Nationwide, Americans watch commercials with sick, coughing, and dying babies.  This brings out the emotions and tugs on the hearts of many parents around the country.  Parents are feeling heartbroken over these images on the television screen, but are promoting these illnesses in their home.  By refusing vaccinations for their children, many parents are making their homes and their children welcoming environments for deadly diseases.  Parents walk into doctor’s offices and hear children screaming and crying from getting a shot into their arm a few times and feel bad.  Imagine how they would feel if they had to buy a coffin instead of a band aid.  Vaccinations for children are not meant for harm, their purpose is safety.  They serve to immunize children from the harmful diseases that the Earth contains, and are to provide for eradication of such fatal diseases.  Parents in the United States need to vaccinate their children because their refusals are invalid, vaccinations are not harmful, and there are many benefits to childhood immunization.

This topic needs to be discussed for the safety of children in America.  Eradication of such diseases takes vaccinated children.  The safety of others, especially those who cannot be vaccinated, depends on children being vaccinated.  Without vaccinations, harmful diseases would be floating around America, and would be causing extreme health problems for the whole country.  Refusal is increasing while vaccinations for children are decreasing.  Parental refusals are coming from a place of no scientific evidence.  It is proven that vaccinations are not harmful for children.  Yes, they may cause side effects just like any other medicine, but they do not cause harm that is detrimental to children.  There are many benefits to childhood immunization.  These benefits not only help the child vaccinated, but it provides another source of immunity for those around.

Parental vaccine refusals are becoming extremely prevalent today, but their reasons for refusals are invalid and are not backed up by any scientific evidence.  An article on parental refusals states, “The most common reason, provided by three out of every four parents, is that they’re unnecessary because the diseases they prevent have been wiped out of the U.S.” (Drain).  This quote shows that parents suspect that there is no reason to have their child immunized because the diseases are not present in the United States.  This refusal is invalid because vaccinations provide the prevention of diseases in America.  Without vaccinations, the diseases would be prevalent throughout the country.  Vaccinations are the best source for eradication, and serve to protect children from the harmful diseases that were once common to the United States.  This argument is invalid because the more parents that do not vaccinate their children, the less likely eradicated diseases will stay behind the curtain. 

Parents that are refusing vaccinations are also concerned about their children’s health and safety because of what vaccines contain.  In an article on vaccinations, it argues, “Another common fear by many parents is that vaccinating their children will cause their children to actually contract the diseases contained in the vaccines,” (Barfield).  This quote shows that parents are worried that by injecting their children with a part of the disease they will become ill.  This refusal is also invalid because the vaccine only holds a very small amount of the disease in it.  This small amount will cause no harm to the child because there is not enough of the disease to cause an illness.  There would be no valid reason to purposefully give children diseases through vaccinations, therefore; this refusal from parents is invalid.  It is a false accusation because vaccinations have such a small amount of the certain disease in it to cause any harm to a child.

In parental refusals, the schedule for immunizations for small children has become an issue for parents to accept as well.  A common fear for parents refusing vaccination for their children is that with so many vaccinations in a short amount of time, they believe that it is unhealthy and harmful for their children.  These parents believe their children are receiving too many shots at one time.  In an article on immunization in children, it argues, “the administration of three to four vaccines in one office visit is well under the number of antigens they will likely encounter in a single day,” (Barfield).  This quote explains that children will be exposed to many more harmful germs throughout the day, that four shots will not be detrimental in any way.  Multiple vaccinations at one time will not hurt children because their immune systems can keep up due to the child’s abundant exposure to germs every day.  This refusal, again, is invalid because small children’s immune system can sustain many more antigens than the amount provided to them through vaccines.

