Vaccinations are a medical necessity to protect children from preventable diseases, like measles, mumps, and rubella, pertussis, and chicken pox. Some parents, however, are steadfast in their belief that vaccinations are a threat to their children’s health. They believe that vaccinating their children is a decision that only affects them and their families. However, vaccinations are based on the concept of “herd immunity.” Herd immunity occurs when the vaccination of a population provides a measure of protection for individuals who have not developed immunity or received vaccination. Measles, for example, is one of the most contagious and deadly of all human diseases (Hotez, 2017). A single person infected with the virus can infect more than …show more content…
322). Beneficence refers to action that is done for the benefit of others. Beneficent actions can be taken to prevent or remove harms or to improve the situation of others. Mandatory vaccines can be supported by the principle of beneficence. If every child is required to have immunizations, as long as it is medically safe for them, they will have increased protection against severe diseases. Refusing vaccinations, on the other hand, can be seen as harm by not receiving the good that they provide. Nonmaleficence is the duty to do no harm and to prevent harm (Boss, 2014, p. 322). If an unimmunized child is exposed to a vaccine-preventable disease, they could potentially spread it. By choosing to refuse immunization for their children, parents are violating the principle of nonmaleficence, because it places vulnerable populations at risk of becoming infected with a vaccine-preventable disease. Utilitarianism is consequentialist and considers the best outcome for society. A small number of vaccine declinations can have a devastating impact on a community, so the greatest good for the greatest number of people is achieved by requiring everyone to get vaccinated. This is true regardless of whether a mandate is in the best interests of every individual or whether it ignores the interest in
They pose a real health concern to the public. Those that haven’t been vaccinated pose a risk to others that aren’t vaccinated, babies that are too young to vaccinate, and those with a weak immune system. The growing number of unvaccinated families has become a growing concern for physicians. The Chicago Tribune reported, “Almost all physicians encounter parents refusing vaccines, according to a recent study.”5 The study also reports, “A small number of pediatricians — about one in five — have turned away unvaccinated families from their practices, said Dr. Sean O 'Leary, an associate professor of pediatrics at Children 's Hospital Colorado and lead author of the study.”
Recently high population of unvaccinated children on the West Coast has led to outbreaks of whooping cough and the measles amongst children as discussed in articles by Alexandra Sifferlin and Dan Diamond. Part of what has caused the outbreaks, according Sifferlin, is that unvaccinated children transmitted the diseases to children who are unable to receive vaccinations because of age, illness (particularly autoimmune disorders) and other health conditions). Typically children who are unable to be vaccinated are protected by the concept of herding. Herding, the idea that if most or all people who are healthy enough to receive vaccinations are vaccinated, then those who cannot be vaccinated, are protected from getting
Vaccines are becoming increasingly hazardous for many children and parents are not being informed about the safety of their children. Current reports are linking vaccines to serious life-threatening disorders such as asthma, autism, immune system dysfunction, and mental retardation (Williams). These recent revelations are causing an increasing amount of people to claim religious and medical exemptions from vaccines. From 1999 to 2006, exemptions have more than doubled from 9,722 to 24,919 (Cronin). It is very clear that vaccinations are posing many problems for parents everywhere. Each day researchers are finding out about vaccines and are realizing that there are a lot more risks than benefits. Dr Phillip F. Incao explains: “Today, far more children suffer from allergies and other chronic immune system disorders than from life-threatening infectious disease. It is neither reasonable nor prudent to persist in presuming that the benefits of any vaccination outweigh its risk” (qtd in Spaker). While infectious diseases are becoming uncommon there is no need for any person to get vaccinated.
18. Salmon, Daniel A. and Saad B. Omer, ‘Individual freedoms versus collective responsibility:immunization decision-making in the face of occasionally competing values’, Emerging Themes Epid, 3 (2006):
Parents must be forced to vaccinate their children. The detrimental effects of failing to vaccinate a child can be spine chilling for not only your child but you and your loved ones around. Despite our best efforts to keep our children safe, their lives are unhygienic, a proverbial germ fest some might argue. Children must be vaccinated as they are unaware of their surroundings and a vaccination will save their life; only the child’s but also the people around them.
The principle of beneficence is concerned with a moral obligation to act for the benefits of others (Kennedy, 2004). Additionally, beneficence is the principle consisting of deeds such as mercy, kindness, and charity (Rich, 2008). There are other forms of beneficence including altruism, love, and humanity (Beauchamp & Childress, 2009). We use beneficence in order to cover beneficent actions more broadly, so that it includes all forms of action to benefit other persons (Beauchamp & Childress, 2009). Overall, beneficence implies that an individual takes action to do good by benefiting others and facilitating their well-being. Beneficence also requires that benefits are balanced against risks and costs (Kennedy, 2004). In order for a person to “do good”, they must also consider the values of individual in question (Bjarnason & LaSala, 2011).
