There are no words to adequately describe how strongly many Americans feel about vaccination, including me.

As the argument often goes, uneducated people feel as if vaccines cause certain diseases and pose serious health risks, and while vaccines can occasionally cause these health risks, more often than not they are an enormous benefit to the child.

On the contrary, many people also feel that these unvaccinated children pose health risks to their own vaccinated children, and this is also wrong. Vaccines aren't harmful and should be utilized for each and every child that has the option.

The first reason you should vaccinate your kids is that vaccines can potentially save your child's life. Diseases that once swept through countries all over the world have nearly been eradicated thanks to vaccines. And while these diseases are rare in certain countries, they still pose a serious threat to humans. Why would anyone risk their child's life by refusing to vaccinate them for the thousands of life-threatening diseases?

Vaccinating your child also provides them a world full of opportunities that they wouldn't receive without vaccination. Many schools, jobs, colleges, and care facilities require vaccinations to be accepted or treated. This is due to the fact that schools and facilities do not want to be held responsible for the spread of diseases to other students or the community, and while the other students are often vaccinated, some children are too young to be vaccinated for certain diseases that older unvaccinated children could potentially have or carry.

There are also children with compromised immune systems that put the child at a much greater risk of contracting diseases, as oftentimes vaccines are less effective on these children. And while I believe that people have a right to refuse to vaccinate their child, I believe that it is morally wrong. Refusing to vaccinate your child can put other children at risk, thus making you responsible for the potential hospitalization or death of another child simply because you chose not to vaccinate your kid.

While many people believe that vaccines contribute to various diseases and ailments, research has proven this is not the case. As with any medication, however, there are side effects. Regardless, these side effects are extremely rare and are not normally anywhere near as awful as the potential disease. Thus, vaccinating your kids is a safe option, regardless of the rare side effects. Nearly every medication has side effects, but we still take the medications when we're sick, as we recognize that the side effects are rare and highly unlikely. Keep your child safe by vaccinating them.

To conclude, vaccinations are a gift from modern medicine and are safe, effective, and affordable.

Regardless of arguments about side effects, cost, and ingredients, vaccines make the world a much safer and healthier place to live. So please, for the sake of other children and humans, vaccinate your children.