Should Vaccination Be Required for All Children?

The debate over mandatory vaccination goes back to 1902, when a Massachusetts man refused to receive a smallpox vaccine, claiming that he had had bad reactions to previous vaccines. His case eventually made its way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that he was required to receive the preventative treatment for the sake of the common good. In the hundred-plus years since that ruling, the number of vaccines available has multiplied, and the debate has grown more and more intense.

Supporters of stricter regulations agree with the Centers for Disease Control, which calls mass vaccination one of the “10 great public health achievements” of the last century, citing the eradication of several deadly diseases, such as polio and smallpox, in the United States. Studies show that in order for a community to achieve this benefit, 95 percent of individuals in the community must be vaccinated. This level of resistance to disease is referred to as “herd immunity.” Supporters of mandatory vaccination fear that if enough parents fail to vaccinate their children, herd immunity will not be achieved and preventable diseases will reemerge and spread, putting the health of the community in danger. (At particular risk are those who cannot receive vaccinations, such as the immune-compromised, infants, and those who are allergic to the components of the vaccine.)

Those who oppose mandatory vaccination often cite religious or philosophical objections. For example, members of the Christian Science church abstain from medical intervention entirely. Other opponents object to the frequency of vaccinations in the prescribed course of immunizations, claiming that what started out as a few essential vaccines in the first part of the twentieth century has grown into an unnecessarily aggressive course of treatment. They believe that not enough research has been done on the effects of these frequent vaccinations on young children, and they want the option to slow the standard vaccination schedule—or to abstain entirely. Some have been concerned that vaccines were responsible for the rise in autism rates, but this theory has been discredited. Still, opponents of mandatory vaccination claim that not enough is known about how the vaccines work when administered together, that there is too much protection of vaccine manufacturers by the government, and that vaccine regulations infringe upon parents’ ability to decide what is best for their children.

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Recently, the vaccination debate has been centered in California, where a policy of granting exemptions from vaccination for personal as well as religious reasons has led to a steady increase in the number of unvaccinated children. In response to this situation, which attracted national attention following a measles epidemic among children who visited Disneyland, a state law allowing only medical (not personal or religious) exemptions from vaccination for schoolchildren was passed in 2015.

Clearly, there is much more to learn about the causes of disease outbreaks and about the possible negative effects of vaccinations. Do the benefits of vaccination outweigh the possible risks? Should parents be allowed to refuse vaccinations for their children—and if so, for what reasons? Should individual school districts continue to require that all schoolchildren be vaccinated? And, given these questions, should government have the right to mandate the vaccination of all children? These are some of the questions you should think about as you read the research sources that appear later in this chapter. After reading these sources, you will be asked to write a cause-and-effect argument that takes a position on the vaccination debate.