In 1796, Edward Jenner created a breakthrough by “vaccinating” a young eight-year-old boy from smallpox. Since then, ____ vaccines have been made and have protected over ____ people in the world. However, just like with any success, anti-vaccinationists held their first meeting in 1882 and have since continued to argue against vaccines. Arguments have spread from enforcing a natural immunity and letting the individual decide- not the parents, to vaccines causing autism. However, the beliefs of anti-vaccinationist’s no longer affect just individuals in a society, but is escalating into a social and health issue that is beginning to affect the whole country due to lack of herd immunity. Therefore, several actions need to take place to pose as a solution to this problem. In order to halt a decline in anti-vaccinations, Americans must answer the question: What is better? Natural immunity or vaccine acquired immunity? Should vaccines be free choice and does an individual’s choice not to get vaccinated put others at risk? 

According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center, “vaccines are made of dead or weakened antigens” (Pappas). Because of this, the dead or weakened antigens cannot cause an infection but they are still able to allow the immune system to see them as an enemy and produce antibodies to ward them off (Pappas). Once this is done, the immune cells put them in their memory to remain in the body and if the antigen enters the body again, the immune cells will be able to produce antibodies faster and take out the antigens quicker (Pappas). Also, many people believe in a thing called natural immunity, which is when a person is exposed to a live pathogen and develops a primary immune response, which leads to immunological memory. Many people prefer this because “natural infection almost always causes better immunity than vaccines” whereas immunity from vaccines usually occurs only after several doses (Pappas). However, the difference between vaccination and natural infection is the price paid for immunity. By law before a vaccine can be licensed in the U.S. it must undergo very extensive testing (Pappas). Once in use, vaccines are continually monitored for safety and efficacy. Vaccines are our best defense against infectious diseases, but no vaccine is 100 percent safe or 100 percent effective (Pappas). 

This is where the issue begins. Since no United States federal vaccination laws exist, many parents do not see the need to have them vaccinated. However, all 50 states have laws that require children to be vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (generally in a DTaP vaccine); polio (an IPV vaccine); and measles and rubella (generally in an MMR vaccine) (Wolfson). In most states, a child can attend school or day care if a proper exemption is obtained (Wolfson). However, when there is an outbreak of vaccine-preventable disease, children who have not had the disease and who have not been vaccinated are often excluded from school or day care (Wolfson). Jack Wolfson is a cardiologist at Wolfson Integrative Cardiology and he believes that “our children have the right to get infections. We have immune systems for that purpose…We cannot sterilize the body [with vaccines] … We need to be affected by these viruses… and we can treat it all naturally.” (Wolfson). Along with Wilson, Neil Z. Miller believes that “health authorities do not believe that your child is entitled to be educated unless he or she has first been indoctrinated and intoxicated by the demigods of vaccination. Parents who question the necessity and morality of this dangerous and invasive policy are derisively informed that unvaccinated children are a scourge on society.” (Miller). Miller also believes that many people are being forced to vaccinate their children or else the “protective cocoon will fail”, meaning to him that vaccines only work when there is herd immunity (Miller). Along with Wolfson and Miller, Barbara Fisher, Co-founder and President of the National Vaccines Information Center, she believes that “if [citizens] cannot be free to make informed, voluntary decisions about which pharmaceutical products we are willing to risk our lives for, then we are not free in any sense of the word”. Since vaccines are not “legally required for your child to enter school, each state offers legal exemptions to “mandatory” injections” (Miller). 

Vaccines were first introduced over 200 years ago to help people “build antibodies that enable and create a defense against illness” (Zangger 22). However, over the past 10 years’ parents have felt hesitant towards vaccinating their children, “causing the risk of infectious disease to the young and old to increase” (Zangger 22). Today’s parents seem to be concerned with possible side effects from vaccines which is what is causing them to refuse vaccination of their children from deadly diseases. 

Since 1882 when anti-vaccionationist met for the first time, a plethora of similar questions and arguments have since approached. Many believe that giving vaccines to infants is a cause to autism ever since Dr. Andrew Wakefield published an article in the medical journal Lancet claiming “eight children who showed signs of autism within days of being inoculated for measles, mumps and rubella” (Park). Even though Dr. Wakefield’s article has since been disproven and removed by the GMC, many parents still believe vaccines cause other side effects and since they are being administered so early, they are destroying the chance for people to acquire natural immunity. However, Dr. Wakefield’s studies were conducted without “ethical approval of the hospital” and he was also paying “children at [Dr. Wakefield’s] son’s birthday party for blood samples” (Park). 

