Topic: Should Childhood Vaccinations be Mandatory? Is it a parent’s right to refuse?
The issue concerning childhood vaccinations has become a controversial topic to many parents. This is because many parents are undecided on whether to administer the vaccination to their children or not. As a health officer, I always work with children and sometimes faced cases where parents report impairments to their children, which are caused by administration of vaccines. The issue concerning childhood vaccination has even made some parents to deny their children from being vaccinated (Lee & Robinson, 2016). They always feel that they have the right to make decisions based on the health of their children. However, children who are not vaccinated may end up being affected with some life-threatening diseases. In this case, the above topic will help analyze and showcase if vaccine administration is mandatory and what are the parents’ reactions towards it.
Vaccine plays an important role to the health system of many children. It helps eradicate different diseases that can be diagnosed to be harmful on the well being of children. However, some parents feel that administration of childhood vaccines should not be mandatory since it affects children. In this case, vaccines that are considered to be mandatory end up eradicating dangerous diseases. As a recent advance, vaccination tends to have a huge influence on children as it can save lives ( Silverman & Hendrix, 2015) . Diseases such as smallpox are considered to be dangerous, but it has been eradicated through the use of vaccines. It is advisable for parents to administer the vaccination to their children to keep them immune from different diseases.
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On the other hand, parents have denied their children to be offered any vaccines. Most of them state that childhood vaccination tends to cause impairments to their children. The measles outbreak in 2014 caused a massive debate on whether vaccination should be mandatory. There are reported cases where vaccination ends up causing further impairments to disabled children. Some parents feel that childhood vaccination should not be offered before confirmation from health institutions on whether they are safe (Reich, 2016). There may be no answers on the issue concerning mandatory vaccination to children. Governments should ensure that there are introduced policies that govern the issue of childhood vaccination. Countries are advised to implement changes on laws that allow childhood vaccination because it helps eradicate dangerous conditions.
On matters concerning childhood vaccination, the public is beyond any freedom of opinion. This is because individuals should not be allowed to make their own decisions as it will end up affecting children health. Studies have proven that there is a decrease of certain life-threatening diseases due to the administration of vaccines (Hendrix et al., 2016). Children are considered to be more vulnerable in contracting dangerous diseases compared to adults. Thus, governments should enforce vaccination programs to take place in their localities. There are many reported cases of infants and children who have died since they were not offered any vaccination. In this case, vaccines are introduced to help protect individuals from dangerous diseases.
On the contrary, parents who feel that their children should not be vaccinated have a major reason. They feel that childhood vaccination may have an impact on their children. Therefore, the government has to ensure that vaccination does not cause any harm to children. Health practitioners should ensure that they safely administer childhood vaccination to avoid any future complication to children. Other than that, the government should create sufficient awareness on the importance of vaccination. Through outreach, parents will end up being aware of childhood vaccination and what purpose it serves in children lives.
References
Hendrix, K. S., Sturm, L. A., Zimet, G. D., & Meslin, E. M. (2016). Ethics and childhood vaccination policy in the United States. American journal of public health , 106 (2), 273-278.
Lee, C., & Robinson, J. L. (2016). Systematic review of the effect of immunization mandates on uptake of routine childhood immunizations. Journal of Infection , 72 (6), 659-666.
Reich, J. A. (2016). Calling the shots: Why parents reject vaccines . NYU Press.
Silverman, R. D., & Hendrix, K. S. (2015). Point: should childhood vaccination against measles be a mandatory requirement for attending school? Yes. Chest , 148 (4), 852-854.
