Vaccinations are important in protecting people today and in the future. Parents who vaccinate their children not only protect their children from serious diseases but they protect children and adults who were too unhealthy to receive vaccinations. Vaccinations may have a few flaws but the pros severely weigh out the cons.

When a person becomes a parent, they are faced with multiple difficult decisions. One of the biggest decisions they face is whether to vaccinate their child or not. In today’s society, there are many rumors, both good and bad, about vaccinations. For some parents the decision is simple, for others not so much. Vaccinations are proven to be safe and preventative against serious diseases and illnesses. If not vaccinated, a child risks getting infected and spreading the infection. One of the fastest places for an infection to spread is when children are at school. For that, vaccinations should be made mandatory for all children.

There have been numerous false rumors about vaccinations circling society since the late 1990’s. These rumors were started by Andrew Wakefield. Wakefield is well known for his fraudulent research paper claiming that the MMR vaccinations causes Autism. When researchers discovered that it was false and there was no actual link, the damage had already been done. People had already made the decision to not vaccinate their children in fear that they would develop Autism. No other doctors or researchers have been able to mimic the work Wakefield has done. News about Wakefield paying colleagues and patients to agree with Wakefield was later released. Besides Wakefield’s false claims, vaccinations have been proven to be effective and beneficial.
Vaccinations, like everything else in the world, have their down sides. A common side effect is pain at the sight of injection. There is no preparation done to the skin besides cleaning off the bacteria. There are numbing creams that exist but they are not used before vaccinations. The pain lasts for about five seconds and then it is over.
When the vaccination is done being administered, the patient may be bleeding from the sight of injection. Though the sight of blood is scary, it is normal. The skin was broken and in order to close, blood coagulates to close the hole. The vaccinations administrator will clean up the sight of injection and then bandage it if needed.

After a vaccination, the patient may be experiencing soreness wherever the vaccination was given. The soreness should last no longer than twelve hours. These are all common side effects of vaccinations. There are other side effects but not nearly as common as pain, bleeding and soreness.

According to the CDC, Center of Disease and Control, allergic reactions to vaccinations are insanely rare. Less than one in every one million doses will cause someone to have an allergic reaction. Majority of the people who do have an allergic reactions have an allergy to eggs.  Reactions are rare and most people who know they have an egg allergy avoid certain vaccinations in efforts to avoid a potential reaction.

Vaccinations are proven to be effective and save many lives. They not only save current generations, they save future generations. Vaccinations have virtually eliminated diseases that killed millions of people in the United States in the 1900’s. CDC stated that vaccinations have disposed of smallpox, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella and meningitis b. These diseases plagued the United States claiming lives of thousands of people. The creation of vaccinations such as MMR, pertussis and tetanus vaccinations, these diseases are not as common or practically nonexistent.

Vaccinations also help people who have weak immune systems. If a person has poor immunity, getting an effective vaccination can strengthen it to the point that the body can still protect itself. Vaccinations also help those who are too sick to receive vaccinations. Often patients with serious diseases such as cancer cannot receive vaccinations due to their poor health. These children do not have an option whether to get vaccinated or not. So to protect those who are less fortunate, all healthy able children should be vaccinated.

People chose not to vaccinate their children due to religious beliefs. They believe in the power or prayer and that their God heals all. Have they ever considered this: when new diseases broke out, no one knew what they were or how to treat them. Through years of research doctors have been able to come up with a concoction to safely and effectively protect people against these diseases. They might not be able to be healed indirectly but they are able to be protected and healed directly. This may not have been the outcome they prayed for but the vaccinations were the answers to their prayers.

There are many downsides of vaccinations. They hurt, they make the patient bleed and they cause the patient to experience soreness after receiving them. Those simple, temporary side effects are completely out weighed by the many pros. They prevent people from being infected by fatal diseases. They protect future generations from experiencing certain diseases. They help strengthen people’s immunity. They also help protect those who are too unhealthy to receive vaccinations on their own. Vaccinations are safe. The man who claimed they are unsafe has been put in jail and stripped of his medical licenses for lying about his evidence. Vaccinations may have a few unpleasant side effect but the benefits are too pleasant to ignore.