Should Vaccines be Required for Children?

      Throughout my mentorship, I have been avidly reading medical articles and blogs to keep myself updated and informed on new discoveries as well as varying controversial issues. One issue that sparked my interest is the controversy over whether vaccinations should be mandatory for children. There is no law in the United States stating that every child must be vaccinated, but all 50 states require certain vaccinations upon enrollment in public schools. Most states allow religious exemptions, and some states even allow philosophical exemptions to the vaccine policy. This gives rise to the question "Should all children, regardless of religious and/or philosophical beliefs be required to receive vaccinations upon enrollment in schools?"Although some religions are against certain vaccinations, all children should be required to receive them for school in order to protect themselves and others from fatal diseases.
      Many parents argue that the government should not intervene with their personal medical decisions. While it is agreeable that caregivers and parents have the right to make their own choices over their children's bodies, not vaccinating their children could cause a deadly outbreak of disease throughout the entire country, thus making it a governmental issue. 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 vaccinations. After being shown the statistics, it seems almost absurd to refuse vaccinations.
    Vaccines also protect future generations. Vaccines are responsible for eradicating fatal diseases such as paralytic polio and smallpox, which means that they are most likely to eradicate or at least decrease diseases that are found today. Isn't that the main goal for those in the medical field, to put and end to horrible diseases? If parents refuse vaccination, then they are not allowing the field of medicine to do its job.
    A large number of the people who choose not to vaccinate their children tend to use religion as an opposing factor to vaccinations. However, among the religions in the United States, there aren't any religions that state that they are against vaccination. In fact, many religions actually promote them as a way of respecting life. With that being said, making vaccinations mandatory for American children would not be denying them the freedom of religion.
    If the government were to make vaccinations mandatory for all American children, that is one step closer to eliminating fatal diseases and protecting millions of lives. If people are still able to be exempt from vaccinations, then America is put at risk for a country-wide disease outbreak with many fatalities. So you decide: Mandatory vaccinations or disease and death?