Vaccination Mandatory For All Children: Case Study

Kriti Singhvi
WR100 A3
May 23, 2014
Room for Debate Over the years, sustainable achievements have been made in controlling many diseases through vaccination. Yet, there remains the question whether vaccination should be made compulsory or not. On March 23, 2014, in the Room for Debate column of New York Times, five qualified people way in their opinion on the topic “Making Vaccination Mandatory for All Children”. Kristen A. Feemster, a physician and health services researcher, feels that vaccines must be compulsory for all children. She believes that vaccines not only protect individuals but also their neighbor. Feemster says that “Vaccines protect our neighbors --like following traffic laws, drug tests at work, paying taxes”1and
However, there are many law-breakers regardless of the consequences. In this case, people with strong religious beliefs will object to mandating vaccines despite the penalty they will have to fill. Feermster fails to speak on spreading awareness on the importance of vaccinations in order to get the people overcome their beliefs against vaccination. Furthermore, Feermster talks about the scientific and public health community’s duty to ensure safety and efficiency in order to gain people’s trust in vaccination. She states that the current vaccination schedule is both safe and effective; yet, one can question that the main reason parents object to compulsory vaccination is because of their doubts about the safety of their child, so how exactly is this a solution. What Feermster neglects is that the scientific and public health community should not only ensure but also prove the schedules safety and
As the saying goes “Prevention is better than Cure”. This is what vaccines are all about. Vaccines help prevent a disease by making one’s body immune to it. I also agree with Kristen A. Feemster that mandatory vaccine is a shared responsibility. By getting our child immunized, we not only protect our child but also everyone surrounding him/her. To add to her words, by making vaccinations compulsory for every child, the officials will be able to create a more safe and healthy environment where a very few people get infected. Parents should understand that this law has been made to protect their children. If any of their community member gets infected their child will remain immune to that disease because of the vaccination. Furthermore, they will be less likely to fall sick at times of an outbreak. As I mentioned earlier, it is always better to take precautions rather than spend money to get