Need for Vaccinations Vaccinations have been around since the early 1800, and so has the vaccination debate. Not everyone agrees with the vaccinations. Vaccinations have drastically improved since it was first introduced. It is the only way to protect ourselves from infectious diseases. As more new viruses came out, so were the vaccines. We get more vaccinations now than ever before. We shouldn’t be at risk because of other people having different personal or religious beliefs. No one should be exempt from vaccinations for whatever reason. Making vaccinations mandatory is a must because the benefits outweigh the risks, it keeps our country safe from many deadly and harmful infectious diseases, it is especially more important to people with weak immune systems. Getting vaccinated is critical in keeping this nation in top shape. We must vaccinate everyone in this country in order to be completely safe from many infectious diseases. We don’t have antibiotics for some of the diseases like polio and measles, so getting vaccinated is the only way to prevent it. According to Pediatrician and President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, David Tayloe (2009), MD, made the following statement: “our citizens need to understand that the vaccine program has been extremely successful. It’s the most effective public health program in the history of man, and we cannot let down our guard just because we’ve done such a good job”. http://vaccines.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001606 United States is arguably the most traveled country in the world. There are millions of people entering and leaving this country every year, so the chances of diseases entering this country are very high. We are so much at risk and don’t even know it. By not getting vaccinated, we are risking ourselves to be infected with diseases and potentially putting everyone else at risk. An epidemic is something that we should not have to experience to know that vaccinations are important. There have been numerous outbreaks of infectious diseases within the last century. Just to name a few, there was Spanish flu in 1918, Polio in 1952, Asian flu in 1957, Cryptosporidium in 1993, and Whooping Cough in 2010. According to the news article by Tim Parsons in (2006), “Historic Television Program Offers Unique Perspective of 1957 Asian Flu Pandemic”, “in 1957, the world was also in the grip of a deadly influenza pandemic, known as the Asian flu. Although less severe than the 1918 Spanish flu that killed an estimated 50 million people, the 1957 Asian flu was ultimately responsible for 70,000 deaths in the United States and nearly 2 million deaths worldwide over the next year”. http://www.jhsph.edu/news/stories/2006/1957-asian-flu.html 50 million people in 1918 and 2 million people in 1957. Where are the vaccines when you need them? Thanks to medical advancements we have in vaccination programs, people don’t die by the millions anymore. Some people need vaccinations more than others. Even though everyone should get vaccinated, infants, children, and elderly are more prone to get infectious diseases compared to normal healthy adult with good immune system. So, when some parents want to opt out their children for vaccinations, they are risking our children along with other children that go to school with them. That’s just not fair to the other children. Just look what happened in Kenneth Copeland Ministries Eagle Mountain