The stigma over vaccines has risen in today’s society, increasing trepidations over people being able to opt out of immunizations. With the capitalistic society we have at hand, there are numerous explanations for why individuals are not immunized. Because of capitalism, health care providers are privately owned and not funded by the government which creates competition between companies. Health and insurance company’s costs constantly increasing, causing vaccine rates to proliferate creating a detrimental threat for consumers. The greatest impediments preventing individuals from being vaccinated are socioeconomic status, demographics, and geography. Given these obstacles, it is pertinent to the society as a whole for individuals to receive vaccines if given the means, in order to protect otherwise endangered communities. Therefore, if individuals have the resources to be vaccinated, it should be mandatory with no exceptions due to the issues with disease outbreaks, which occur when people do not realize the latent danger of diseases that are said to be extinct in our society; the violation of the free exercise clause, which states that every citizen has the right to exercise any belief as long as it does not put others in imminent danger; and the risk an individual poses on others and the economy by electing not to be inoculated, which promotes the spread of disease to others in the individual’s community, especially those with a lower socioeconomic status. Research shows that vaccinations are our best mechanism against the spread of disease, even though some argue otherwise. 

Even though, it has been proven that vaccines are the number one preventative measure to restrict disease outbreaks, many claim that vaccines are harmful to our bodies and unnecessary. Individuals against vaccines claim that diseases that vaccines target have essentially disappeared making them unnecessary, mandatory vaccines infringe upon the constitutional rights, and vaccines are unnatural. In many cases, people find vaccines as unnecessary due to the fact that they believe the diseases in which vaccines prevent, have been completely eradicated from our society. According to the CDC no deaths from diphtheria were reported between 2003 and 2011. From this finding people assume that dormant diseases are no longer prevalent and aren’t seen as a threat. Not only that, but religion plays a major role in the decision to not be immunized. In many religions, mandatory vaccines are seen as taking away individual’s constitutional rights. Based on the Universal Family Church parents should decide whether their children should be vaccinated and that "God intends the health decisions of individuals should… be honored by all authorities." Religious exceptions from vaccines are seen throughout today’s society, which has caused many uproars over disease spread. As well as that, individuals believe that vaccines are unnatural and do more harm than good. According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, “it is true that natural infection almost always causes better immunity than vaccines. Whereas immunity from disease often follows a single natural infection, immunity from vaccines occurs only after several doses." This can be seen as true for less devastating diseases that the immune system is able to fight off. Given that a decent proportion of the population don’t see it necessary to be vaccinated, puts all others at higher risks for outbreaks. 

Most people believe that disease outbreaks are no longer an issue which has become an alarming problem due to the fact that people do not think they need to be vaccinated. We have seen recurrences of certain diseases such as polio and measles, which at one point was considered to be obsolete from today’s society in the United States. We have seen drastic increase in measles along with whooping cough because many people believe the vaccines for these dormant diseases are no longer necessary. Based on a report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there has been five outbreaks of the measles since 2015. In 2015 alone, there were 668 reported cases of the measles in the United States, which is the largest total cases of the measles the nation has seen since the documented elimination in 2000. One outbreak resulted in the death of a Washington state woman. The woman’s measles went undetected because she had no common symptoms such as a rash or pink eye. She died from pneumonia, which was caused by the measles virus. The Washington health department believes the woman likely contracted the virus at a local medical facility during an outbreak in Clallam County, which is just south of the Canadian border of British Columbia. The Health Department states that "This tragic situation illustrates the importance of immunizing as many people as possible to provide a high level of community protection against measles.” As reports have shown, we have seen recurrences in many diseases that people believe are extinct from our society, so why weigh the risks of coming down with a potentially fatal disease when there is a simple fix?

In a TED talk, Doctor Adam Finn talks about how vaccines work and how they build our immunity against diseases. He states that “without vaccines, we would not be here today.” He uses whooping cough as an example. Without the vaccine many babies died, but then when the vaccine came out, the epidemic went down until people believed the vaccine caused brain damage. After that, many parents didn’t vaccinate, causing another epidemic. Many people do not worry about being vaccinated against whooping cough because it’s not severe in teenagers and adults, but what they do not realize is they can transmit it to children who are much more vulnerable, which can cause detrimental effects and even lead to death. When people consider not getting vaccinated, they need to think about the larger picture at hand and not just themselves. Vaccines are most effective when everyone in the population gets them. It only takes a small number of people who do not receive vaccines to create another outbreak or epidemic, which is what the nation has experienced with the measles and whooping cough. 

Choosing not to be vaccinated leads to more disease outbreaks as well as a violation of the free exercise clause. The free exercise clause was added to the first amendment of the constitution to protect citizens’ freedoms of beliefs and religion from the government as long as no actions pose a risk for others. In that, choosing not to be vaccinated based on beliefs puts others in the community in harm’s way because it leaves room for the transmission of disease and the potential of infecting others.  In the 1905 Jacobson versus Massachusetts court case, the states’ authority to enforce mandatory vaccination laws were upheld by the Supreme Court. Based on the National Constitution Center, Justice John Marshall Harlan explained that personal liberties might be suspended in cases where the interest of the “common good” of the community are of paramount importance. Vaccines laws are in place not in attempts to violate peoples’ right, but to protect the citizens of the United States as a whole from pathogens. As well as the Jacobson versus Massachusetts court case, there have been more recent attempts to prevent increase in future disease outbreaks based on constitutional rights. Some states such as Connecticut are considering banning religious exceptions because the free exercise clause doesn’t encompass anything that brings harm upon other citizens. With only a few states putting this bill into action, leaves great margins for more outbreaks to occur. There is also the problem that in some countries there are absolutely no laws for vaccines and it only takes one person who is infected to come to the United States to create a massive outbreak when there are exemptions in the United States under the free exercise clause. 

