nevertheless, all their arguments converge at the point that vaccines are unsafe and ineffective (Ward, 2016). It has happened across history, with opposition to every vaccine developed coming from different quarters like the church, opposing views in the medical profession, and activities groups. The criticism has remained theoretical, and vaccines have proven to be very successful amidst all the negative energy directed towards them. The effectiveness and safety of vaccines have been proven through the eradication of smallpox and the reduction of others like measles and whooping cough (Ward, 2016). As such, the argument of critics is invalid.

Vaccination is a topic that elicits great debate among the people, and there has not been a satisfactory conclusion on the path to take, whether mandatory or voluntary. However, facts speak for themselves; vaccines have been most successful in their intended purpose, and they are for the greater good of society.

Consequently, I would be among the first people to append my signature in a change initiative to make vaccination mandatory. The fears that have always been raised by activists are usually crushed with medical evidence, and there should be nothing to fear. Everyone can try to imagine how things would have been if there was already a vaccine against the coronavirus that is sweeping across the world today.

In conclusion, people should take vaccines more seriously and take advantage of the merits that come with using them. Scientists cannot spend years in the lab to come up with an unsafe and ineffective product for human consumption. For a better and healthier tomorrow for all, vaccines should be made mandatory.

References

Bester, J. (2017). Children, the duty to vaccinate, and the limits of solidarity. The American Journal Of Bioethics, 17(4), 53-55. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2017.1284918

CDC. (2016). History of Smallpox | Smallpox | CDC. Cdc.gov. Retrieved 28 June 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/history/history.html.

Orenstein, W. (2019). Vaccines don’t save lives. Vaccinations save lives. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 15(12), 2786-2789. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2019.1682360

Ward, J. (2016). Rethinking the anti-vaccine movement concept: A case study of public criticism of the swine flu vaccine’s safety in France. Social Science & Medicine, 159, 48-57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.05.003