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Andrea Ventura

Prof. Watson

English 1001

March 25, 2019

Freedom of Immunizations

When you become a parent, you have the most important occupation in the entire world.

You have a tiny child that depends entirely on you to take care of them. This is physically,

mentally and all in between. One of the toughest decisions a parent has to make is if they are

going to have their child vaccinated. This two-sided argument incurs backlash from parents

deciding to vaccinate their children versus the parents who choose not to vaccinate their children.

The recent outbreaks of the measles and chickenpox has become a verbal fist fight between both

sides, and now the Government feels as though they must intervene. The Government has begun

making vaccinations mandatory, we have seen this in the recent laws being passed in Minnesota.

Making the restrictions for vaccine exemptions harder to obtain. These laws have begun to

impede on America’s fundamental and core values of freedom, and that is not okay.

One of the biggest reason parents choose not to vaccinate their children is because of the

impending doom of a serious vaccine reaction. These reactions could leave your child physically

impaired, by deformation, loss of speech, some research has even suggested vaccinations can

cause autism, or in the worst case the loss of life. The importance of vaccinations are well

known. Americans are reminded almost daily with media coverage, brochures and family

Doctors. Every person is given information on how important immunizations are and what they

protect a person from if they work as they are supposed to, but it is rare they go over the fine

print. The fine print is a long list of serious reactions that your child could have from one of these
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immunizations. The side effects are not talked about until the reaction is already happening, and

these reactions could be fatal if not stopped immediately.

This is a big worry of parents deciding what is best for their child when confronted about

vaccinating their child. Many children will not even experience a reaction at all to vaccinations,

but a parent must make this choice. Just because the majority of children do not have reactions

does not mean none will, and this is an important factor. Immunizations protect the individual

and the community, but when it come to the one who could have a deadly reaction is the

community more important? It is extremely important that every parent makes the best informed

decision for what is best for their family.

When making the decision on vaccination for your child it is important to know the

importance of vaccinations and how they protect not only the individual but also the community.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “the best way to protect your

child is to make sure they have all of their vaccinations” (Vaccinate Your Child). The U.S

Department of Health and Human Services also gives five reasons for vaccinating your children

they state that, “Immunizations can save your child’s life, vaccinations are safe and effective,

immunizations protect others you care about, immunizations can save your family time and

money, and lastly immunizations protect future generations” (Vaccinate Your Child). All of

these are very important, but how true are they? Vaccinations are safe for some, but are not safe

for all. Every human has a different genetic code and their bodies may react differently to

vaccinations.

There are other reasons why Americans choose not to vaccinate as well. These reasons could

be religious, personal beliefs, safety concerns, and a desire for additional information. According

to Chephra McKee, PharmD, Department of Pharmacy Practice, and Kristin Bohannon, a Doctor
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of Pharmacy candidate, that “The prevalence of religious exemption [from vaccinations]

increased from an average of 0.23% in 2000 to 0.45% in 2011” (105). Most states allow these

exemptions, but soon these liberties will be tightened and nearly taken away. The Government is

making exemptions extremely difficult to obtain. If the Government begins taking away the basic

right of vaccinations there is no distinction of how far they will go. The Government must have

checks and balances on the laws they are enforcing; Even if the Government does mandate all

vaccinations there is a possibility that these diseases will still spread. Immunizations are a

precaution and most of the time very effective, but they have been known not to work. If the

person injected with the vaccination was too young or their body didn’t build up the proper

immunity even with the shot. The whooping cough, measles and chicken pox can spread through

a school of vaccinated children, and they all could still get these diseases even if they have been

vaccinated. So was there a point of putting your tiny baby through multiple shots and pain when

they were babies, just for them to get the sickness they were supposed to be protected from. Is

immunity from vaccinations not as effective as actually getting the disease and building up your

own immunity?

There are many preventable diseases that can be stopped with the proper vaccines. If

vaccines become mandated how many will be forced on children? Will the number from 14

mandated vaccinations rise to the 20s or even the 30s? How many of these are actually

preventing deadly diseases? Will there be checks and balances on the amount the Government

will force on our children? Some children are genetically susceptible to vaccine injuries (Fisher).

They can have permanent repercussions that can leave this child disabled or brain dead. Some

vaccines treat diseases that the body can fight off without a vaccine and create natural antibodies.

Forcing parents to vaccinate when they don’t feel it is the right thing to do will cause tyranny
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within the community (Fisher) . Also Vaccinations are not 100% affective, meaning that just

because a child is vaccinated does not mean they will not get the disease.

With the knowledge that some vaccines are important , which ones should we not be giving

our children? Is the chicken pox vaccine truly important, are we afraid that smallpox will begin

to resurface? 69 doses of 16 vaccines in 18 years seems a little excessive, and 14 of these

vaccines are given before the age six (Fisher). Who will control this Multi-Trillion Dollar U.S.

Health Care System? Every parent should have the choice of personal belief vaccine exemption.

