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Taking a Shot

Imagine watching your child during story time. You look around and many children are
there with their parents gazing over them as well. Think about knowing that possibly one child in
the group is not vaccinated. That child can spread an infection to your baby who isnt old enough
to be vaccinated yet. What would you do in that situation? This is how one mother reacted to this
same situation. Earlier in the year of 2015 a woman became enlightened of the fact that the
library in which her son, less than a year old, was attending does not require that their patrons to
vaccinate your children. Upon this newly processed information, she immediately yanked her
son from story time states Andrea Gallo, who reported on this event. This incident happened at
Jones Creek Library located in East Baton Rouge. With cases like this happening in our own
community, parents need to take the honorable action, which is to help make vaccinations
obligatory for all children.
In my research, I conducted a survey asking Louisiana State University students
what they thought about the choice of immunizing children. Six out of the 47 surveyed said that
it should not be made mandatory to vaccinate all children. That is only ~13%! Some believe
parents should have a choice on what to do with their children and some think immunizations are
harmful to the body and wrong. I interviewed a mother who is against vaccinating children and
she said giving children vaccines is inhumane and that we should carry out Gods natural
processes and not intervene. Many public places do not require children to have all
immunizations before participating in events.

I conducted a personal interview with Marie Billings, a retired nurse who was in the
medical field for 45 years and held positions in Nursing Education, Nursing Administration and
Continuing Education. Her personal and professional opinion stated that vaccination of infants,
children, and adults is essential for personal and public health safety because:
Immunizations prevent infectious and communicable diseases and their
spread at home and in the global community. The advent of immunizations
has eliminated the threats of morbidity and mortality caused by these
specific pathogens. Complications of these illnesses include severe injury to
the systems of the body, especially, the nervous, respiratory and
cardiovascular systems, and/or death of individuals with these infections and
those who are in contact with them.
Most schools, elementary through post-secondary, mandate immunizations to attend their school.
A few schools in Baton Rouge do have a waiver parents can sign to say they know children at the
school are not required to have all up to date immunization records. This takes the liability off
the schools in the case of other children becoming ill from one another. On top of this there are
exemptions that people have so they are not required to get immunized. Exemptions to this rule
include allergies to certain medicines that are in the vaccines and religious views who do not
condone outside products. For example, Louisiana State University allows you to get a voucher
for exemption of the immunization records. But, if theres an outbreak of the disease, you must
leave and not come back until the situation is under control. Most other schools have the same
protocol under these conditions.

Parents have other reasons as to why they want to keep their kids un-vaccinated. Before
bringing their children to get the immunizations, they do research and find the side effects of
certain vaccinations and it starts to scare them. This fear leaves them with the choice to not act
on the immunization process. According to the CDC, certain vaccinations can lead to pneumonia
or organ failure. But these are the most severe symptoms and are very rare. The majority of the
time, the worst that will happen is swelling by the injection site and will go away over time.
When people in our community make this important decision, they need to think about the
possibility of their child actually getting the particular disease. Yes, one doesnt just catch the
measles on an everyday basis, but its better to be protected in the case of an outbreak. For some
diseases, the side effects dont show up right away. The host can be infected before the
symptoms arrive, meaning they could infect others before they are aware they have it. This is a
chain reaction that when started, is hard to stop in its tracks. This can all be avoided in our
community if vaccinations were mandatory among children in our community
Another reason parents might opt to vaccinating is because they feel like their parental
rights are violated. No parent wants to be told how to raise their child. Someone trying to tell
them whats best for their child might make them want to rebel against the particular task, no
matter the risk. Of course I hope this isnt the issue, but it is in some cases and I hope lawmakers
will consider this and try to make a change in our community.
Not everyone is able to get immunizations for multiple reasons. Babies who are under 12
months old are not old enough to get vaccinated. So if a child infected with the measles because
they werent vaccinated is at our community playground and there are children under 12 months
old at the same playground, their lives could be in danger. Same goes to people who are allergic

to particular vaccines. These people have to be well aware of their surroundings due to these
circumstances. This means that children are not the only stakeholders in this issue.
When thinking about the many lives that can be affected by this, I think about pregnant
women, people with allergies, and people with immune-suppressive disorders. All of these
people are at risk when exposed. If a law to mandate vaccines in our community arises, then all
of these people will no longer have to worry about exposure as much.
With all of this in mind, I propose my solution. I believe that the people who choose not
to have their children vaccinated must not come into public places where other people can be
exposed to the proposed virus. This includes public schools, playgrounds, and anywhere where
there is close interactions with young children. The only ones exempt from this law are people
who physically cannot have the vaccines due to allergies, age, or disorders. This will reduce the
chance of outbreak in our community. It is just unfair to the people who cannot defend
themselves against diseases. The people who dont get immunizations do it by choice and should
deal with the consequences of their actions.
The stakeholders in this issue are the citizens who refuse to get vaccinated, the people
who cannot get vaccinated, the loved ones of both, and community officials. If officials do
decide to change this law, then Im sure there will be protesting involved. So either way, the
lawmakers arent going to make everyone happy.
In conclusion, vaccinations are a serious community issue that needs to be addressed.
There are many ways that this issue can harm our community. I understand that the officials
cannot do much more than what theyre doing right now, but we can at least raise awareness and
save as many lives as we can. Unfortunately, most of the time people wait until after a crisis to

start fixing the problem. Let us not wait until someone is sick before we act. Resolving this
critical matter will bring our community one step closer to being a healthy, fully-functioning
place to live!

Works Cited
47 LSU Students. Personal interview. 30 Apr. 2015.
Billings, Marie. Personal Interview, 28 Apr. 2015.
Falgoust, Nicole. Personal interview. 28 Apr. 2015.
"For Parents: Vaccines For Your Children." Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC, 17 Feb. 2015. Web. 1 May 2015.
<http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/index.html>.
Gallo, Andrea. "Baton Rouge libraries now center of vaccine debate." The Advocate.
N.p., 24 Feb. 2015. Web. 1 May 2015. < http://theadvocate.com/news/11654481123/baton-rouge-libraries-now-center>
"School Immunizations." WBRZ. WBRZ, 10 Aug. 2009. Web. 1 May 2015.
<http://www.wbrz.com/news/august-is-national-immunization-awarenessmonth/>.
"Vaccines and Immunizatons." Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC, 27 Apr. 2015. Web. 1 May 2015.
<http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/side-effects.htm#flu>.

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