About twenty years ago parents started to question vaccines and began opting their children out of vaccinations all together. Back when we didn't have access to vaccines we saw a lot more childhood deaths from the illnesses that we have vaccines for now, like measles mumps, rubella, polio, influenza A and B, and many more. Even though we have access to all these vaccines parents are choosing to opt out. This is not only dangerous to that specific child but to the entire community.  Even though vaccines are not 100% effective, all children should be vaccinated because they eradicate certain deadly diseases and decrease childhood mortality rates.   

When parents opt their children out of vaccinations those parent are thinking because everyone else is immunized the "herd" will protect their child, so they will not even need to be vaccinated (Bednarzyck). Since more and more parents are starting to do this, the herd is decreasing leaving our children vulnerable to these nasty eradicated diseases. Herd Immunity is the percentage of vaccinated children within the community. This percentage is used to evaluate how protected a certain community is from specific diseases like Measles Mumps and Rubella (MMR) and influenza A and B. In order to be protected, the community has to be above a certain percentage. For the MMR vaccine to be effective and for the community to be protected the percentage of vaccinated children has to be at least 92-95 percent. In order to keep track of these numbers, parents are required to report their child's vaccination status to the child's school. Most public schools throughout the United States require the children who attend the school to be thoroughly vaccinated.  

  This image depicts herd immunity and shows how the community would be affected if a disease were to break out in the community. This first scenario is what our community looked like before vaccines. This scenario depicts what would happen in the community if no one was immunized and a disease was introduced. If this was our community it would have detrimental effects and almost everyone would contract the disease. The second scenario shows that if only a few in the community are vaccinated and the disease is introduced that most people would catch the disease but there are more who were immune than the first scenario. The third scenario depicts what our community should look like when those who are unable to get vaccinated are protected by the "herd" which has been vaccinated. Scenario three shows that most people were immune to the outbreak, but there were a few of the unvaccinated population who caught the disease. Our community used to look like scenario 3, but as more and more parents choose not to vaccinate their children we are moving toward scenario two. Certain diseases that should have been eradicated are showing up in these communities with low herd immunity, and because these diseases are extremely contagious they spread like wild fire from community to community until they can be contained. There are certain children who cannot be vaccinated due to medical reasons, or they are just too young. In these cases, it is not a choice the parents are given, and they rely on the herd to keep their child safe. Parents who are choosing not to vaccinate are putting their children at risk and there is nothing those kids can do about it. Herd immunity continues to drop all around the country. In order to get back to where our "herd" can protect us again, parents need to be more informed, or else kids will continue to get sick.   

One instance where herd immunity was compromised was the measles outbreak of 2014 at Disneyland in Southern California (Lin, Paragraph 3). The outbreak in California was due to the alarmingly low rate of childhood vaccinations (Lin, Paragraph 2). Some California schools reported that they were at 50 percent or lower herd immunity (Lin, Paragraph 5). A study published by JAMA pediatrics reports the measles outbreak spread to communities with vaccination percentages between 50 to 80 percent (Lin, Paragraph 7). Even with these alarming rates parents are still choosing not to vaccinate their children. It was approximated that about 7 in 10 measles patients were unvaccinated (Lin, Paragraph 5). This is an obscenely high number for a disease that was almost eradicated completely in the United States. The measles can also be a deadly disease and the CDC expects that 1 in every 1000 children that contracts this disease will die from it (Paraagraph 3). 

In 1998, the study that linked vaccinations to autism was published. Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the creator of the study, falsified and changed his results tainting the study and calling into question its validity (Cohen, paragraph 3). In this study, he demonstrated, with his 12 test subjects, that when three specific vaccines were taken together they could alter immune systems which would cause would cause intestinal problems and then damage the brain (Cohen, Paragraph 12). Wakefield published his findings with out them being reviewed and created a wide source of panic among parents. When medical professionals reviewed his work they found no evidence to back up his study and said his sample size was statistically too small to represent the entire population (Cohen, Paragraph 11). The medical journals called his work fraudulent and even stripped him of his medical license (Cohen, Paragraph 11). The CDC conducted studies to with bigger samples sizes trying to repeat the results that Wakefield produced (Vaccines, Paragraph 12). They concluded the same as the medical professionals that there is no link between autism and vaccines also that just because a kid was given a shot and happened to also develop autism does not automatically mean they are related (Vaccines, Paragraph 14). Although his study was retracted and he was stripped of his medical license, the damage was already done. With this link to autism, even though it was false, parents began to question whether these vaccinations should be given to their children and when they should receive them. The media outbreak was crucial to these opinions that parents were forming. Celebrities that have children with autism and others went to the media to speak out against vaccines. This fraudulent study is still prevalent in the decision whether or not to vaccinate your children and is referred to by many parents. 

