Vaccination: Who Has the Right to Choose

In the news, the consequence of not getting children vaccinated against measles virus is headline. Do parents have the right to choose whether their children receive available childhood diseases vaccines?  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends getting 28 doses of 10 vaccines for kids aged newborn to six years old. All 50 states require vaccinations for children entering public schools but  all issue medical exemptions, 48 states, excluding Mississippi and West Virginia, permit religious exemptions, and 19 states allow an exemption for philosophical reasons.

.Proponents say that vaccination is safe and one of the greatest health developments of the 20th century. They point out that illnesses, including rubella, diphtheria, smallpox, polio, and whooping cough, are now prevented by vaccination and millions of children’s lives are saved. Opponents say that children’s immune systems can deal with most infections naturally, and that injecting questionable vaccine ingredients into a child may cause side effects, including seizures, paralysis, and death. They contend that numerous studies prove that vaccines may trigger problems like autism, ADHD, and diabetes

From 1989 to July 1, 2014, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) made 3,645 compensation payments of over $2.7 billion in awards and $113.2 million to cover legal costs.  About 30,000 cases of adverse reactions to vaccines have been reported annually to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) since 1990Thimerosal, formaldehyde, and aluminum, are added to vaccines to improve stability. After public outcry, thimerosal was  reduced to trace amounts in vaccines  for children under 6 years old.

 The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimated that 732,000 American children were saved from death and 322 million cases of childhood illnesses were prevented between 1994 and 2014 due to vaccination.