Why Vaccines Should Be Mandatory

In these drastic times that surround us, we are confronted every day with the risk of contracting COVID-19. The question of whether vaccinations should be mandatory has developed astronomically due to the situation we are in now. With the advanced technology we have been able to produce over the generations, scientists have been able to neutralize these viruses and diseases by creating vaccines that immunize you. Although we could eliminate these viruses, some people resist against taking the vaccines. While making these choices might be better for them, they aren’t good for the general health of everyone. The government should make vaccines mandatory because it keeps people safe and healthy, and it lessens the spread of the virus. 

When the vaccine was created it had one purpose, and that only purpose was to protect the general public from viruses. Vaccines have proven to fulfill that purpose, an example being “In America, where measles immunization is compulsory...measles has been virtually wiped out”(Dahl). These vaccines that have been created, have been made by the most renowned doctors in the world. This means that these vaccines which are engineered by some of the brightest minds would be the best option to keep us alive. Although a lot of people are for compulsory vaccines, that doesn’t mean everybody is for them. In Britain, many people whether they are ignorant or just afraid, have refused vaccines and that has caused “more than one hundred thousand cases of measles every year.”(Dahl). Given the severity of the measles virus, it is very grave that there are a very significant number of cases. As seen in America, if Britain was to make vaccination mandatory their cases would drop rapidly and the virus would almost be eradicated. Mandatory vaccination could also be very important in the predicament this world is in right now with COVID-19. With over 100,000,000 cases worldwide, a compulsory COVID vaccine could be the savior we have all needed and could help us get back to the normalcy we yearn for.

Not only do vaccines help with our safety but they also help control the spread of contagious viruses. Due to vaccines being able to immunize viruses, this also means that it disables the virus’s ability to spread. If vaccines were to be compulsory this would lead to no one being able to spread the virus from one to another. For example, if there was an unvaccinated person surrounded by vaccinated people “the unvaccinated person is protected by the bodies around her”(Biss). While if “no one was immunized the contagious disease spreads through the population”(NIH)  This type of situation represents herd immunity, which is the belief that when a big population of people build up resistance to a disease, usually by vaccination, the spread of the disease is limited due to the restricted amount of unvaccinated people. With the implementation of compulsory vaccination, we would easily be capable of containing the virus and render it indestructible.