Lastly, one of the main reasons parents are refusing the recommendation for vaccines is because they believe that vaccines cause autism.  This became a huge reason for refusal because of one falsified study done by a doctor, Dr. Wakefield, a few years back.  His results implemented extreme fear into parents that vaccines caused autism, so they decided not to vaccinate their children.  In an article on the question of autism and vaccinations, it argues, “…after a decade long investigation unraveling Wakefield’s research and studies of 25,782,500 children, researchers concluded there was no casual relationship between vaccines and autism,” (Olson).  This quote shows that Wakefield’s results were falsified and proven wrong by many studies and medical professionals.  The quote explains that vaccines do not cause autism.  Parents that refuse vaccinations for their children are often having a hard time trusting the scientific evidence that settles this argument, and they are basing the decision of their child’s health on an invalid study.  The argument that vaccinations are the cause autism is incorrect because of scientific evidence.  The facts are presented to falsify this claim, and shows that this correlation is an invalid refusal that parents give to their children’s doctors.

Many parents view vaccinations as harmful and detrimental to their children, but medical professionals have proved that vaccinations do not cause harm to children.  As mentioned earlier, one of the main refusals from parents are that they are scared that their children will contract a certain disease from a vaccination.  This is a way parents view that vaccinations are harmful.  In an article on how vaccines work, it says, “When vaccines are injected into fatty tissue of muscle, the vaccine’s components are not strong enough to cause symptoms and signs of the disease, but are just strong enough to trigger the immune system to provide antibodies against them,” (Barfield).  This quote explains how vaccines work once inside of the human body.  It also explains that there is no way for children to contract the diseases from a vaccination because the dose is only small enough to make their immune system react.  This shows that vaccinations are not harmful to children, but they are for the immunity and protection of children.

Children need to be vaccinated to be able to defend themselves against harmful diseases.  Many parent’s that view vaccination as harmful for their children need to think of how vaccinations are a defense mechanism that is valuable to the well-being of children.  In an article on immunizations, it argues, “Enabling the human body to defend itself is unarguably one of the most sustainable prevention methods in public health,” (Saint-Victor 2).  This quote shows that parents need to take advantage of the opportunity to provide their children with a body guard that wards off fatal diseases.  Vaccination is not harmful to children because it gives their bodies a way to protect itself on its own.  Children’s bodies become protected and immune from such horrific diseases through vaccinations.  This shows that vaccinations are not harmful, but are helpful towards children’s health and wellbeing.

Finally, vaccinations are not harmful to children because they are there for the protection of children.  Parents need to realize that refusing vaccinations causes more harm and damage to their children than accepting vaccinations for their children.  In a video from a medical professional, at the 1:41 minute mark, the speaker argues, “…vaccination is really the key portion of taking care of not only our infants and children, but the generations to come,” (Cox).  This quote shows that vaccines’ purpose is for protection of children and everyone after them.  If children are protected now, and diseases are less prevalent, then children who come later will be more immune than if the parents of today were to refuse vaccinations.  Vaccinations are not harmful.  They have a purpose for each child in the United States, and that purpose is to protect them from diseases that have negatively affected American’s in the past.

Parents have been focusing their attention to what they think are the dangers of vaccinations, but there are extreme benefits to immunizations that are not receiving enough attention from parents.  One of the major benefit of vaccinations is death prevention.  In an article on childhood immunization, it states, “Vaccines currently prevent more than 2.5 million deaths worldwide every year…” (Drain).  This quote shows that by providing children with their needed and doctor recommended vaccinations, they will be protected from a tragic death due to a preventable disease.  Vaccinations are beneficial to Americans, and parents need to open their eyes to these facts.  They need to understand that vaccinations can prevent their child’s death.  Death prevention for children is a huge benefit of vaccinations, and few parents would want their child to die at a young age due to something that could have been prevented.  

Along with death prevention, vaccinations have another benefit that parents need to be aware of.  This benefit is disease prevention for the whole country.  In a video on a medical perspective on immunizations, at the 1:12 minute mark, it argues, “Vaccination has always been the cornerstone of medicine because vaccination is very important for the prevention of disease…” (Cox).  This quote explains that the reason there are very few harmful diseases present in America today is because vaccinations have prevented such disease’s reoccurrence.  Disease prevention is a major benefit of vaccinations, and most likely one of the largest.  Being able to block harmful, fatal, and terrible diseases from entering the United States is one greatest accomplishments in medicine.  Parents need to realize the benefit of disease prevention for their children, so that America can continue to ward off such terrifying diseases.

