Getting Vaccinated Really Have Precedence Over A Proper...

Does getting vaccinated really have precedence over a proper education? Currently all fifty states require children to be up to date on all vaccinations to enter kindergarten (â€Å"What Would Happen†). Alice Park, a reporter for Time, reported, many parents disagree with mandated vaccine and refuse to vaccinate their children on religious or philosophical grounds. However, vaccinations help build immunity and prevent many deadly diseases. Park noted that religious and philosophical waivers make the herd-immunity effect less effective. Park explained that the herd-immunity effect takes place when the upper majority of a population is fully vaccinated, covering those who did not or cannot get vaccinated, like cancer patients and newborns who†¦show more content†¦However, these parents are underestimating how many other parents have the same idea. An increasing problem is that people assume that everyone else vaccinated their children. In reality, a minority large enoug h to start an epidemic are not vaccinating their children. Park estimates if all children received the recommended vaccinations from the time they were born to adolescence $10 billion in medical bills would be saved, 14 million infections would be avoided, and 33,000 lives would be saved (Park). The issue is, critics believe these numbers do not apply to them. Critics believe their child’s infection could not have been avoided, and, potentially, life could not have been saved if they did vaccinate their child. Many people who are a part of the mandated vaccine debate are wondering, what would happen if more and more people stopped vaccinating their children. This actually happened in Japan in the late 1900s. The CDC report â€Å"What Would Happen If We Stopped Vaccinations?† states that â€Å"[in] 1974, about 80% of Japanese children were getting pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine† (â€Å"What Would Happen†). There were 393 cases of whooping-cough reported and zero deaths. Ten years later, the amount of children vaccinated dropped to 10%. That year 13,000 cases of whooping-cough were reported and 41 deaths. Soon people started to vaccinate their children and the number of deaths dropped (â€Å"What Would Happen†). These deaths could have been prevented if their