Without proper immunizations by the first day of school every year in Indiana, students cannot legally attend school.

“I definitely think that it’s a good policy,” senior JC Camacho said. “I understand the need to make sure that all students in the school are safe and healthy and to ensure the safety of not only the student they’re vaccinating but the other students around them.”

However, Indiana has two exemptions to its immunization law: medical and religious reasons. Senior Elizabeth Davies does not get vaccinated for certain viruses due to medical reasons.

“I have a lot of food allergies and a lot of vaccines have eggs as a base in them so it makes me sick if I get them,” Davies said. “Also, my family and I all have compromised immune systems, so when we get the flu shot we all get the flu rather than building antibodies against it.”

In order to avoid getting these illnesses, Davies takes extra precautions to stay healthy.

“Since I have a compromised immune system and I’m not very healthy in general, I try to wash my hands and take care of myself but like I haven’t gotten the flu and I haven’t gotten other illnesses,” Davies said. “I’ve generally been able to stay away from being affected too much as long as I take these little precautions.”

To maintain the health of the FHS community, Camacho believes students should get vaccinated whenever it is possible.

“I genuinely do believe that we should be vaccinating our kids and just vaccinating people in general,” Camacho said. “I think that’s really important for the overall health of our country and to stop spreading diseases. Obviously, we don’t want [diseases] going around and they can be prevented through vaccination.”