Should there be Mandatory Vaccines?

 

Mandatory vaccinations have proven, several times throughout history, to be incredibly helpful and at times crucial to the wellbeing of the human race. Mandating certain vaccines has saved entire nations from disaster and defeat. The lack of vaccinations and medical treatment for some viruses has wiped out populations as a whole. Disease can overthrow a culture and spread like wildfire when not taken precaution against. With medical study, technological advancements, and mandatory vaccinations, such events can not only be controlled, but prevented and stopped from reoccurring.

 

Though there are groups who may feel vaccinations should not be forced, they should be a choice for the people to make I strongly disagree. The medical field has come very far over time and we should use this advancement for its intended use, which is to save lives and prevent the spread of fatal disease. Certain groups of the American public may oppose mandating vaccinations because they feel it is a breech of your rights as a citizen, however, the government would not mandate something without thorough investigation and just cause to do so. People may also dispute my thesis because they feel strongly against the side effects these treatments may have, but if they knew and understood the disease itself this may change their views on the side effects of preventative medicine.

 

Throughout history, disease has struck time and time again. Outbreaks came and went, and always came back again. Nations were overcome with illness at times and millions of lives were lost due to lack of medical knowledge and research. Once vaccinations were discovered and mandated diseases they treated were stopped dead in their tracks. Vaccinations have proven to be a vital resource in preventing further devastation from disease.

 

 

Diseases Strike without Warning and Spread beyond Control

 

History’s first example of this was in 1520, when smallpox was first brought to the Americas. When the Spanish landed on the shores of Mexico, among them was an African slave who was infected with smallpox. The disease eventually spread to the Aztec community. 25% of the Aztec population were not only infected, but were killed by the virus. This lead to the ultimate overthrow of their culture. The Wikipedia’s free encyclopedia states; “As the Indians did not know the remedy of the disease…they died in heaps, like bedbugs. In many places it happened that everyone in a house died and, as it was impossible to bury the great number of dead, they pulled down the houses over them so that their homes become their tombs.”

 

During the 16 and 1700’s, the Americas faced several smallpox epidemics. It wasn’t until 1796 that a gentleman by the name of Edward Jenner had come up with a vaccination. In 1843-1845 the vaccination was mandatory. Jenner stated, “The annihilation of smallpox—the dreadful scourge of the human race—will be the final result of vaccination.” Smallpox is now completely preventable and still being researched and contained today. “

 

The vaccination is in fact so effective in stopping the disease that it can even prevent the disease from growing and stop an infected person from reaching the rash stage all together. The World Health Organization posts “Vaccine administered up to 4 days after exposure to the virus, and before the rash appears, provides protective immunity and can prevent infection or ameliorate the severity of the disease.” They also say that there is “No effective treatment, other than the management of symptoms, is currently available.” Which makes it clear the smallpox vaccinations were necessary for mandation in order to stop the disease from continuing.

 

As life saving as this mandatory vaccination was, there were groups across the globe that fought the mandate. One group in Boston Massachusetts did not find the need to be vaccinated, even after they had suffered through six smallpox epidemics. The question is, why would anyone fight against something that will save the lives of themselves, there loved ones, and the entire community?

 

 

Epidemic Could Strike Again

 

Today we are facing the possibility of another epidemic, the potential spread of the deadly virus Avian Influenza, better known as the Bird Flu. Avian Influenza is currently spreading through Asia, parts of Europe and Africa. It is not expected to diminish in the near future. The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states “If these H5N1 viruses gain the ability for efficient and sustained transmission among humans, an influenza pandemic could result, with potentially high rates of illness and death.”

 

Though the disease is not easily transferred to humans, it does infect those who have had close contact to birds carrying the virus or direct contact with contaminated surfaces. Approximately 50% of those infected have died. The fatality rate for smallpox was only 30%, making this disease an even larger threat than that of smallpox.

 

This disease is not only more fatal than smallpox, but growing and changing, making it harder to research for treatment and prevention. Avian Influenza was not originally thought to have the ability to spread from person to person; there was no reason to even believe that it could due to that it originated from infected poultry. However, more recent cases have shown that it can. This means that if someone is infected with the virus, they can spread it to whomever they come in contact with, however, those people who they infect can not spread it further.

 

The threat of this virus lays in the possibility. Though there currently is no evidence that it can be transmitted any further than beyond one person, all influenza viruses have the ability to change. Scientists are concerned that in the near future, the virus will carry person to person more frequently and spread quickly and easily throughout communities. As stated in Wikipedia’s encyclopedia; “Being that humans carry little to no immune protection against the disease, an Influenza pandemic is possible.”

