Vaccines are one of the greatest developments in medical science—they have prevented the spread of disease and saved countless lives. Here at DU, many of these vaccines are required of all students preventing diseases such as hepatitis, measles, meningitis and others.

However, it should not be mandatory for students to receive a flu shot each year.

The system should remain as it currently is, where it is optional for DU students to receive the vaccine.

Now, there is a consensus that the flu shot is the best way to prevent getting the flu. For those students who want to protect themselves from the flu using the vaccine, that is their choice.

For me, I would rather not have another needle poked into my arm. Since birth, most of us have been poked and prodded so many times that the feeling is engraved in our brains. If it is not of dire need for me to get a shot, I would choose not to.

I am willing to put up with the other vaccines that DU requires of its students because I feel those are more dangerous. With hepatitis, for example, there is the risk of liver failure.

While hepatitis is treatable, the symptoms and grave seriousness of the disease do not ever go away.
With the flu, a visit to the doctor, a few days of rest, tea, and cold medicine seem to do the trick. The flu vaccine seems much less important when compared to the other array of diseases and maladies.

Fundamentally, when it boils down to it, nobody should force any person into getting vaccinated. We’re creatures with free will, and if we want to get the vaccination, we will choose to do so.

If not, we run the risk of getting sick, but also retain our individual choice.

For me, one of the biggest reasons I choose not to get the flu shot is that it gives me some unwanted side effects for at least the first couple of days. I get drowsy and fatigued and sometimes feverish too. Overall, it just does not make me feel particularly healthy.

Without the shot, there are still other safeguards from getting the flu. Washing your hands is the first major one.

The CDC reports that by washing your hands frequently enough, the risk of contracting the flu is significantly reduced.

Furthermore, taking vitamins and eating a healthy diet will help keep the immune system strong. For people who are sick, they should at the very least stay home and probably go to the doctor’s office as well. And if all else fails, just avoid people who are sick. Do not let them spread the contagion.

The point is that all of this can still be done without a mandatory shot.

Besides, the flu vaccine is not completely foolproof. I know at least one time when I was younger and received the flu shot, I still contracted the virus. Granted, this is not the norm for most people who get the vaccine, but I am not alone in this regard. While it is the number-one preventer of the disease, it does not fully shield people from still getting sick from the influenza virus.

Also, the flu vaccine is not free. I do not want to have to pay for something that I do not want. Some point out that DU gives these shots out for free. In fact, in the past couple of weeks the Health and Counseling Center ran out of the vaccination because so many people went to get the shot; only just recently have they restocked.

All of this is not to say that the flu vaccine is a bad thing. The flu vaccine is valued by many students as proved by the running out of the vaccine.

I encourage those who want the vaccine to go ahead and get it. Just don’t impose it on the rest of us.