Should vaccines be mandatory?

decades ago, that is no longer an issue of personal freedom.

There are some decisions a parent should not be allowed to make for his or her child, and that includes anything that puts a minor at risk of injury or death.

percent are major cases where the victim ends up hospitalized, disabled or dead.

SCOTT PREWITT sprewitt.roundupnews@gmail.com @s_prewitt

In California and many other states, parents are required to vaccinate their children and provide records before they can attend a public school, with one important exception.

Parents whose religion prohibits medical treatment and those who simply do not believe in the proven efficacy of vaccination can choose to exempt their children from the required vaccinations. In fact, those who object for religious reasons are not even required to seek the medical opinion of an authorized healthcare practitioner if their religion prohibits doing so.

The state of California is considering eliminating the loophole that allows those with religious or personal belief-based objections to forego vaccinating their children before they attend public schools and community colleges.

There is nothing wrong with the government allowing people to freely practice their religion. Freedom to worship without fear of persecution is the basis of our national identity. But when a parent is allowed to expose their child, and every child around him or her, to diseases that were supposed to have been eradicated

However, if we as a society are going to allow a group of religious zealots with an tenuous grasp on medical science to endanger their own children, then we have to draw the line somewhere. That somewhere should be our public school system.

There are other options for those people who don’t care if their child spreads disease to other children, such as private religious schools for their denominations or home schooling. It’s not the place of religion to dictate public health and safety practices in federal and state-funded institutions.

It is also, admittedly, not the place of the government to force a needle into their child’s arm against their will.

The obvious and simple solution is to lay down the law, and declare that anyone unwilling to conform to regulations meant to protect other children should not be allowed to introduce dangerous pathogens into the general K-12 population.

There is no sense arguing against the logic employed by those who do not believe in vaccination, and that isn’t the point. The issue here is the safety of the children of those reasonably-minded parents who choose to listen to the science and advice of medical professionals.

There is no reason a person who cites a long-debunked study about a fictitious link between vaccination and autism should have the ability to endanger another person’s child.

Vaccines should not be mandatory for students in the United States.

Although there is no federal law that mandates getting vaccinated, all 50 states independently require its citizens to be properly vaccinated before they are allowed to attend school.

More people benefit each year from being vaccinated than those who are negatively affected, according to the Centers for Disease Control. With that said, there are still people who have adverse reactions to vaccines every year. 30,000 people, to be exact. The CDC reports that of those 30,000 people, 10 to 15

There are a lot of ingredients in vaccines that can cause allergic reactions and many people do not know they are allergic until they come in contact with the ingredient.

Forcing vaccinations on students puts them at a risk they have no control over. This is not an argument to abolish vaccines, but an argument to allow students and parents the choice to decide for themselves if they want to take the risk.

This nation was established on the principle of freedom. Mandating vaccines would restrict our freedom. Forcing students to be vaccinated prohibits the free exercise of their religion if their religion stands against vaccines.

Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t believe in tampering with your blood. Some members of the church have accepted vaccinations, but there are still many conservative members who believe vaccinations go against what God asks.

What separates college learning from lower levels of school is that we are pushed to think and make decisions for ourselves. It is a place to establish where you stand on philosophy, your beliefs and any other thing that may come up. Students should be able to choose for themselves what they want to allow into their body. We have the resources to educate ourselves to the potential benefits and risks of vaccines and should be able to make a decision based on that.

Forcing vaccinations would put some religious groups in the tough spot of having to choose between the law of their country and what they believe.