Controversy About Vaccinations Against Infectious Diseases Essay

Vaccination Against Infectious Diseases Vaccines are one of the most controversial topics in modern medicine and will continue to attract more attention in the years ahead. Most new parents dutifully take their babies to their doctor to be vaccinated, at the prescribed times. However, over the last few decades, there have been several scares concerning vaccinations, and the possible side effects of them. Some parents have refused to have their child vaccinated because of some of these scares, and the truth is, they have been blown out of proportion by the press and it can be very confusing for the general public. In order to balance this extraordinary influence, parents will need to make a well informed decision about vaccines for their children. It is, of course, very important that before anybody embarks on a course of vaccinations, they should know both the benefits and the risks associated with them. Therefore, in order to begin thinking about whether vaccinations should be compulsory for all children, there are some issues to be addressed. Some parents may feel it unsafe to put chemicals into such young children; especially if there have been uncertainties about particular vaccines. An example of this is the DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis, and Tetanus) vaccine. Infants are meant to receive at 2/3/4 months. However, there are several side effects that parents fear, although very unlike to occur, they are very drastic and have stopped parents have letting their children have the vaccine. People have also been unsure about the effectiveness of the diphtheria vaccine, infact when the vaccine was once compulsory; there was a 17... ...errible diseases that could harm them, and since the vaccines have been introduced, there have been lower death rates in children. There may be some side effects to some of the vaccinations, but it is not worth risking not vaccinating them. It is unsafe to assume that herd immunity will wipe out the risk of catching the disease as so many parents today are not having their child vaccinated. I feel that it is a good idea that under most circumstances, vaccination against infectious diseases should be made compulsory for all children. In a situation when a child is more likely to react very badly to a particular vaccine, alternative methods could be used. But I feel it important that children of today are all immunised so that, in the future, hopefully, such diseases would not be a threat to the children of tomorrow.