Vaccination against infectious diseases should be made compulsory for all children. Discuss.

uncertainties about particular vaccines. An example of this is the DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis, and Tetanus) vaccine. Infants are meant to receive at 2/3/4 months. However, there are several side effects that parents fear, although very unlike to occur, they are very drastic and have stopped parents have letting their children have the vaccine. People have also been unsure about the effectiveness of the diphtheria vaccine, infact when the vaccine was once compulsory; there was a 17% increase in the disease. Although the disease was very rare and had been on decline before the vaccination was introduced. Pertussis is also very uncommon, and for children over the age of 12 months, is never life threatening. Tetanus is also common for the over 50’s and very rarely affects young children. So for diseases such as these, some people feel is better to avoid vaccination, so not to risk the side effects. But parents to refuse to have their children vaccinated do not seem to realise they may be exposing them to a lifetime of disability, they may not realise there is a very real chance that the natural disease can disable or even kill children. This is because some of today’s generation haven’t seen the devastating effects of some infectious diseases, and they don’t realise that those diseases have an increasing chance of coming back if more and more children are left unvaccinated. The recent whooping cough deaths in Sydney and Melbourne have shown that. It seems the scares concerning vaccinations have mostly originated from the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) scare involving bowel disease and autism. But the current low uptake of the MMR vaccine in the UK has led to well publicised concerns about potential measles outbreaks, especially among primary school entrants. No parents can have missed the worrying headlines about the MMR over the past few years; however the press can be very misleading. Further research has shown that there is no link between the MMR and autism or bowel disease, and this is agreed on by the World Health organisation. It is true that there are some temporary side effects of the MMR, such as a measles like rash in same cases. This is because the measles part of the vaccine is beginning to work. In very rare situations, (about 1 in 100000 immunisations for MMR) Children may suffer severe allergic reactions but if the child is treated quickly, he or she will recover fully. The fact is, stories in the press or on TV have made the scare far worse than it should have been, and also made it very confusing for everyone. Vaccinations are in general a very good way to immunise the world from terrible diseases such as measles. In the year before the MMR was introduced, 86,000 children caught measles and 16 died from it. A recent outbreak in Dublin, caused by parents not having their children vaccinated left two children dead.   The suggestion of a link between measles vaccine and/or vaccines containing measles (such as MMR) and inflammatory bowel disease or autism have largely come from one source, a team at the Royal Free Hospital, London, led by Dr Andrew Wakefield. Autism was well known long before MMR was ever used in this country. Autism, a disorder causing behavioural and language problems, is recognised more often now than in the past and the increases in the cases of autism were going on before MMR was introduced. Parents often first notice the signs of autism around the time MMR is usually given. There has been extensive research carried out around the world. The Medical Research Council reviewed all evidence and also heard full presentations from the team at Royal Free Hospital, and they came to the conclusion: “There is no evidence to indicate any link between MMR vaccination and bowel disease or autism.” In June 1999 a study was published in the medical journal, the Lancet, reviewing the cases of nearly 500 children born in north London between 1979 and 1994 who had been diagnosed as having autism and examining possible associations between their condition and MMR vaccine. The study found: - No increase in autism associated with the introduction of MMR in 1988.- No difference in age of diagnosis between MMR immunised and unimmunised children.- No difference in MMR immunisation rates between children with autism and the rest of the population.- No link between the timing of MMR and the onset of autism In general, children today are a lot healthier, and vaccinations play an important role in keeping them immune from all the terrible diseases that could harm them, and since the vaccines have been introduced, there have been lower death rates in children. There may be some side effects to some of the vaccinations, but it is not worth risking not vaccinating them. It is unsafe to assume that herd immunity will wipe out the risk of catching the disease as so many parents today are not having their child vaccinated. I feel that it is a good idea that under most circumstances, vaccination against infectious diseases should be made compulsory for all children. In a situation when a child is more likely to react very badly to a particular vaccine, alternative methods could be used. But I feel it important that children of today are all immunised so that, in the future, hopefully, such diseases would not be a threat to the children of tomorrow.  British Medical JournalInfant Vaccinations, A biological assault? – www.healthwell.comDepartment of health website doh.gov.ukDr. Alan CheungGuardian newspaper