Since Edward Jenner introduced the first successful vaccine by injecting an eight-year-old boy with cowpox pus in 1796, vaccines have been an important part of public health care around the world. I believe that it is necessary that all parents continue to vaccinate their children for several reasons. To begin with, vaccination leads to better public health. Diseases like smallpox and polio which once killed and disabled millions of people are virtually unknown today because of the vaccination. Secondly, vaccines cause only minor side effects like redness or swelling around the site of an injection. Thus, parents do not have to worry about the safety of vaccines. In short, if you have children, please get them vaccinated to eradicate infectious diseases in your community and around the world.