Government Mandated Vaccinations: A Necessity for Public Health

It’s been argued that the government shouldn’t have the authority to require vaccinations. While in most cases you should have a say in what you do with your body, immunizations are important. Most people would agree that you should do what is best for your body. Therefore, if everyone actually believed this, then everyone would be vaccinated already. The best solution to the outbreaks of life threatening diseases is immunizations. The government has the responsibility to protect people, including the people who can’t be vaccinated. In addition, vaccinating everyone who can be vaccinated protects those who cannot for health reasons. The government has the right to put laws in place that protect the greater good, in this case requiring vaccinations.

Once again, while every individual should have a say in what happens with their body, vaccinations affect everyone. As a result, when people choose not to vaccinate, they are putting people around them at risk. Before a person knows they are sick, they can carry the illness and spread it to the people they come in contact with. Thus, outbreaks occur, starting with one person. Frequently, people who refuse to vaccinate due to personal beliefs tend are uninformed or misguided. Occasionally they are putting off vaccinations in the view of the inconvenience to go to the doctor to receive immunizations. Although exempts from religious beliefs are less common, they are also putting themselves and those around them at risk. People need to realize that vaccines are safe and can protect you from receiving a serious

They think that giving their baby a vaccination isn’t necessary and can wait until they are older. However, little do they know that by delaying or spreading them out actually puts their child at more risk of catching a serious disease. Therefore, the longer a child waits to be vaccinated the more chance that child has to catch a disease it’s not protected from. Children are more at risk considering they aren’t immune to as many illnesses as adults are. It’s important to listen to your doctor and follow their recommended immunization schedule (California Immunization Coalition np). Most doctors follow the CDC recommended immunization schedule that is evaluated closely and updated every year (California Immunization Coalition np). Spreading out shots isn’t a good idea either as this allows your child more time to catch a disease that could have been prevented with a vaccine. Some parents don’t want their child to have to receive so many vaccines at one time. However, as stated earlier receiving multiple shots at once is safe. This also will save time at the doctor’s office and the number of injections a child will have to