Parents who choose not to vaccinate their children argue that their child's immune system is strong enough as it is that there is no need to vaccinate (Middleton, Paragraph 12). There is also a group of parents that vaccinate but not on the given schedule or they pick and choose which vaccinations they give their children (Beck, Paragraph 5). These children are also at risk; even though they are partially vaccinated, they are not covered fully and therefore susceptible to the diseases they are not vaccinated for. Lynn Barton was interviewed on CNN and asserted that she doesn't believe in certain vaccines and doesn't think they are helpful (Barton). She emphasizes that the main vaccine she doesn't believe in is the MMR vaccine (Barton). Measles mumps and rubella (MMR) is one of the most common vaccines that is skipped or opted out of (Caroll, Paragraph 6). This is actually a popular opinion amongst the population that chooses not to vaccinate their children. They think the number of vaccines we are being given at a young age is way too many. One of the states with the highest rates of kids who aren't immunized is Oregon (Barton). Of the kindergarten population 26.4 percent are not vaccinated (Barton). The CDC actually travelled to Ashland, Oregon, one of the cities known for having the lowest vaccination rate, to inquire why these parents were opting their children out of vaccinations. The responses they received were astounding. Parents showed little to no regard for the other children in the community especially those who cannot be vaccinated. They had a one tracked mind; everything was all about their children, and they paid no attention to the effect their decisions were having on the community. Jennifer Marguilis claimed she wasn't putting anyone else in danger by not vaccinating her children. She asserts that her children have "robust immune systems" and therefore are not causing anyone else any harm (Barton). When asked how the community was to take her word for it or anyone else's who doesn't vaccinate she became defensive and said "maybe you should give me a test asking did you breast feed your children and for how long, and how often do your kids get sick, and how often do you take them to the doctor" (Barton). This was her justification for her supposedly "extremely healthy kids" that basically we should just take her word for it (Barton). I for one would not take her word for it, so yes maybe her children are healthy, but she is using old factors and even irrelevant factors to argue that point. She claims that she is informed and has done over 20 years of research about the subject yet she still thinks just breast feeding her children will keep them safe from outbreaks of these diseases. What about all the children who caught the measles virus in California at Disneyland? They were probably breast fed too yet they still caught the virus because they were not vaccinated. Many parents have the same opinions as Barton and Marguilis no matter how mislead their research is they still believe they are right and have no regard for the community.

Many states have been trying to push through legislation to require vaccinations for children, but the legislation has not been received well. Parents who think they should have a choice have slandered government officials that have lobbied for these bills. Parents want to have a choice, but I think we are giving them too much of a choice and they are choosing wrong. One bill proposed that every year a parent decides not to vaccinate should require those parents to watch a 20 minute video describing the danger they are putting their child in and how their choices are effecting the community. The bill also suggested doctors and nurses need to be more adamant about the importance of these vaccines. One study reveals that doctors are not doing enough to stress the importance and describe the consequences of the actions parents are taking when choosing not to vaccinate. With the decrease in herd immunity and the couple instances where measles has broke out in our country we are starting to wake up and realize this problem is not going away; its only getting worse. Now we are stuck sitting here wondering when the next big epidemic is going to hit, what it will be, and how we are going to prevent children from dying. These parents who are not vaccinating are taking an unnecessary risk with their child's life. 

In Salt Lake City, Utah, Noah Chesler, a 9-year-old bone marrow transplant recipient was super excited for his first day back to school after two years (Chen, Paragraph 1). When that day arrived Noah was not allowed to return to school because one of his unvaccinated classmates contracted the measles virus (Chen Paragraph 2). The unvaccinated child had traveled outside of the country with their family and contracted the measles virus. The child then returned to school and infected three of their classmates and four others. Children like Noah have immune systems that are too medically compromised to fight off viruses like Measles. Noah's mom says "immunizing your children is more than a personal choice  --  it's a social obligation" (Chen, paragraph 4). These parents do not understand that they are lucky to even have the choice to vaccinate, but because they are choosing not to they are putting those children who cannot get immunized at a high risk. In rural parts of the United States, herd immunity has dropped significantly. In some sections of Utah it drops below 70 percent, and even the wealthiest sections of the state are below the herd mark of 92 percent at 88 percent (Chen, Paragraph 11 and 13). This is a discouraging trend; these vaccines are protecting us from deadly diseases like polio, small pox, and influenza B.  

Parents who have chosen not to vaccinate are not only putting their children at a disadvantage, but also creating more problems for themselves. The CDC put out a set of guidelines for parents with unvaccinated children, which outlines the precautions parents with unvaccinated children, should take if a vaccine preventable disease breaks out in the community. In the pamphlet, parents are instructed to take their children out of school and extracurricular activities for days to sometimes weeks (CDC, paragraph 2). This puts those children at a disadvantage, they could fall behind in school and miss important curriculum (CDC, paragraph 3). At that point it is almost better to home school unvaccinated children The CDC pamphlet goes on to argue "with the decision to delay or reject vaccines comes an important responsibility that could save your child's life, or the life of someone else" (CDC, paragraph 1). The most important part of this statement is the word responsibility and that's the point the parents who are choosing not to vaccinate are missing. With this choice comes the responsibility to not only your child, but all the children in the community. During the CNN interview, Jennifer Marguilis was asked what she thought about having her children around unvaccinated children who could not get vaccinated for medical reasons, and if she was putting them in danger. She asserts that she rejects the assumption that she should get her child vaccinated as a moral obligation to better the community (Barton).  This statement is the one the doctors are starting to fear the most because the more parents that adopt this selfish point of view the less protected our community as a whole becomes. Another important factor for parents to remember is that hospitals and doctors offices are cesspools for bacteria and viruses. Whenever an unvaccinated child is brought into a hospital the doctors have to be notified immediately so they can isolate the child to protect others from the vaccine preventable diseases.  

Ultimately it comes down to the 20 year old argument of whether or not you should vaccinate your children. All children should be vaccinated. Not only are we putting our separate communities in danger, but, we are putting the entire country at risk by choosing not to vaccinate. If this trend continues and herd immunity continues to drop, it is not a matter of if another outbreak will occur it is when will it occur. Another outbreak will happen we are not sufficiently protected anymore and we will continue to not only lose members of our community but people we love. We are privileged to have access to these vaccines, but now we have made a choice to disregard everything that happened before they were created, and to ignore all these deadly diseases that we do not hear about because we have protected ourselves against them in the past. These diseases will rear their ugly heads again and when they do there will be mass casualties unless we can turn our country around and get the unvaccinating parents to realize these vaccines are for the best; in order to protect our country everyone needs to get them that can.

