To vaccinate or not to vaccinate, that has been a controversial topic since the creation of vaccinations throughout history.  Many parents are for vaccinations in order to keep their children safe from diseases and keeping diseases from spreading.  They also are for helping end diseases, "In the past 60 years, vaccines helped eradicate one disease (smallpox) and are close to eradicating others such as polio" (Vaccine Safety). Even though those parents against vaccinations know vaccines help prevent diseases and help eradicate them, many do not think vaccines are safe for their children to get. There has been a supposed link between vaccinations and the cause of autism, discouraging parents from getting vaccines that could help their children. There has always been some controversy surrounding mandatory vaccinations since the United States started making vaccines to enter school mandatory for children. Ethical concerns arouse about making vaccines mandatory because those parents that opposed were concerned about the safety of the vaccines. Many parents doubted the research and testing done on the vaccines and did not want the vaccine tested on their children. Also the ethical debate of making sure the child has conformed consent to get a vaccination, even though legally they do not have to have it. The vaccination of children should be mandatory in order to help prevent diseases, keep them safe because to the safety of the vaccinations, and provide economic benefits for society. 

Vaccines were created in order to immunize individuals from diseases and help prevent them from getting sick. According to Alexandra Minna Stern and Howard Markel of Health Affairs.org, vaccines were first invented in 1796 by Edward Jenner, a doctor who noticed milkmaids were immune to outbreaks of smallpox once they were exposed to it. He took pus from a cowpox wound on a milkmaid and put it in a young boy. The boy became unchanged by the exposure and became immune when he came in contact again with smallpox. After several experiments like this one, it was concluded that having interaction with diseases can cause you to not be affected by them since your body has already become accustom to fight the disease. Jenner's findings provided a base for vaccines to improve and change as time went on. The vaccination of other diseases began to develop and investments by companies allowed more vaccines to be created. When vaccines were still new in the early 1830's, there were still those who protested vaccines. Many people thought it was an "intrusion of their privacy and bodily integrity" (Markel and Stern). The government responded later in time by deciding it was okay to immunization in order to help the common good. The government took an official stance in 1905 during the Jacobson vs. Massachusetts case declaring the need to protect the public health by having mandatory smallpox vaccines outweighs the general publics right to privacy. The controversy continued and many parents also came to fear the safety of the vaccines and the affect they will have on their children. Parents showed their concern in "1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA), spearheaded by parents troubled by a putative link between vaccination and neurological problems, illustrates that legislators and scientists alike continue to be exceedingly concerned with the issue of vaccine safety. In the past decade in particular, parents and their have raised important questions about the purported link between a noticeable rise in autism and the preservative thimerosal" (Markel and Stern). The controversy surrounding the safety of vaccinations has been an ongoing debate that many parents are still concerned about today. The history of vaccinations has played an integrate role in understanding vaccines and why they are controversial. 

Keeping children safe is the main priority of vaccines. The vaccination of children should be mandatory in order to keep children safe from diseases and help prevent them from getting sick. In order to make sure children get the necessary vaccines, a mandatory regulation of them is the only way to be sure. In schools' kids are always around other kids, making it an ideal place for diseases to spread. To avoid an epidemic from occurring, mandatory vaccinations are required for school, unless you have a religious reason. Leaving a child unvaccinated puts them at risk to contract a disease and then spread the disease to other unvaccinated children. More common diseases like influenza are being spread to children, mainly by being in school and causing those not vaccinated to get sick. "Influenza is an important cause of acute respiratory infections and hospitalization in children. Since influenza may be indistinguishable from other respiratory and febrile illnesses, identification of infection requires diagnostic testing. Population-based studies report attack rates ranging from 15% to 42% in preschool and school children during typical outbreaks" (Grijalva). The number of children who get sick from the outbreaks could be lower if the children had the vaccinations that should be mandatory, then they would not get infected when outbreaks occur. Those who do not want mandatory vaccinations believe that the chance of getting infected is not high enough to risk the chance of getting hurt by the vaccines. Being against mandatory vaccinations does not mean that they are against the health and wellbeing of any children. The reason why some parents do not want their child vaccinated is because they think they are protecting them from being harmed by the vaccination itself. Vaccination do not harm children they help them, "Vaccines are only given to children after a long and careful review by scientists, doctors, and healthcare professionals. Vaccines will involve some discomfort and may cause pain, redness, or tenderness at the site of injection but this is minimal compared to the pain, discomfort, and trauma of the diseases these vaccines prevent. Serious side effects following vaccination, such as severe allergic reaction, are very rare" (Five Important Reasons). Getting vaccinated now causes the children less pain and keeps them safe from the pain of getting infected with a disease. In order to keep the number of outbreaks down, vaccines should be mandatory to contain diseases as much as possible. The use of vaccines in modern time has allowed the death rate to decrease of those who die of diseases that have vaccinations like influenza or measles. Before vaccinations, many would die of the measles and now measles outbreaks rarely occur in the United States and is almost eliminated completely due to vaccinations. By having mandatory vaccinations, several formally common deadly diseases now are able to be prevented almost entirely. 

