It isn’t often people stumble across an evidence-based, essential part of their health to find flaws in and emotionally debate with others.

Vaccinations have been proven time and time again that they are very important for us humans to get, but still people have conjured ways to deny that.

I’m going to list some sources that can back me up here, and then I’ll get into what I believe anti-vaxxers should do.

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, vaccinations have had a tremendously positive effect on global health.

Vaccinations helped eradicate two infections, rinderpest and smallpox. Polio has almost been eradicated with the help of vaccinations and measles is (hopefully, anyway) on its way to being stamped out.

After speaking with Health Services here at Eastern, registered nurse Nicole Hite and nurse practitioner Jeanine Hinshaw both agreed that it’s extremely important for people to get their vaccinations.

In fact, to even study at Eastern people must first submit their immunization records, detailing dates, times and places prospective students got their vaccinations.

According to Eastern’s Immunization Form, prospective students must get the DTP, DtaP, DT, TD (Diphtheria and Tetanus), Tdap (TetanusDiphtheriaPertussis), Combined MMR (Measles/ Mumps/Rubella) and Meningococcal Conjugate MCV4 shots before they study at the university.

Well, the question remains: Why do people claim that vaccinations are dangerous? While we cannot know the exact reason people choose to not get vaccinated and choose to not vaccinate their children, we can still speculate.

In recent years this anti-vaccination movement has made its mark on social media. Parents are creating signs that say, “Vaccines cause autism” and phrases to that effect.

The whole “vaccines cause autism” claim has been disproven by medical studies.

So what valid argument is there that vaccinations are dangerous? Well, there’s definitely no good one, in my opinion.

The best thing we can hope to do, though, is attempt to educate the skeptics.

Additionally, I think it’s best to not fight fire with fire. Insulting skeptics and name-calling is a poor way to convince anyone of your argument. The best thing you can do is to educate the skeptics.

Logan Raschke is a junior journalism major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].