by Renee Fortin

Parents Should Be Required to Vaccinate Their Children

Parents should be required to vaccinate their children. Most parents refuse to vaccinate children because assumptions were made that vaccines such as the Mums, Measles, and Rubella vaccine can cause Autism. However, this has not been proven. Parents should be required to vaccinate their children because it prevents disease, it is not proven to cause autism, and children not vaccinated put others at risk.


*"In order to provide the best protection against diseases, it is recommended that infants and children receive vaccinations as soon as their immune systems are sufficiently developed" (ProQuest).

*"The medical risk from the MMR vaccine is minuscule compared with the potential complications from measles" (Siegel).

*"But when individuals selfishly refuse to vaccinate their children, seeking a free ride on the rest of the herd, immunity breaks down and innocent are put at risk' (USA Today).

* "Unless States act soon, high-risk people--including babies who cannot be vaccinated in their first year and children wo cannot be vacinated for medical reasons--will contract measles with potentially fatal results"(Haynes).

* "A study published in the late 1980s suggested the measles vaccine was linked to autism, but the author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, was found to have falsified data to advance his claims" (Southwick, Herald).


* "Vaccine risks are different for each child because we are not all the same, and doctors cannot predict which child will be harmed" (Perry).

* "Even when a large number of people are vaccinated against a disease like measles, immunity is never 100%" (McGinty).

* "Yet some of the geographic pockets with the highest rates of vaccine refusal include parents who are among the most educated and are concerned about the number of vaccines in the current schedule" (Paulson).


When vaccinations were first created they were used haphazardly. Until Dr. Andrew Wakefield made a false statement claiming that vaccines cause autism. Since then people have started to refuse or delay vaccinating their children. Causing people all over the world to be put at risk for catching diseases. After the recent measles outbreak there has been ongoing debate about whether or not to vaccinate children.