Pros And Cons Of Mandatory Immunizations

In 2008, approximately 1.5 million children under the age of five died from vaccine preventable diseases. Required immunizations can save thousands of lives and can prevent serious diseases, and immunizations began to be mandatory at the beginning of the twentieth century. Immunizations are important for personal health, public health, longevity of life, and education. Overtime people have been skeptical about immunizations. There is a huge controversy surrounding immunizations. Required immunizations for children continue to be debated based on side effects, ingredients, and religious and philosophical beliefs. Some people are in favor of required immunizations because they feel it protects the body and others are against it because they believe vaccines infect the body. Immunizations will insure healthy children and will prevent many lethal diseases. Immunizations should be required for children to protect them from life threatening diseases.

Not everyone agrees that immunization should be mandatory for children. In 1855 the small pox vaccine was mandatory for school children, however many did not want their children to receive it. People became opposed to mandatory immunizations because they did not want bad germs in a healthy body. The controversy still exists today however the reasoning has changed. In the 1800s and early 1900s people feared the injection and people also didn't know enough about immunizations to formulate an educated opinion. Today the controversy is about side effects, ingredients, and religious and philosophical