“Millions of deaths are prevented by vaccination every year, yet public anxieties and vaccine scares that ignore rigorous science continue to hamper immunization programmes.” (Parry).

In 1545, the first ever smallpox epidemic took place, it continued to spread and became one of the deadliest diseases known to humans, but the first disease to have a vaccine. As smallpox swept the nation, Edward Jenner noticed that women who contracted cowpox, never contracted smallpox. In 1796, Jenner came up with the first ever vaccine, and helped begin the quest to stop the spread of smallpox. In 1980, smallpox became the only disease to ever be eradicated by vaccine (“History of Smallpox”).

Now after 36 years, one of the most deadliest diseases has been eradicated due to vaccination and yet around 2.1 million American children do not have the proper vaccinations on time (Thompson). In 2000, measles, a highly contagious disease, was considered eliminated from the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, elimination of measles means ‘12 months or more without “continuous disease transmission”’ (Berman). This didn’t mean that no cases of measles would occur in the United States, but the only cases to occur would be from people traveling to the country. In 2014 the number of measles outbreaks in the Unites States skyrocketed with there being more cases in 2014 than there were from 2009-2013 combined (Berman). 667 cases from 27 states were reported, the largest collective group of outbreaks was 383 cases from an unvaccinated group of Amish communities in Ohio. All these cases were linked to a case brought in from the Philippines ("Measles Cases And Outbreaks"). If people did vaccinate, it would not have been able to spread around the United States, because the necessary precautions would have been taken, and as we saw, the biggest case was between a group of unvaccinated United States citizens. Vaccines have been made for a good reason and they work. It’s time we use them.
In 2015 the lack of vaccination became evident to the public when measles began to spread at Disneyland. When unvaccinated people travel outside of the United States, where measles is still very common, they can contract the disease, or travelers from overseas who do not live in the United States can bring the disease over. Theme parks such as Disneyland contain many people who have not been vaccinated, and have no plans on being vaccinated as in the United States, measles is no longer considered a problem. When one person brought it to Disneyland, 42 people caught it. It then began to spread and by the end of 2015 189 cases from 24 states had been reported ("Measles Cases And Outbreaks"). With the pressure on parents to vaccinate their children, protests began against vaccination, the one thing that can stop the spread and again eliminating measles from the United States.

57% of parents who don’t vaccinate their children argue, that too many shots to early may increase the risk of autism (Levs). This is all linked to a case published in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield. Despite all the flaws with the study such as a “small sample size, only 12 children, an uncontrolled design, and a speculative nature of the conclusions” (Rao and Andrade 95), the study gained a lot of traction and vaccination rates began to drop. Another point to Wakefield's discover is that he was being funded by a group of lawyers who were working for parents in lawsuits against vaccine producing companies. In a final blow to the study keeping parents away from life saving vaccines, it was proved that “Wakefield et al was guilty of deliberate fraud, they picked and chose data that suited their case; they falsified facts” (Rao and Andrade 95). The problem, once people believe something and are raised with that thought, no matter how much proof you give them, it is almost impossible to change their mind. Which means, 8.2% of children will not be vaccinated due to a misconception, putting other children who aren't vaccinated due to religious or philosophical reasons are at risk. Also 8.2% of children are at risk from children unvaccinated due to religious or philosophical reasons, a large group, or form traveling, or from tourists. When all of it could be avoided by one shot.

Another problem is that parents believe babies immune systems are too weak to receive so many shots. The shots are modified to give the necessary amount to help the child’s immune system build up antibodies against the virus for the future and not overwhelm the child’s immune system. This leads to the separation of the shots over time and at different ages, making it safe for the child and good for their immune system and bodies.

Without vaccination, we would have no way of preventing, eliminating, and then eradicating diseases. No matter what, they will always be there and we need to protect ourselves and others and prevent the spread of deadly viruses, especially when we have the choice: to live or to die. Without vaccines, people would still be dying from smallpox and most of the world would be plagued with polio, but after the introduction of vaccines, diseases slowly began to disappear and people began to forget the true consequences deadly diseases have. We take for granted the lack of polio and the lack of measles just because it's not a relevant problem, doesn't mean it won't become one. We need to take the initiative and use what's already there and already been proven to help to continue the elimination of diseases.

Works Cited
Berman, Mark. "How The U.S. Went From Eliminating Measles To A Measles Outbreak At Disneyland". Washington Post. N.p., 2015. Web. 10 May 2016.
"History Of Smallpox". Historyofvaccines. N.p., 2010. Web. 10 May 2016.
Landau, Elizabeth. "Study: Don't Delay Measles Vaccine". Thechart.blogs.cnn. N.p., 2014. Web. 11 May 2016.
Levs, Josh. "The Unvaccinated, By The Numbers". CNN. N.p., 2015. Web. 10 May 2016.
"Measles Cases And Outbreaks". Cdc. N.p., 2016. Web. 10 May 2016.
Parry, Jane. "WHO | No Vaccine For The Scaremongers". Who.int. N.p., 2008. Web. 11 May 2016.
Rao, T.S. Sathyanarayana and Chittaranjan Andrade. "The MMR Vaccine And Autism: Sensation, Refutation, Retraction, And Fraud". Indian Journal of Psychiatry 53.2 (2011): 95. Web. 11 May 2016.
Thompson, Dennis. "Growing Number Of U.S. Kids Not Getting Needed Vaccinations". ABC News. N.p., 2015. Web. 10 May 2016.