Introduction
Within the world of medicine, the search for vaccines has been on the forefront of the battle against a number of diseases that plagued humanity for centuries. Vaccines serve their purpose by preparing populations for the occurrence of certain diseases by introducing weakened or harmless forms of a virus in order for the body to acquire an immunity against its effects. Regardless of the era, vaccines remain a key part of public health, although there has been significant detraction from the ideas of vaccination due to perceived consequences of universally mandated vaccinations for children. Originally discovered against the smallpox virus, vaccinations significantly reduced the impact that diseases have on the population. Throughout human history, viruses such as smallpox, polio, and others have ravaged human populations; smallpox in particular was responsible for a large percentage of world deaths before the discovery of an effective vaccine, with around 8%-20% of all deaths related to the virus. However, the first full-scale vaccine campaign did not occur until in 1796 in France, where it was discovered that exposure to a weaker or highly related form of the virus would dramatically reduce infection rates due to build up immunity. In the modern day, there has been significant controversy regarding vaccination, as several studies have demonstrated a tenuous link to t...