With the recent outbreak of the measles, the debate between whether or not vaccines should be required has sparked up. Though vaccines can be helpful in many situations, they’re not always beneficial, and people should be able to decide for themselves.

Because a vaccine is just a mild sample of a virus, there is a chance that instead of building up a resistance to that virus, you end up getting sick from that virus. Also, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), vaccines have a risk of carrying a deadly allergic reaction called anaphylaxis.

According to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), up to 30,000 cases of adverse reactions to vaccines are reported annually since 1990. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website also says, “While about 85% of adverse events reported to VAERS are minor… the remaining 15% describe more serious events.”

Additionally, some viruses that require vaccines are essentially harmless, so vaccines for those viruses aren’t necessary. Many of the vaccines are also not very prominent anymore, like mumps and polio, therefore making vaccines for those viruses unnecessary and outdated.

Vaccines sometimes contain harmful or questionable ingredients as well. Some vaccines, such as hepatitis A, chicken pox, and rabies, are made using fetal embryo cells

Another reason why vaccines should not be required is that it infringes upon people’s rights as well as their personal and religious beliefs. Some Amish communities view some vaccines as unnecessary, therefore forcing the Amish to get vaccinated infringes upon their religious freedoms.

Vaccines are unnatural, and natural immunity is more effective than getting a vaccination. Even pro-vaccine organizations, such as The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Mayo Clinic, state that natural immunization causes better immunity.

Moreover, the FDA and CDC cannot be trusted to make and regulate safe vaccines. The primary goal of pharmaceutical companies is to sell drugs and make a profit at any cost to our children. Because they make money from vaccines, they want them to sell more.

Finally, vaccination is a prefixed government program that has grown rapidly. Today, children receive 49 doses of 15 vaccines before kindergarten, while in the 1980’s, children received just 10-12 vaccines during a lifetime. The current vaccine schedule has never once been tested as it is administered to our children, which means the desired results of the vaccines could not be what our children receive in the end.

The overall risks and costs of vaccines are harmful to society and should be a personal, private matter, not a requirement.