Another benefit to vaccinations, to go along with prevention benefits, is the benefit of eradication.  It takes as many children vaccinated as possible to reach complete eradication of diseases.  In an article on the eradication of various diseases, it argues, “Their disappearance has directly paralleled the use of immunization with no other factors seeming to exert influence,” (Mortimer 904).  This shows that vaccinations are the cause of eradication.  Eradication of diseases means that there will be no more harm caused by infectious diseases towards children.  This creates a stress-free environment, and gives parents breathing room.  Without the worry of a disease entangling their children, parents can put their worries into something else.  Eradication of diseases is a huge benefit in vaccinations, and parents need to vaccinate their children to make eradication happen.

Finally, there is one more main benefit to vaccinations that deserves the most attention from parents who refuse them.  This benefit is herd immunity.  Herd immunity protects the lives, and health of those in the community.  Herd immunity is one of the benefits and effects that are caused by vaccinations in children.  In an article on herd immunity, it argues, “Herd immunity has long been recognized as an important benefit of vaccines,” (Stephens 643).  This quote explains that herd immunity is one of the largest and most well-known benefits of vaccinations.  Herd immunity is protecting the herd.  This concept means that when one child receives a vaccination, those around are more protected. 

 Also, when a parent decides not to vaccinate their child, their child is easily able to spread horrible diseases to those around, especially to those who cannot receive vaccines.  In another article on herd immunity, it states, “When parents choose not to vaccinate, they are also making a choice for those with whom their children come in contact with,” (Offit 19).  This quote explains that when children are not vaccinated, they are risking the health and immunity for the people around.  Parents that refuse vaccinations need to think about this benefit of immunizations.  The baby that is too young to receive vaccines, or the neighbor with an illness, such a leukemia, that cannot receive vaccinations, is protected by the herd when children around them are immunized.

Most parents across the country are there to protect and aid their children through a healthy life and lifestyle.  Parents that choose not to vaccinate their children make this decision out of what they think is best for their child.  Parents make many claims on why they are not vaccinating their children, and why they believe this to be the right choice.  In an article on parents not wanting to vaccinate their children, it argues, “Vaccinated children are the unhealthiest, most chronically sick children,” (Pope).  Also in that article, it argues, “All vaccines are loaded with chemicals and heavy metals,” (Pope).  These are thought out reasons for parents not to want to vaccinate their children.  Although these refusals have potential to be correct, they are not.  Children that are vaccinated grow a stronger immune system from vaccinations.  Vaccinations help children’s bodies to recognize and fight off bad diseases and germs; therefore, refusing vaccinations is still not the way to go.  In arguing that vaccinations are not safe because they have chemicals in them, is also not the best reason to refuse vaccines.  All medicine is made up of chemicals.  The small medicines such as a regular headache medication is made up of chemicals.  Everyday medications are not viewed as harmful or fatal because of the chemicals in them, so immunizations that contain chemicals are safe and do not cause any damage to children.

Vaccinations for children are often viewed, by parents, to be harmful and unsafe for their children to have.  These parental refusals are invalid and have no scientific evidence to back them up, vaccinations are not harmful towards children, and there are various benefits that come from immunizations that need to be accounted for.  Parents that refuse vaccinations for their children need to take a closer look and see what vaccinations can do for their children and the population around them.  If parents are going to continue to refuse vaccination for their children, they will need to reevaluate their invalid claims and invalid reasons for refusals.  These parents need to also realize that vaccinations are not harmful to their children.  They do not give children the diseases or make them sick.  Parents also need to know how vaccinations work once inside their child’s body.  Parents that refuse vaccinations for their children need to know the benefits of immunization.  Vaccinations protect their children from harmful diseases and death.  Childhood vaccinations promote eradication in America, and they promote herd immunity in the country.  Parents should say yes to vaccinations for their children, and for other’s safety.
