The question, “Should vaccinating your child remain a choice?” has been brought to the attention of many people in the U.S. after the recent outbreak of measles at Disneyland in California. This outbreak has resulted in infecting 84 other people of this severely contagious disease. In my personal opinion, I feel as though it should not be an option to be able to opt out of vaccinating your child from such a contagious virus that can even be fatal. Not only are you putting your child at risk of getting the disease that the doctors have warned you about, but you are also putting others at risk as well. They say that measles is one of the most contagious illnesses because of the way that the virus can linger in the air for up to two hours. Gross! Am I right? I believe you should vaccinate not only your children but also your self, so that these kinds of diseases are not as capable of spreading.

The 2016 Presidential candidates are talking about this issue as well. For instance, Hilary Clinton is pro vaccinating children as revealed in a tweet on February 2.

Although I believe that you should vaccinate your children, I also can see the reason some people are opposed to this decision. They believe that vaccines can be the cause to other diseases such as autism or even cancer. This can be a scary thought not knowing what the effects of the vaccines might be. I understand that they want the right to research and decide if they want to vaccinate, but I hope it’s not at the expense of the greater good.