I've been vaccinated when I was young an honestly throughout my life I rarely got sick I always felt extremely healthy and well. The last time I got the flu was last winter, but that was the first time in over 10 years. I work outside to, from time to time I could be working in the rain and get soaked or snow or just -40 C or +40 C weather, still barely ever get sick. I honestly don't think vaccinations are bad, but I know there's a lot of negative comments of it. It could worsen your immune system making the effects complete opposite of what it should do.

My girlfriend is highly against it, especially her mother and whole family she's never been vaccinated and the same goes to her brother.They don't believe in hospitals. But the thing is it seems like she's always gething a cold or sometime the flu, definitely waaaay more then me. Could this have something to do with the lack of vaccinations or just random?

Either way what do you believe, is mandatory vacinnation for children good or bad and why?

Depending where you live, there's no such thing as "mandatory vaccination". All medical procedures in Canada require consent; if the parents refuse to have their children vaccinated then there's nothing anybody in Health Care can do about it.

Without a doubt the vaccine has been the most important and effective product of medical science and one of the most beneficial advancements in any scientific field. Bad science, illogic and loud celebrities have raised a lot of unfounded fears regarding vaccines, but the truth is that they are the safest way to protect one's self against infection and the best way to protect entire populations. Adverse reactions are exceptionally rare and usually manifest as a rash or flu-like symptoms. Anyone who believes that vaccines and disorders such as autism have a positive correlation should be taken to task and shown the facts; this might help them protect themselves and their children from a whole slew of nasty illnesses.

But there are those who have decided against them for ethical reasons, and while I may disagree with their conclusion, I find that rationale acceptable. Choosing not to be vaccinated for whatever moral reason is one thing. Choosing not to because of bad science is another.

If you want my advice, get all your shots as scheduled and be sure to continue receiving them throughout your adult life as recommended. There may not be mandatory vaccination everywhere, but there should be.

Could not have said it better.

The thing is, by resisting vaccines you're not only putting yourself or your children in danger, but the people around you as well; your community, your country, the world. A certain percentage of immunity is needed in a population to achieve "herd immunity," where epidemics cannot or are extremely unlikely to occur because there are too few vulnerable hosts.

After the MMR vaccine scare in 1998, where is was (falsely) claimed that then vaccine caused autism in children, many parents refused to vaccinate their kids. The result? Immunity levels dropped sharply, and outbreaks of measles and mumps skyrocketed. By 2008, measles had became in the UK again, for the first time since 1994.

Similrly, when religious extremists in Nigeria branded vaccine as a Western ploy to infect their children with HIV or sterilise them, and discouraged parents from vaccinating their children, diseases like polio made a dramatic comeback, ravaging not only Nigeria, but neighbouring countries.

The anti-vaccination movement is stupid, irrational and dangerous. There are few fields of pseudo-science that I dislike more simply because vaccination is so critical. If you keep vaccination levels above a certain percentage it keeps an entire population safe, if it falls below that level you get epidemics.

Statistically the risks from getting a vaccination are miniscule and the risks from not getting vaccinated are high. It's foolish to not get vaccinated against things like measles, mumps and rubella. This image from wikipedia shows why.



Hell, polio has practically been wiped out and smallpox has been wiped out purely due to vaccination.

Why on earth does your girlfriend not believe in hospitals? That's really just stupid.

As far as I'm concerned they're a good thing, I've received all my ''mandatory'' vaccinations, and I can honestly say my health is solid.

I've not had to go to the hospital or doctor because I was sick for over 16 years now.

And as previous posters have wisely pointed out, not getting vaccinations may have a ill affect on the people in your community in the long run.

Rath said: The anti-vaccination movement is stupid, irrational and dangerous. There are few fields of pseudo-science that I dislike more simply because vaccination is so critical. If you keep vaccination levels above a certain percentage it keeps an entire population safe, if it falls below that level you get epidemics. Statistically the risks from getting a vaccination are miniscule and the risks from not getting vaccinated are high. It's foolish to not get vaccinated against things like measles, mumps and rubella. This image from wikipedia shows why. Hell, polio has practically been wiped out and smallpox has been wiped out purely due to vaccination. Why on earth does your girlfriend not believe in hospitals? That's really just stupid.

It's complicated her mother does a different type of "healing" when people are sick. I dunno the details all's I know is a lot of people believe in it she's got business'  all over Canada.

Urgh. Fake 'healers' are a bane on society that cause pointless deaths.

Lets go back to the days when children had a high chance of being crippled and entire cities were wiped out by disease.

I'm sorry but your girlfriend and her parents sound retarded, if they dislike modern science so much tell them to go live in the woods. What are they going to do if (god forbid) one of them gets seriously ill and needs to go to the hospital?

Just got my 10 year tetanus shot today.  Most people against vaccination rely on some report by Andrew Wakefield who has lost his license for being a quack http://briandeer.com/mmr-lancet.htm. It just sucks that something proven false again and again can gain traction and put kids at risk.

Some doctors are now turning down patients who won't have their kids vaccinated.  http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2012/02/25/should-doctors-fire-anti-vaccine/  It's just irresponsible to not vaccinate. 

You can be the bane of something but not bane on something.

/Grammar Nazi