Hailey Maresh

ENG 112 – Argument Essay

November 3rd, 2019

GET VACCINATED

A very common argument in society today, is something as simple as a shot, something we all

used to get as kids and not think twice about. Getting vaccinated wasn’t this big of an issue growing up,

not like the debates it sparks today. If someone wanted to vaccinate their children today, they are more

likely to get criticized and scolded at than they would have 20 years ago. Are people willing to let their

child suffer a possibly deadly disease just because they don’t want to be frowned upon by society?

Looking at it from a medical standpoint, there are more pros than cons to getting vaccinated. The

sole purpose of a vaccine is to build up an immunity to a certain strain of bacteria or a disease to protect

the body later on from a full-on attack. By using small amounts of antigens of a specific disease dispersed

into the body, allows a person’s immune system to build up a resistance to that disease (CDC). Especially

in younger children and babies who are born with a not so strong immune system and need the extra help

from vaccines to fight off some particularly deadly disease (CDC). It has been researched that most of the

country’s deadly diseases have been reduced by at least, if not more, than 90% because of people getting

vaccinated (Orenstein). It was researched that, from the 2012-2013 flu season, “more than 150 children

were documented to have died from influenza; many of them were healthy and not vaccinated for

influenza” (Piedra). These kinds of statistics just show the difference in children dying who were

vaccinated versus the amount of children that died, who were not vaccinated. That’s sad knowing that

maybe those children, if they would have gotten vaccinated, maybe could have had a better chance at

surviving these illnesses or not contract them at all. Knowing as a parent, a simple shot could have kept

their child alive, but because of ignorance or selfish ideations, lost their child to something that could

have been preventable.

Simply put, a community that is fully vaccinated is way less likely to contract a deadly disease, versus a

community that is not vaccinated. A non-vaccinated community has a higher risk at spreading a disease

from person to person because their immune systems might not be able to fight it off as easily as an

immune system with a vaccine defense against that disease. If a child is not vaccinated, parents have no

reason to be mad because their child got sick, if they are one of the only few who got sick, while the

children that were vaccinated stay nice and healthy. It’s the parents’ choice not to get a child vaccinated,

so they must face the consequences and the probability for their child to get infected with a disease that

could have possibly been prevented with a simple shot.

Some parents may argue that vaccines are unsafe and cause all these bad reactions and cause

autism in kids. It has been studied that reactions are a rare occurrence from getting vaccinated, and is

usually mild and non-threatening to the children (“Pros & Cons”). Should a parent be more worried about

a child getting a small rash for a few days or contracting a possible life-threatening disease that if it

doesn’t kill them, could leave them sick for weeks or with a permanent debilitating condition or

symptom? A shot doesn’t look so bad when you look at it that way. As far as vaccines causing autism

goes, that is just a rumor and is not scientifically proven. This theory became a thing when a British

surgeon claimed that autism was linked to certain vaccines, when supposedly, a few test subjects started

showing autism like symptoms (Trumpfan). While parents have clung to this theory as one of their main

reasons for children not to get vaccinated, this theory was never fully proven and has since been deemed

as false (“Pros & Cons”).

Some of the world’s deadliest disease have since been eradicated from the use of vaccines. It was

estimated by the CDC that “732,000 American children were saved from death and 322 million cases

childhood illnesses were prevented between 1994 and 2014 due to vaccinations” (“Pros & Cons”).

Throughout history you can see were vaccinations have reduced the impact of diseases on the people, yet

an increasingly large part of society still wants to believe that vaccinations are a bad thing and should be
done away with. How can a person with any sense find reason to believe that vaccinations are not helping

this country when the numbers are proof of otherwise. But yet, in today, due to more and more people

refusing vaccinations for them and their children, the numbers of people getting infected are starting to

rise back up and more people are getting sick.

Does society think the increasing number of people that are getting sick are people that were not

vaccinated? No, the people that are getting sick are the people who thought getting vaccinations was the

greater of two evils and refused it for them and their children and now they’re suffering the consequences.

But, by then, it might be too late, and the damage may have already been done. So, don’t do something a

person might regret in the future while laying on their death bed because they didn’t want a shot. People

need to get vaccinated and protect themselves and the ones they love around them. The only feasible

excuse as to why a person wouldn’t get a vaccine is due to their religion, but even then, they need to take

a step back and look at the bigger picture and ask themselves, is it even worth it? To risk getting sick just

because someone said no to a vaccine that could possibly save their life in the future.
 Works Cited

“Making the Vaccine Decision: Common Concerns | CDC.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www..gov/vacccdcines/parents/why-
vaccinate/vaccine-decision.html.
“Myths & Truths About Child Vaccinations Revealed.” VNA & Hospice, 2 May 2018,
https://ccvna.com/myths-truths-about-child-vaccinations-revealed/.
Orenstein, Walter A, and Rafi Ahmed. “Simply Put: Vaccination Saves Lives.” Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, National Academy of Sciences, 18
Apr. 2017, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5402432/'.
Piedra, Pedro. “WHY VACCINATE?” ProQuest, Contemporary Pediatrics; Monmouth Junction, Mar.
2015, https://search-proquest-
com.proxy039.nclive.org/docview/1667196059/citation/402F44233AC54F4FPQ/1?accountid=10
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“Pros & Cons - ProCon.org.” Vaccines, https://vaccines.procon.org/.
Trumpfan, Donald, et al. “To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate? Searching for a Verdict in the Vaccination
Debate.” Science in the News, 5 Dec. 2017, http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2016/to-vaccinate-
or-not-to-vaccinate-searching-for-a-verdict-in-the-vaccination-debate/.