importance of vaccines

importance of vaccines

Many child diseases can be prevented through vaccines. Should parents be made by law to immunise their children against common diseases or should individuals have the right to choose not to immunise their children?

With the advancement in medical science, it has become possible to prevent children from various diseases through vaccination. However, it is often debated whether parents should be given a choice to immunise their young one or they should be bound by law to get their children vaccinated against diseases. In my opinion, I agree with the latter view as it will not only help in raising a healthy society but also help in safeguarding the communities against various infectious diseases.

There are various reasons as to why I believe law should be in place for the vaccination of children. First, if all children are vaccinated against diseases such as hepatitis and polio, a healthy society would be raised, resulting in the development of the country. Moreover, immunisation of all children would prevent the spreading of various transmissible diseases. Many communicable diseases can be transmitted to others either by physical touch or by coming in contact with the objects touched by the infected person. When all people are vaccinated against such diseases, not only the vaccinated ones would be saved, but other people can also be protected from such contagious diseases. For instance, according to Mumbai Institute of Health Sciences, the population of hepatitis infected people in India declined by 60 percent in the past 10 years as the public was made by law to immunise the young people against this disease.

Parents should not be given a choice to immunise their young one as it will have long term consequences for the country. Some of the parents often do not inoculate their children against tuberculosis, hepatitis and polio. These illnesses not only affect their young ones but also pose a threat to society as these could be transmitted to other healthy individuals of society. As a result, many people would become the victims of these health disorders and would become a burden on the state as such people cannot contribute to the economy of the country. To illustrate this, Pakistan has failed to eradicate polio because of choice given to parents to choose whether to vaccinate their children or not.

To conclude, I believe parents should be made by law to get their children vaccinated as it will not be only save their children from these deadly diseases but will also prevent the spreading of such diseases on a large scale.