Required Vaccinations

Dear Mr. President,

My name is Jamie Torrez. I am a student at Parkway West Middle School, and I am writing you today to share my thoughts about requiring vaccinations for children.

I became interested in this issue during the swine flu outbreak of 2009. Even though I was only in 3^rd or 4^th grade at the time I was concerned for my family's and my own health. I got reintroduced to the problem recently, when my class was researching topics for our district's film festival. I came across an article debating whether vaccinations should be required for children. When I saw this I felt this was a very important issue I want to share with the world.

So the matter I am concerned with is mandatory immunizations for kids, especially kids enrolled in schools. Are you aware that one in twenty kindergartners do not have all of their required vaccinations? This is one of the reasons outbreaks pop up where vaccination rates go down. Do you remember in 2010 when California had the worst outbreak in 65 years? There was nearly 9,500 cases of whooping cough. I'm sure you are aware of the reasons parents are allowed to file an exemption, philosophical, medical and religious. Something I'm not sure you are aware of how people are misusing these privileges. People say that they are writing up the exemption for these reasons even if they are not. They might do this for ease, because they do not think it is necessary or they think vaccinations are dangerous. Twenty one of states allow exemptions for philosophical reasons, forty eight allow religious decline but few demand proof that their faith is against it. This is the thing causing the problems. If you make sure that people who sign the form really are signing it for that reason, I assure you it will take care of a lot of issues.

I would like to now thank you for the time you took reading this letter. I know you are a very busy person, and often do not have extra time to read letters so for that I sincerely thank you. Now if it isn't too much trouble, please consider my ideas about how to make our country a better place. Since the President of the United States of America does have a lot of influence I would like for you to encourage our country's children and their parents to get vaccinated. Also remember to buckle down on security for those exemptions, instead of just letting anyone who asks get one. I once again would like to express my gratitude for the time reading this letter. I also thank you for your effort running this country and taking our, the citizens, ideas into consideration.
Sincerely,
Jamie Torrez
Parkway West Middle School
St. Louis, MO

 

 

Mrs. Elsie F. Rafferty

MOSAICS Specialist

Parkway West Middle School

 

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