To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate - Essay Example

Vaccination is a crucial phase in the life of a child considering the number of health conditions and diseases that they are exposed. This is especially at that young age when their immune system is yet to function fully and work at full swing against pathogens and diseases. As a result, it is crucial to weigh out the options in favor of and against vaccination of children. Vaccination must be given to children, as it is a cheap tool for boosting human health since its inception in the early 1900s.

Economically, vaccination works in favor of both the child and the parent concerning the cost affiliated with maintain a healthy body. The cost of saving a life by preventing the occurrence of a condition such as tetanus and other preventable such as pertussis through vaccination is lower as compared to curing the condition. With this in mind, it is, therefore, vital to vaccinate children rather than spend tones of cash and other resources treating or attempting to cure a condition (Bloom et al, 2003).

Statistics support this with facts, such as, child immunization saves roughly $5 and $11 in direct and social cost respectively (National Institute of allergy and Infectious Diseases, 2010).In addition, vaccines keep the body’s immune system alert in order to fight diseases and pathogens. In light of this fact, should a child be vaccinated and infected with a highly infectious disease, the child is less susceptible to the condition worsening. This is, in addition to having a reduced, incubation and contagious period.

In turn, this protects those around the child from catching the infections by blocking the period and, at times, the child may not be contagious at all. Thus, this acts as “herd immunity” where the society protects everyone from infections by acting as barriers to transmission. Vaccination also helps children concerning overall mental and cognitive wellbeing. This is due to their susceptibility to brain damage stemming from common health conditions such as influenza. Due to vaccination, brain damage is avoided leading to a normal life for the child.

In this regard, the overall quality of life is improved by eliminating threats from one’s body and environment. These include disease with high fatality rates, such as meningitis and those that lead to disability or impairment such as polio.On the other hand, vaccination should not be performed on children for a number of both valid and invalid reasons. Concerning valid reasons, the use of living organisms, despite being impaired or weakened, may turn to be a threat to the patient. The vaccines known as attenuated living vaccines may at times not be as weak as intended to be and, in turn attack the healthy patient resulting in infection.

This is a significant source of concern for parent not to vaccinate their children as it may lead to more expenses as mentioned earlier in the reasons for vaccination. In addition, improper and unaccountable inoculation practices result in degrading the quality of the life of the child to be vaccinated. This is due to the side effects accompanying the ingredients of vaccines, such as copper, cadmium and mercury that lead to motor and cognitive impairment in a child (Dherbs, 2012).In conclusion, vaccination is a crucial process in a child’s life due to the numerous benefits it has to those that partake in it, including the general society, in spite of the risks involved.

Therefore, if the risks do not outweigh the benefits of vaccination, inoculation must be done for the overall wellbeing of children and then society.ReferencesNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. (2010). Vaccines. Retrieved from http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/vaccines/understanding/pages/vaccinebenefits.aspxDherbs. (2012). The Dangers of Vaccinations. Retrieved from http://dherbs.com/articles/dangers-vaccination-7.htmlBloom et al. (2005). The Value of Vaccination. World Economics. Vol. 6 • No. 3.