I believe my topic (immunization rates) has huge importance
to a very large amount of people if not everyone. If it weren’t for vaccines
there would be a much larger proportion of people dying at younger ages due to
disease. However due to the use of vaccines this does not occur very regularly.
If everyone were to be vaccinated, eventually these diseases would be
eliminated and no unnecessary deaths would occur.
Yet I still feel that vaccination rates need to be increased
to protect our entire population. Those who are unable to be vaccinated are
forced to heavily rely on those who can be vaccinated, for protection from
disease. If a percentage of people choose not to be vaccinated then these already
ill people are put at an even higher risk of catching fatal diseases.
If vaccinations were to become mandatory it would obviously affect
everyone, those who feel they don’t need to be vaccinated would be forced to do
so and therefore be very unhappy about the process. Those who are unable to be
vaccinated would welcome this choice as they are given more protection. The
ethical implications with taking away the choice to be vaccinated is an issue
however I believe that it is highly outweighed by the benefits to not just
those around them but also themselves as the risk they were putting themselves
at is also eliminated.
All of these points prove why vaccination rates are an
important topic. Decreased mortality rates, protection of the weak and ethical
implication all affect the choice by the government as to whether rates should
be improved or not. Not everyone will agree with the decision made, however it
is important to make the best choice for the largest amount of people, which I believe
in this case would be compulsory vaccinations.
2 comments:
You are right, people do not like being told what to do and will most likely stick their heels in. I only wish that when people choose to not vaccinate it is an informed decision, not just because Jennifer McCartney wrote a book saying its bad. Interesting side note. Did you know that in the late 19th century you could be fined if you refused your small pox vaccination.
I recently came across that in my research for the second assignment. It is an idea that I doubt would sit well these days, but imagine how many more parents would have their children vaccinated.
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