McCallion
Quest

Mandatory Innoculations

by:  Melissa Glover

Adam was a happy, healthy baby until he was vaccinated at two months. His growth began to slow and he cried in pain constantly. After receiving another shot at four months, his leg eventually swelled to twice its normal size. Shortly after his first birthday, it was discovered that he had diabetes. Now he also suffers from a neurological disorder, which limits his ability to communicate.

 One could assume that these medical problems or illnesses were related to the mandatory vaccines. They are becoming a part of everyday life but the controversy surrounds the question ; Are they really necessary? Is it right to take a chance of seriously affecting a person’s health for the fear of a rare disease that the child has little chance of contracting? For these reasons I believe that vaccines should not be mandatory.

 Mandatory vaccinations have been linked to an assortment of health problems, once the child has received them. By law, many children are required to receive a series of vaccines such as pertussis, tetanus, and diphtheria, before being able to attend school. Unfortunately, children who are supposed to become safer from a particular disease are suffering serious health problems, due to these vaccines. A few of these include autism, fever and even death.

A study conducted at a London hospital by a Scottish researcher, found that 67% of children that were previously healthy, became ill after receiving a vaccine. Is it really right to force a vaccine on a child to protect them and leave them to deal with the risk of developing an illness, in some cases, even more serious than they would have been otherwise? Dr. Bart Classen, an immunologist, disagrees with administering these vaccines as well. He states, “Vaccines should absolutely not be required. It’s very likely with many vaccines that the risk exceeds the benefits.”

 If everybody receives a vaccine, the disease may eventually become immune and it is possible that it will begin to grow stronger. With certain diseases, we immunize freely to protect, but diseases may only become immune to these kinds of treatment. Once immune, the disease is free to spread, often growing stronger, until eventually becoming too strong to prevent or cure. This could cause an epidemic much worse than the one the vaccine was originally meant to prevent. Richard Krause, an infectious disease official, shares the views of many other experts. “Infections that are treatable now, soon will be deadly. This phenomenon isn’t new, but because we use these antibiotics so heavily, and casually, we are “forcing” the germs to develop resistance.”