In most states in the US, parents are given rights on whether they would like their child to be exempted from vaccination on reasons that are religious, medical or their own personal beliefs.

Vaccination is a health measure to prevent the spread of disease by producing immunity against it. By immunizing the whole population, the pathogen causing the disease will have a hard time affecting majority of the population and will die on its own over time. In Finland endemic diseases such as measles, rubella and mumps have been eradicated through vaccination. So why do some people refuse to be vaccinated and if it provides these eradication of the diseases why would some countries make it voluntary?

The concept behind the benefit of vaccination is called the herd immunity characterized as immunization of the greater number of the population to decrease the chances of disease affecting the non-immunized population. When a contagious disease is present in the community the chances of spreading the disease will be stopped when more individuals in the community has immunity over it. There will a smaller chance of infection to a susceptible individual as majority of the population is already immune with the disease causing pathogen. Immunity from vaccination is achieved by injection of a weakened toxin derived from the disease causing pathogen. Technically you are introducing a weaker version of the disease to the body so that the body will naturally produce antibodies that will fight off the virus or pathogen when it comes into contact with it again. Some parents worry that vaccination will make their children sick and it will cause more harm than protection. An increasing number of individuals also suggest that vaccination is unnecessary because there is little risk of disease outbreaks.

What are the reasons of parents who do not want their children to be vaccinated?

• Their child is allergic to the vaccine. There are some children who develop an allergic reaction to components of some vaccine and may cause potential harm of anaphylactic shock when administered.
• The baby is very sick that his or her underdeveloped immune system is too weak to tolerate the vaccine. Introducing the vaccine to this baby’s weakened state will only aggravate the weak immune system exposing the child to diseases and infection.
• There is a study published by Dr. Andrew Wakefield in a British medical journal that links the MMR vaccine to autism. Although this study was proved to be misleading and was retracted and the doctor got his license suspended.
• Some parents believe that vaccination should be administered at a later time when the child is stronger and can tolerate the vaccine.
• Religions that has dietary prohibitions from certain animals refuses vaccination derived from those said animals
• Some religious sectors see vaccination as opposed to the will of God.

These exemptions granted by some states poses risk to other vaccinated individuals as the herd immunity breaks and more susceptible individuals are prone to acquire contagious diseases. This will greatly endanger the health of majority of the population when an outbreak arises. And the prevention of death from a preventable disease certainly outweighs the risks of vaccination itself. Parents need to be well informed of the potential health risks when exempting their child from vaccination and should evaluate fully that they understood these risks and its impact to society before making the decision of getting a vaccine exemption.