Vaccinations need to be made mandatory for children in order to provide protection for the individual and the community. This essay will explain how best to implement a more strict policy on vaccination requirements, administration, and availability. Statistical evidence will reinforce the idea that vaccinations should be required for children as the risks for vaccination caused illness are miniscule in comparison to the overwhelming health benefits. As it will be later explained, vaccination protects children from a multitude of diseases. Although there are risks to vaccinating, it is necessary to take this measured risk in order to receive the health benefit for the greater population. Is getting a disease and suffering from the illness more important than getting a little shot and being protected? There are two strong sides to this argument: pro-vaccination and anti-vaccination. Included in the pro-vaccination population are those who opt out of vaccinations; this population benefits from those who receive vaccinations. At the moment, the state laws allow "medical exemptions, and some state laws also offer exemptions for religious and/or philosophical reasons" (State, 2016). The federal government needs to step in and strengthen the state vaccination requirements on a national level in order to increase public health and safety. 

The focus of this essay will be on reforming the federal system for vaccination requirements. The goal is to have a federal law mandating the administration of vaccinations to all personnel feasibly capable of receiving them. School administration and parents with young children are the target audience for the proposed program, as they are the population for whom this program is most relevant. The plan is to start education programs in convenient places such as schools and town halls so that parents can attend and learn facts about vaccinations. The parents of children in preschool will be targeted for the distribution of pamphlets, newsletter, flyers, and any other source discussing, defining, and debating vaccinations. Annually, "vaccination coverage among children entering school is assessed" and it was reported that unvaccinated children "ranged from <0.1% to 7.0%" (Vaccination Coverage 2012). It is important to provide all information on this topic and to remove as much bias as possible so that parents can make an educated decision. Mandating vaccinations will have a positive effect on the entire population. 

In order to provide a better public health, the federal government needs to reevaluate existing vaccination requirements in each state and create a universal law for the requirement of vaccinations. The time is now for parents and guardians who are pro-vaccination to bring up changes to policies. This year, a new President of the United States will be elected and changes will most likely be made to the health care system. If attention can be brought to vaccination requirements and the people's voice can reach the White House, then a real change will happen. When the government implements a new regulation requiring that parents vaccinate their children, it will provide more protection to those religiously, medically, philosophically unable to receive vaccinations.

It is important to understand the basic meaning of a vaccination before further discussion. As defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a vaccination is a manufactured serum consisting of an "'imitation' infection" for a specific disease that will allow a body's immune system to produce antibodies that will fight the infection (Centers for Disease, 2012). Antibodies are naturally produced in the body when the immune system identifies an invader. Once antibodies have been produced, the body will hold on to them, making the body much stronger and more prepared if the specific disease reenters. As soon as an immune response is triggered by the disease, disease-specific antibodies will attack and breakdown the invader cells (Centers of Disease, 2012). It is the role of the immune system to protect the human body when it is invaded. Vaccinations aid in this protection being efficient and effective as they produce the necessary antibodies without experiencing the symptoms of the disease. Vaccinations can save your life. It is as simple as that. Many diseases in the world can cause major complications, including death. With the help of vaccinations, your body can protect itself at a more efficient and effective rate. It has been reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that the measles vaccine has decrease childhood deaths by 74% (Vaccines ProCon.org). Furthermore, it is stated by the American Academy of Pediatrics that "most childhood vaccines are 90% to 99% effective in preventing disease" (Vaccines ProCon.org). This data show that there are clear benefits to vaccination, thus, putting in place requirements for vaccinations will benefit society as a whole.

In this vein, parents should take proper steps to protect their children, as a child does not have the life experience or education to make this decision due to their young age. Parents who vaccinate their child are protecting them from contracting diseases their premature immune systems could be corrupted by (U.S. Food, 2015). A baby does not have a well-developed immune system, allowing children to be more prone to illness and likely to suffer greater complications. In an article published by the CDC, the story of a baby boy named Parker is told. His parents decided to talk to their physician and learn the facts about vaccinations. As they saw the support for vaccinations from credible medical professionals, they decided to begin the immunization schedule and get their young son vaccinated (When to, 2015). At four months old, Parker underwent the prescribed vaccinations for his age (When to, 2015). His parents were told he was "given the best protection there is from 14 serious diseases before he turns 2 years old" (What Are, 2015). Even though some new parents may be wary on the idea of vaccinating their young child, it is a parent's priority to protect their child and vaccinations offer the best protection from serious childhood diseases. Parker is now a healthy toddler and has not contracted any of the vaccine preventable diseases. By following an immunization schedule, it is likely "a child will not become exposed to these life threatening illnesses" prior to the administration of the vaccination (What Are, 2015). By staying on schedule with immunizations, the best possible protection for a child's health is provided (When to, 2015).

Another example as to why vaccinations are so beneficial and lifesaving is because they protect those who cannot receive them. This is called 'herd immunity' and will help protect those who cannot be vaccinated for medical, religious, or philosophical reasons (Carroll, 2014). Herd immunity is defined as 80% of a population receiving a vaccination (Carroll, 2014). What this does is it makes it extremely difficult for a disease to spread through a population as most people are registered as immune to it. If the disease is unable to find a person to infect, then there is no way it can survive. Without a disease surviving, those who are not vaccinated are less likely to become ill from it. It is true that those suffering from cancer cannot receive vaccinations (Carroll, 2014). 

