Mandatory vaccinations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mandatory vaccinations - Essay Example On one hand, proponents of mandatory vaccination call it medicine’s greatest achievement while, on the other hand, concerned professionals and parents believe the application and theory of this policy is flawed and are not willing to comply with this goal. This paper seeks to argue that vaccinations should not be mandatory because it violates the rights of parents, it could be dangerous to the health of many children, and some are just plain unnecessary. Mandatory vaccinations are controversial for a number of reasons. First, they deprive the rights of parents to choose. Although there is no consent required by federal guidelines before vaccination, 1986’s Childhood Vaccine Injury Act requires doctors to present a Vaccine Information Statement to the recipients representatives (Staver 11). Some states have legislated specific consent laws. This sort of consent is both ethical and appropriate for parents to possess better information on vaccines. In the United States, forty-eight states allow exemption to vaccinations to serve both public health concern and religious freedom. A parent’s right to make a voluntary and free decision regarding the child’s vaccination schedule must be treated as a human right since it involves a risk where the product’s after-effects are concerned (Staver 12). While no evidence exists that, these vaccines can cause grievous harm or death no guarantee exists that the mandatory vaccine will not cause complications that could lead to a serious injury. Mandatory vaccines are wrong because they involve the government taking away the right of a parent to consent or refuse a pharmaceutical product that they may not prefer. Another argument against mandatory vaccinations is the fact that these vaccines could actually be hazardous to the health of the child. First, these vaccines contain chemicals that may be harmful to the