Pros And Cons Of Parents Vaccinate Children

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Should Parents Vaccinate Their Children? The controversy of vaccinations has been the leading debate ever since vaccinations were invented. My grandfather and I had a keen interest of how vaccinations work and how they have evolved over time. In high school, my grandfather would take me to the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute in Port Saint Lucie, Florida to see what research was being done. Obviously we did not know the fine details of what composes a vaccine but we knew overall how they have evolved and what is put in a vaccine. My grandfather was a physician and I am an aspiring physician so discussing anything medicine-related a regular thing for us. In my family, I always got vaccinated every year for the common influenza and got mandatory …show more content…

There are a multitude of reasons why parents do not vaccinate their children: religious reasons, financial status, or misleading medical research, etc. Even in a first world country, vaccination rates are not where they should be. Parents do not vaccinate their children primarily in Alaska and Michigan. Alaska’s childhood immunization rates decline because of lack of resources. The National Immunization Survey places Alaska at the very bottom of all the states in the United States. Laurel Wood, Alaska’s immunization program manager, says “It’s critical that we help parents understand that childhood vaccinations are the safest and most effective way to protect their children from preventable illnesses.”(“Alaska’s childhood immunization rates decline”) It is evident that Alaska does not really enforce good use of vaccinations because they are so many reforms that include: strengthening connections with health care companies, survey parents to see why they do not want to immunize their children, increase the spread of education of immunizations, etc. Laurel Wood adds, “Parents should talk with their child’s health care provider for more information and to assure their children are up-to-date with the immunizations.” (“Alaska’s childhood immunization rates decline”) These are just some of the ways Alaska is trying to reform the popularity of vaccinations in Alaska. But overviewing Alaska’s problem with the use of vaccinations can be