It is imperative for individuals to be vaccinated if given the opportunities and means to do so. No one should have the ability to opt out based on beliefs or religion because of the heightened risks for other individuals. Research shows that there are more pros to getting vaccinated than cons, even though some individuals raise concerns about being vaccinated. Many people are apprehensive about the correlation between vaccines and autism, but what they don’t realize is that correlation doesn’t mean causation. In 2013 study done by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, reported that the research results refuted the belief that vaccines cause autism. The study calculated the number of antigens (substances in vaccines that cause the body’s immune system to produce disease-fighting antibodies) from vaccines during a child’s first two years of life. What was found was that the total number of antigens received from vaccines were identical between children with autism and without. Autism is a highly genetic disease and the belief of vaccines causing autism, derived from some cases where a child would have completely normal development, then regress and display characteristics of autism. The thought was that the children weren’t genetically determined to be autistic because they were developing normal prior to the vaccinations, but in reality, it is all coincidental and the onset of autism is later in some children. Also, autism is more widely diagnosed now than in history because of more medical advancements, not because there are more vaccines.  Individuals who aren’t vaccinated because they believe that immunizations cause autism in children, have a skewed perception on vaccines. Throughout history there has been a tremendous improvement in the technology of vaccines, making them safer and more effective. Due to the number of people and diseases in today’s society, there is an urgent need for everyone all over the world to be vaccinated. Disease epidemics are a world problem especially for those with a lower socioeconomic status and can be prevented through proper education and understandings of vaccines. Educating people on how vaccines work will take out many misconceptions on vaccines, which will hopefully up the rates of immunizations to prevent future breakouts. 

A study was concerned with the socioeconomic status and demographics on the Human Papilloma Virus vaccine. What was found was that more women were more likely to get vaccinated than men and people with a low socioeconomic status were much less likely to get the Human Papilloma Virus vaccine. Many people don’t think Human Papilloma Virus is a relevancy in today’s society, but in fact, it is the most common sexually transmitted disease and leads to cervical cancer in females. Approximately 50% of people by the time they reach the age of 50 are infected with Human Papilloma Virus whether it is diagnosed or undiagnosed. By choosing not to receive the HPV vaccine you are putting potential loved ones and other partners at great risk of infection. Opting out of not only the HPV vaccine, but also other vaccines is unfair to the people in your community that can’t afford to be vaccinated even though they want to be. With less and less people getting vaccinated, it puts an enormous strain on the economy. 

Disease outbreaks take a toll on the economy creating money deficits when people choice not to be vaccinated. Money is an enormous influential factor for determining the amount of people being vaccinated. The extremely high unemployment rates in certain areas of the United States, sparks the fire to disease outbreaks.  Many people with a low socioeconomic status, struggle to put food on the table for their family, much less having the ability to pay for vaccinations. Would you want to be responsible for infecting a family with no means of receiving vaccinations just because you opted not to be vaccinated? The problem is the more people that become infected with these preventable diseases causes a greater strain on the economy because disease spread so rapidly that being able to administer medications to that many people is almost impossible. The money it costs to receive medications to treat outbreaks like this is insane and many areas where outbreaks occur do not have the money to pay for such expenses. Outbreaks put the whole community in isolation because everyone is concerned for their own well-being and without collaborative efforts of people nothing functions properly. People who have the means, but choose not to be vaccinated add an extra burden on our society.  Our nation as a whole has to work together in the prevention of outbreaks and epidemics by educating others on the imminent dangers of not being vaccinated.

Throughout history and research, we can see that vaccines are crucial to our society in various ways, so why would we be given the opportunity to opt out of them in the first place? Not being vaccinated has disastrous effects on our nation from small scale communities to our country as a whole. Every corner of our nation experiences the impacts of disease outbreaks in one way or another. When given the means no person should even be given the opportunity to opt out of vaccinations because it is a preventative measure to decrease the severity and number of disease outbreaks, does not take away from the constitutional rights of our citizens, and protects all citizens with various socioeconomic statuses and our economy as a whole. Collaborative efforts from the majority is crucial to the efficiency of our nation. When we are not in sync with one another, problems occur and in this situation disease outbreaks. If responsibility from each individual is not taken to be vaccinated, then we will forever see innocent citizens dying from preventable diseases. No one wishes this upon anyone, so it is imperative that you take action and get vaccinated. If you are not vaccinated, then you may think it is everyone else’s problem around you that is not vaccinated, when in fact it is your problem because not every person around you has the same opportunity you do to be vaccinated. While the argument over vaccines will never come to an end, with stricter laws and more educated people disease outbreaks and epidemics don’t stand a chance.  
