Should Parents Be Allowed To Vaccinate Children

Vaccines to protect people from various diseases have been around since the late 1940’s. The DTP vaccine, which protected against Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis, also a Smallpox vaccine was available. By the late 1950’s the Polio vaccine was also made available. More Vaccines were added by the late 1960’s such as mumps, measles, and rubella known as the MMR vaccine. Over the years more and more vaccines have been added to that list. Children have been receiving the required vaccine for many, many years. Most schools require children to have all the necessary immunizations before they can begin school. Choosing whether to have your child vaccinated or not has been an issue with parents for many years. Some parents are all for

Some reasons parents chose to vaccinate their children is because they want to keep their children healthy and they believe that immunizations will help do that. They believe that it will protect their children from getting serious diseases that can be life-threatening. Vaccines can also protect against infectious diseases that can be brought into the United States from people traveling from other countries where such diseases are more common. All vaccines are carefully tested and reviewed by scientists and have to be approved by the government, to make sure they are safe. Many organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the Centers for Disease control, strongly support immunizations for children. In the article “ The Case for Vaccine Choice” it says “Vaccines helps us avoid acute illnesses and, in doing so, lower death rates.” Joseph Cooney (2016, p.31) For more than fifty years immunizations have eliminated such diseases as Smallpox, and very drastically reduced other diseases like measles, mumps, polio, chicken pox and others. There are several positive reasons to vaccinate children. Still, many parents choose not to have their children