Barbra Loe Fisher states this quite frankly as,

[t]he most rational and compelling arguments for defending health freedom,

including vaccine freedom of choice, are grounded in ethics, law, science and

economics. The human right to voluntary, informed consent to vaccinations is the

best example of why Americans must not wait any longer to stand up and defend

without compromise the inalienable right to autonomy and protection of bodily

integrity (Fisher).

Mothers are with their child every day and understand their child. They shouldn’t have to

play roulette with their child’s life. Public health laws that fail to respect biodiversity and force

everyone to be treated the same are unethical and dangerous (Fisher). Fisher States, “[e]ach one

of us is born with different genes and a unique microbiome influenced by epigenetics that affect

how we respond to the environments we live in. We do not all respond the same way to

infectious diseases and we do not all respond the same way to pharmaceutical products like

vaccines (Fisher).

With the increasing number of parents choosing not to vaccinate their children the amount of

vaccine preventable diseases are on the rise, hence the increasing amount of outbreaks around
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the Country. The individual risk of vaccine refusal is that the child is more at risk for getting and

transmitting vaccine-preventable diseases (Omer, Salmon, Orenstein, et al…1983). The New

England Journal of Medicine states that, “children were 35 times as likely to contract measles as

nonexempt children” ((Omer, Salmon, Orenstein, et al…1983). Yes, these diseases are

preventable by vaccinations, but it is the sole human right to choose whether or not to receive a

vaccine. The New England Journal of Medicine also covers how “[m]ultiple studies have shown

an increase in the local risk of vaccine-preventable diseases when there is geographic

aggregation of persons refusing vaccinations” (Omer, Salmon, Orenstein, et al…1983). Ellen C.

Tolsma even goes as far to say that “public good comes before individual liberty when

discussing vaccination” (336). These groups of people have the thought of the community on the

mind, which in itself isn’t bad, but to say that the individual who refuses vaccinations for their

child is wrong and should be forced to vaccinate is also wrong. Vaccine refusal is tied to the

recent increase in measles cases of over 200 people (Tolsma 313). Catching the measles is not a

death sentence, and 200 people with the population of America being over two million is a

significantly small number to try and force vaccinations.

The American Academy of Pediatrics states that, “most childhood vaccinations are 90%-99%

effective in preventing disease” (Should any Vaccines). Whereas the CDC explains that, “ all

vaccines carry a risk of life threatening allergic reaction (anaphylaxis)” (Should any Vaccines).

These reactions may be rare, but they do happen. Every day Americans are exposed to many

diseases even if we are vaccinated we may still catch a disease we were vaccinated for. Those

who are not vaccinated are exposed to these same diseases, but that does not mean they will get

the disease either, and if they do, our bodies are designed to build up natural antibodies.

I am a pro vaccinator. My child is up to date on all of his immunizations

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. He has no reaction to any he has had so far, but this isn’t the case for all families. This is a

moral issue. These are the rights of American people. You cannot force a person to vaccinate

their child when the parent feels that vaccine will put their child close to danger. The

Government should not be allowed to force these parents, against their will, to vaccinate their

children. This is not freedom. This is not what our Country was founded on. We must stand true

to our core values or we will lose more than just our right to choose vaccines or not. The more

power we give Government the more they will take. When will there be an end. Will any

American have any freedoms left?

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Works Cited

Fisher, Barbara Loe. “Vaccination: Defending Your Right to Know and Freedom to Choose.”

National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), www.nvic.org/nvic-vaccine-

news/november-2014/vaccination--defending-your-right-to-know-and-free.aspx.

Fisher, Barbara Loe. “Zero Tolerance Vaccine Laws in America: Will You Defend Vaccine

Freedom? - NVIC Newsletter.” National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC),

www.nvic.org/nvic-vaccine-news/july-2018/zero-tolerance-vaccine-laws-in-

america.aspx.

“Five Important Reasons to Vaccinate Your Child.” Vaccines,

www.vaccines.gov/getting/for_parents/five_reasons/index.html.

McKee, Chephra, and Kristin Bohannon. "Exploring the Reasons Behind Parental Refusal of

Vaccines." The Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics : JPPT : The

Official Journal of PPAG, vol. 21, no. 2, 2016, pp. 104-109.

Omer, Saad B., et al. "Vaccine Refusal, Mandatory Immunization, and the Risks of Vaccine-

Preventable Diseases." The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 360, no. 19, 2009, pp.

1981-1988.

“Should Any Vaccines Be Required for Children?” ProConorg Headlines, vaccines.procon.org/.

Tolsma, Ellen C. "Protecting our herd: how a national mandatory vaccination policy protects

public health by ensuring herd immunity." Journal of Gender, Race and Justice, Winter

2015, p. 313+. Opposing Viewpoints in

Context,http://link.galegroup.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/apps/doc/A406991811/OVIC?u

=ucinc_main&sid=OVIC&xid=4f8c606f. Accessed 13 Mar. 2019.