This issue yields a problem as current United States law states that “vaccinations upon kindergarten entry [is required]” (Zangger 22). Because of this, current national vaccine rates remain high; however, people are allowed personal belief exemptions which allows low vaccinations rates and making herd immunity nearly impossible to obtain. PACV Survey was created as a valid tool “to help identify vaccine-hesitant parents” and allows for an “increase in the number of times a parents are exposed to evidence-based vaccine information” (Zangger 29). Essentially, by providing PowerPoints on vaccines to parents its relinquishes the fears and worries some had and cause them to decide to get their infant vaccinated.

Just as some people believe one thing, there are always two sides to the story. Many people believe that "vaccines save lives and protect against the spread of disease.” (AAPS). By deciding not to immunize your child, you put your child at risk and they could catch a disease that is dangerous or deadly. When thinking of the consequences, one should see that getting vaccinated is much better than getting the disease. Over years it has been successfully proven that vaccines work. They have kept and continue to keep children healthy and have saved millions of lives for more than 50 years. The reason most childhood vaccines are recommended is because “vaccines are 90% to 99% effective in prevent diseases” (CDC). Also, all vaccines are safe and have to be tested by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before they are allowed to be administered. In many parts of the world many vaccine-preventable diseases are still common. Since diseases may be brought into the United States by Americans who travel abroad or from people visiting areas with current disease outbreaks it's important that your children are vaccinated (AAPS). 

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) stated that the best way to reduce vaccine-preventable disease is “to have a highly immune population” (CDC). Universal vaccination is a critical part of quality health care and should be “accomplished through routine and intensive vaccination programs implemented in physicians’ offices and in public health clinics. Programs should be established and maintained in all communities to ensure vaccination of all children at the recommended age” (CDC). Physicians and other health-care providers should simultaneously administer as many vaccine doses as possible, as indicated on the Recommended Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule. Frederica Wilson, a United States Representative (D-FL), was a former elementary school principal and knows first-hand “the importance of childhood vaccinations” (Wilson). To Wilson, “research has shown that vaccinations are effective; they keep children healthy, save lives, and protect future generations of Americans” (Wilson). As citizens, the health and safety of children should be a top priority and children who are not vaccinated “put themselves and others in danger of acquiring and spreading preventable disease, particularly to those individuals who cannot receive vaccinations, such as infants, pregnant women, and individuals with compromised immune systems, including the elderly and those with diseases like HIV/AIDS and leukemia.” (Wilson). 

 Several studies have been performed to show that vaccines really are important to the well-being of citizens. From April of 2015 until May of 2016, a study was performed where a large outbreak of mumps occurred at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was discovered that 89% of the patients with mumps only received at least 2 doses of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and not the recommended 3. 16% of patients had received 3 doses, 73% had received 2 doses, 4% had received 1 dose, 2% were unvaccinated, and 5% had an unknown vaccination status (Albertson). Another study performed by Philip R. Johnson divided 59 young children into four groups based on prior exposure to influenza A virus: natural infection, live cold-adapted vaccine, inactivated vaccine given, and no previous exposure. The study concluded that a live cold-adapted vaccine was the best for the children and helped them recover the quickest and safest. A final study was performed by Allison M. Kennedy and tested if a parent’s belief regarding compulsory vaccination for school entry was significantly associated with beliefs in the safety and utility of vaccines. It found that at least one child under the age of 18 years old living with their parents, 12% were opposed to compulsory vaccination. Kennedy concluded that providing information to parents regarding vaccines would be beneficial to reduce opposition to compulsory vaccination. 

Philip J. Smith published an essay about the association between parents’ beliefs about vaccines, their decision to delay or refuse vaccines for their children, and vaccination coverage of children at aged 24 months. It was discovered that those who delayed and/or refused were more likely to have concerns towards vaccines and believed there were fewer benefits associated with vaccines. Because of this, and many other studies and knowledgeable claims, it is safe to conclude that when it comes to the well-being of those we love and those around us, vaccinating our young is the safest route we as Americans can take. When those who choose not to, they not only put their own children at risk but hurt those with exemptions and other beliefs by ruining herd immunity and causing a lower population of the world to be healthy. While vaccines do cost money, they are inevitable cheaper than the alternative of expensive medical bills or worse, the cost of a funeral. Due to children being young it should not be a free will choice but getting vaccinated should be mandatory for everyone once 24 months of age. 