 

The World Health Organization is currently researching the disease in order to create a vaccination against it, one does not currently exist. Though the disease is not currently a large threat, it does have the potential to be one in the near future.  I believe that if cases of human to human transfer are reported beyond one person, meaning that the virus has adapted in order to spread further, that the vaccine will hopefully be ready and should be mandated immediately. The world should not hesitate in the fight for our health. As soon as the knowledge of how to prevent this highly fatal disease is available, it should be used to do so.

 

If there are groups who fight this mandate, as there was with small pox, the stop of the disease may take longer, and more lives will be lost. The spread of the disease will reach more countries across the world and more innocent lives will be cut short. We have seen in history what the spread of a virus with this high fatality rate can do.

 

 

Why Should EVERYONE be vaccinated?   

 

Though disease can be stopped without 100% vaccination, it is still very important that a large majority of the population does indeed be vaccinated in order to stop the spread of a fatal virus. People may argue a mandatory vaccination if they feel that it is unnecessary. The question of “if everyone has been vaccinated then why do I need to?” And they may actually be correct in saying so. As the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (April 2001) explains "Herd immunity, the concept of decreased infection in susceptible individuals as a result of vaccination among household or community contacts, is generally thought to have a positive effect on the public health. Because of herd immunity, the incidence of several vaccine-preventable illnesses has dropped precipitously even though significantly fewer than 100% of the eligible population has been immunized."                                                                                   

 

What people must consider is the risk that too many people feel the same way that you do in this circumstance. The disease can still spread to you if the person in the desk next to you also didn’t agree with the vaccination, and the person down the hall, and your child’s bus driver, and the grocery store clerk where you shop, and so on. This is why mandatory vaccinations should never be taken lightly and should never be refused or disputed, because in the end, it’s just not worth the risk of keeping the disease alive and possible losing your life in the fight.                                                                                    

 

A well publicized example is the 1905 case Jacobson V. Massachusetts. Henning Jacobson fought for his rights and free will to refuse the mandatory smallpox vaccination. Though he lived in an area that had suffered many outbreaks, he did not feel it was in his best interest to receive the vaccination. He had received it when he was young and had a bad reaction to it and didn’t wish to receive it again. Though smallpox vaccinations are known to give flu like symptoms and side effects, it is not known how long a vaccination lasts in your body in protecting you from the disease, so the mandate was reinforced as the disease did continue to spread in the area. Jacobson plea was taken all the way to the Supreme Court.                                                                                                        

 

Reasons Online, free minds and free markets explains this case in depth and quotes the verdict of the case in the fight against mandatory vaccinations, the following is from their text:

 

Writing for the Court, Justice John Harlan observed: "There is, of course, a sphere within which the individual may assert the supremacy of his own will, and rightfully dispute the authority of any human government, especially of any free government existing under a written constitution, to interfere with the exercise of that will. But it is equally true that in every well-ordered society charged with the duty of conserving the safety of its members the rights of the individual in respect of his liberty may at times, under the pressure of great dangers, be subjected to such restraint, to be enforced by reasonable regulations, as the safety of the general public may demand."

 

 

Reason’s for Mandating

 

Diseases are mandated with just cause in the best intentions for the overall health of the population. When diseases are though to have a need for universal vaccinations they are put into effect to save lives and prevent the huge economic loss caused by contagious disease. When diseases are spread the economy is effected, and the more serious the disease, the more serious its effects on a nations productivity. If a group refuses a vaccination they are putting lives at risk, including their own, and they are putting the financial growth of their country on hold. A disease can take over without warning a destroy a community in more ways than health. Vaccinations are much less expensive then most treatments, and less painful with less risk of permanent side effect. This is something a person needs to consider for the future of their country as well as themselves.

 

 

Vaccines should be Mandatory

 

Diseases with a fatality rate as high as the two covered in this paper should be taken seriously. Vaccinations should be mandated as soon as they are readily available to prevent the world from a massacre. Mandatory vaccinations should be instated when a disease is a potential threat to the health and well being of a country. Unfortunately at the time of smallpox, medicine and research were not as advanced as they are today, and mandatory vaccinations were instated after far too many deaths. We now have technology and knowledge to study potential threats while they are still only potential. This may very well give us the upper hand in handling vaccinations before they are too late.