Those against vaccinations are concerned about the effectiveness of them. Many parents are concerned that the vaccinations can harm their child and if it would even be effective since the chance of getting one of the diseases is unlikely. There has been doubt that vaccines are tested and approved properly, "most vaccine-related research focuses on the outcomes of single immunizations or combinations of vaccines administered at a single visit. Although each new vaccine is evaluated in the context of the overall immunization schedule that existed at the time of review of that vaccine, elements of the schedule are not evaluated once it is adjusted to accommodate a new vaccine. Thus, key elements of the entire schedule  --  the number, frequency, timing, order and age at administration of vaccines  --  have not been systematically examined in research studies" (Institute of Medicine). There is only so much testing the Food and Drug Admiration can do before approving vaccines. They cannot test them forever and the government has been dependable when it comes to the safety of the citizens, which is their main priority. There has been flaws, like in every society, but the Food and Drug Administration is a reliable government program that has strict rules and regulations that keep the citizens safe. There has also been a myth that the media has intensified, about the link between autism and vaccines. The news has talked about many times how some parents believe there is a link between them due to the history of the vaccines. Celebrities have also been encouraging parents not to vaccinate their children because they believe there is a link to autism. There has never been any scientific backing of the claim, "Five cohort studies involving 1,256,407 children, and five case-control studies involving 9920 children were included in this analysis. The cohort data revealed no relationship between vaccination and autism (OR: 0.99; 95% CI: 0.92 to 1.06) or ASD (OR: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.68 to 1.20), or MMR (OR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.70 to 1.01), or thimerosal (OR: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.77 to 1.31), or mercury (Hg) (OR: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.93 to 1.07). Similarly, the case-control data found no evidence for increased risk of developing autism or ASD following MMR, Hg, or thimerosal exposure when grouped by condition (OR: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.83 to 0.98; p = 0.02) or grouped by exposure type (OR: 0.85, 95% CI: 0.76 to 0.95; p = 0.01)" (Novella). Scientists have actually disproven the claim but many parents are unaware. Parents need to be more informed about the topic and how they are not linked and get their information from different sources. Also parents are concerned that vaccinations are irrelevant because getting sick with a disease is rare and they do not want to put their child through unnecessary pain. This is not correct because there is still a chance the child can be infected and if every parent had this mentality, no children would get vaccinated and a lot more schools would have outbreaks. Getting a vaccine is a lot less painful then actually getting sick with the disease itself. Getting vaccinated benefits everyone and those who do not believe are the reason why the government needs to make vaccinations of children mandatory.