One of the exceptions to vaccination administration is for medical reasons. A population that cannot receive vaccinations due to medical reasons are cancer patients. As these individuals are already battling and suffering, the community surrounding them should do all they can to help out. There are endless efforts to help cancer patients continue their fight and survive, vaccinations over a population should be another effort to help save their lives. Susanna Esposito, a well-respected doctor, further discusses the topic of "children with cancer [possibly] be[ing] immunocompromised" (Esposito, 2010). Being immunocompromised means that one has a weakened immune system, therefore they are unable to fight back diseases and illnesses that a healthy body could. For cancer patients, the compromise is due to treatment. Chemotherapy breaks down and reduces the function of the immune system making these individuals more susceptible to illness. In order to provide protection for these individuals, the surrounding population can receive vaccinations and create the so-called herd immunity making illness less likely to affect the immunocompromised and creating a barrier of protection for them. 

On the religious and philosophical side of things, herd immunity will also allow those who choose to not be vaccinated due to their beliefs and practices to stay healthy and protected from the harmful illnesses. Due to the benefits the exception populations receive from those who are vaccinated, they support the pro-vaccination argument. Previously mentioned, herd immunity will allow those who have religious of philosophical beliefs to be protected from disease that otherwise would likely kill them. For these reasons, religious and philosophical, a vaccination requirement should have exceptions. It is important to recognize that not everyone in a population can receive the same treatment.

Looking at the other side of the argument, specifically the rights of individuals, we go into the argument of how the government can regulate what our body is exposed to. A lot of people will argue that we have a right to our own body and no higher power should be able to speak for the population as a whole. Currently, a government agency known as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates and advises the nation on what food people can and cannot consume, among other products. The FDA is controlling what food substances a human puts into their body. This idea of government controlling what is ingested into the human body can be mirrored by the idea of government controlling what is injected into the body, supporting the idea that vaccination regulation is not far off from regulations the nation currently has in place. One organization has been making vaccination available for 22 years for those who would not be able to afford them. This organization is known as the "Vaccines For Children (VFC) program is a federally funded program that provides vaccines at no cost to children who might not otherwise be vaccinated because of inability to pay" (VFC Program, 2016). This is so important because it offers the ability of vaccines for children while keeping them on schedule and protecting them from 16 diseases.  As seen with the FDA regulating food and other ingested products, they are already stepping in to benefit society as a whole. This helps support the validity of vaccination requirements.  

Secondly, some parents believe that vaccinating their child will be harmful (Huff, 2014). The ingredients in a vaccination can sometimes cause illness, and even fatality, but the likelihood of those events occurring is very, very slim. According to Vaccines.com, the likelihood of having a reaction caused by "a vaccination such as measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) or diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccine is less than 1 in 1,000,000," this number is lower than the possibility of becoming a millionaire. It is argued by Dr. Meryl Nass that vaccinations are neither safe nor ethical to administer. Her belief is brought about because of the idea of injecting children with unnatural substances. One example is aluminum; aluminum is in vaccines in order to cause a reaction that activates the production of antibodies in the immune system. Risks such as injecting children with unnatural substances are putting individuals in danger. Dr. Nass specifically discusses the study done on girls receiving the Gardasil vaccination.  This injection was recorded to cause many deaths for those who received it. The deaths were occurring with no real explanation as to what was going wrong. It is argued that there are too many unknowns and risks with vaccinations and until there are reasons why and answers to the infamous questions relating to vaccination safety, the administration should not continue (Parrella, 2012). 

Now we look into the world of those individuals who have chosen not to be vaccinated and evaluate their lives from this decision. It has been reported that "2.1 million children 19 to 35 months of age" are undervaccinated, including children not vaccinated at all (Smith, 2004). These children are put "at [an] increased risk of acquiring and transmitting vaccine-preventable diseases" (Smith, 2004). A study was performed on "a total of 151,720 children sampled between 1995 and 2001, 795 of whom were unvaccinated" in order to see what the reason was for the under- and un-vaccination (Smith, 2004). It was concluded that most children that were undervaccinated "tended to be black, to have a younger mother who was not married and did not have a college degree, to live in a household near the poverty level, and to live in a central city" (Smith, 2004). Those who were unvaccinated "tended to be white, to have a mother who was married and had a college degree, to live in a household with an annual income exceeding 75,000 dollars, and to have parents who expressed concerns regarding the safety of vaccines and indicated that medical doctors have little influence over vaccination decisions for their children" (Smith, 2004). It can be assumed that those who are undervaccinated do not have the resources to know when to and how to become vaccinated. While those who are unvaccinated tend to be from a family with parents concerned about the safety of vaccinations. 

I strongly encourage that parents, healthcare professionals, and school administrators act on this issue and support the fight for childhood vaccination requirements. I suggest that these groups, as well as others who feel passionately about requiring vaccinations, ensure that children who can become vaccinated do so in order to protect themselves, their community, and those who cannot be vaccinated.