The safety of vaccinations has been an ongoing debate in the controversial issue of mandatory vaccinations. Some parents believe vaccines has been linked to autism or that the vaccine injection itself is not safe and can cause physical harm. As time has gone on, vaccinations themselves have improved as technology and medical information has improved. Parents have also become scared to vaccinate their children due to the media headlines, "in September 2009 a headline in the UK newspaper Daily Mail declared that "Schoolgirl 14 dies after cervical cancer jab", quoting the head teacher as saying, "During the session an unfortunate incident occurred and one of the girls suffered a rare, but extreme reaction to the vaccine." Three days later reports revealed that the girl had cancer and the death was coincidental: however this was not headline news, and this tragic event is used repeatedly on websites as proof of the dangers of the HPV vaccine." The extreme cases are being portray which discourages parents to get their children vaccinated, even though the chance of them being harmed is highly unlikely. Vaccines are safe for children to have and the medical ingredients in vaccines are most likely not harmful and do nothing but help children not get sick. "All vaccines are made with the same goal in mind: separate the parts of the virus or bacteria that make you sick from the parts that induce a protective immune response ... " (Offit). Vaccines are made to help children and are safe because they approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research facilities who try and only regulate vaccines that are ensured safety to the public. One of the former ingredients, thimerosal, is specifically a concern for parents because it contains mercury which caused harm to several patients in previous years. The ingredient has been taken out, but the lasting fear has been instilled in anti-vaccination parents. Vaccines are made safely and sterilely in government facilities, all approved and tested by the government regulations. Many of the other ingredients in vaccinations are harmful if given a larger quantity amount, but the vaccines are made safely. The Food and Drug Administration requires ten years of testing before the vaccine can be approved, and makes sure the vaccines are safely tested before kids are given them. There can be side effects to every medical application that is put in your body, but the percent of side effects is vastly outweighed by the positive attributes vaccines on children's health and wellbeing. 

Vaccines provide several economic benefits to different societies around the world. By getting children vaccinated, parents are able to save time and money. Instead of having a child get sick from one of the diseases, parents are able to save money by not dealing with a sick child and medical attention required. The financial obligation to having a sick child can be a lot with or without insurance and by not paying for this, the family can spend more money in the economy, which helps the economy. They are also able to save time by not having to take care of their child if they got sick with on of the diseases and can do more productive things with their time.  By being more productive, parents are able to benefit society and work harder and not taking days off work, helping the production of the economy. Also governments are able to save money on health care, "In India, for example, the introduction of childhood rotavirus vaccination is projected to save nearly US$ 21 million in treatment costs per year" (Mirelman). The money they save can be put towards benefiting society in many other valuable ways, which can help the overall welfare of citizens and the economy. Also having a society with healthier individuals allows for an increase in the social value of the life of individuals and having more 

The vaccine of children should be mandatory in order to protect children for their own safety. Vaccinations prevent children from getting infected with diseases and help prevent children from spreading and getting other children sick. They are safe and approved by the Food and Drug Administration, causing no harm to the child that receives the vaccine.  In order to help solve the issue of not having some children vaccinated, the government needs to step in and help make vaccinations mandatory for all children. To do this many fear that vaccinating a lot of people at once can can cause harm due to ineffectiveness and a greater chance of causing mistakes on patients. The government needs to require vaccinations regardless or religious reasons and make vaccines inexpensive and accessible by possibly having nurses go to the kids and have them be vaccinated at local schools or churches. In order to make vaccinations inexpensive, the money could come from the money being saved by not having to pay medical expenses for children who get sick with a disease that could be treatable by vaccinations. The affordable care act is trying to implement the idea of the government paying for vaccines to make sure everyone gets them if they cannot afford them. According to the act, "If you don't have insurance, or if it does not cover vaccines, the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program may be able to help.  This program provides vaccines at no cost to doctors who serve eligible children. Children younger than 19 years of age are eligible for VFC vaccines if they are Medicaid-eligible, American Indian or Alaska Native or have no health insurance" (How to Pay). This bill would help make sure no child is discriminated against when it comes to getting vaccinations and help more children get vaccinated. Finally, to try and get more children vaccinated, the government should punish those who do not get their children vaccinated. If the government makes them mandatory the only way to get some parents to vaccinate their child is to force them too. Having an incentive like not getting a fine or going to jail would encourage more parents to keep their children safe and vaccinated.