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Public confidence in immunization is critical to sustaining and increasing vaccination coverage rates and preventing outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs)” (para. 1). In recent history, there has been a significant decline in public confidence because of a variety of factors, such as vaccination does not always mean immunization, vaccines expose children to toxins, and children can build immunity naturally. The number of parents who are choosing not to vaccinate their children is growing yearly because there are certain exemptions that parents can claim, even if the vaccine is mandatory in their state.
One of the major criticisms of mandatory vaccinations is the shift of balance in autonomy and choice versus the protection of the public (Anomaly, "Public Health and Public Goods"). I can see how from a Kantian perspective that mandatory vaccinations could be using people as mere means for the greater good of the public health, but when one’s individual rights and choices endanger my personal safety there needs to be some regulation. The idea of herd immunity may follow from a utilitarian framework that vaccinations bring about the greatest possibly good and minimize harm and ultimately maximize the happiness of the public, but it is a practice that promotes the health of our future generation. Individuals against mandatory vaccinations argue against the need for vaccinations due to the potential harmful side effects they may result in. The fear driving what vaccinations contain is based off misinterpreting data. The CDC provides great amounts of knowledge of the potential and tolerable side effects of vaccinations. Another major argument against mandatory vaccinations is the cost. Like mentioned above the vaccines that are currently required to go to school are measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), Polio, Whopping Cough, Diphtheria, Varicella, Hepatitis B and Hib, which can be a costly doctor visit. The likelihood that these vaccines will no longer be mandatory for school-aged children is
Utilitarianism can be used to describe the reasons why healthcare should be made available universally; why maximization of access to healthcare should be pursued for the greatest number of people (Wilson). Utilitarianism is a theory of consequences, in which the results of actions should determine their moral value. It can be summarized by the greatest happiness principle, which John Stuart Mill describes as “happiness is desirable, and the only thing desirable, as an end; all other things being only desirable as means to that end” (Wilson). For Mill, pleasure is the prime motivator, and all beings must seek out maximum pleasure for themselves and others. This principle can be used to judge the morality of healthcare policies in terms of how they provide access to healthcare for the greatest number of people. In order to make the claim that healthcare is a human right is not sufficient; we must then be able to justify its expansion by illustrating its benefits (Wilson).
How does health coverage and pricing affect investment in innovation? that is the studies query investigated in Amy Finkelstein’s 2004 QJE paper on Static and Dynamic results of fitness coverage. She examines three policy adjustments:
Human beings have benefitted from vaccinations for more than two hundred years. However, this pathway to finding the most effective vaccines has been neither orderly nor immediate. The idea of mandatory vaccines has been highly controversial for many years. This controversy plays a key role when students head off to college and vaccines are mandatory. Based upon religious beliefs, some students have been able to receive a waiver for these vaccines. But, if they’re mandatory vaccines, why can some students receive waivers while others cannot? Famous, well-known personal such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have intervened with this controversy, adding their own viewpoints on the topic.
Utilitarianism is the view of considering everyone’s benefit as equally important versus only considering my own. For any action, the morally correct thing to do is cause the greatest amount of happiness or pleasure or benefit for the greatest number possible; while at the same time causing the least amount of pain or unhappiness for the smallest number possible.
Those who choose not to vaccinate their children are endangering the health of those unable to be vaccinated themselves, such as infants, pregnant people, and the immunocompromised, by jeopardizing community immunity. According to vaccine.gov, a federal government website managed by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, community immunity or “herd immunity” occurs when “a critical portion of the community is immunized against a contagious disease, most members of the community are protected against that disease because there is little opportunity for an outbreak” (Community Immunity). An infographic featured in an NPR article entitled “How Vaccine Fears Fueled the Resurgence of Preventable Diseases” illustrated the rise in measles cases in Western Europe and of pertussis (whooping cough) cases in the U.S (Doucleff). In the first eight months of 2014, there were eighteen measles outbreaks, and six hundred cases of measles.
This, in turn, will deteriorate the prevalence of preventable diseases and hence decrease the likelihood that medically incompatible individuals will contract them (Kim, T. H., Johnstone, J., & Loeb, M., 2011). According to the World Health Organization, “The decline of disease incidence is greater than the proportion of individuals immunized because vaccination reduces the spread of an infectious agent by reducing the amount and duration of pathogen shedding by vaccinees, retarding transmission” (Andre, 2008). This enables a significant percentage of individuals who oppose vaccines to reconcile with those who do not, as this eliminates the concern regarding adverse reactions. According to an article titled “Vaccine herd effect,” herd immunity has pervaded many communities to help minimize the spread of disease. For example, in the 1990s, a vaccine was introduced that targeted a strain of disease known as streptococcus pneumoniae, which can potentially cause pneumonia. The CDC discovered a fifty percent reduction in pneumonia cases among the elderly despite the vaccine being offered primarily to children (Kim, T. H., Johnstone, J., & Loeb, M., 2011). This scenario is indubitably a prime exemplar for herd immunity, and it is the greatest reason that mandatory inoculation is
Utilitarianism is defined to be “the view that right actions are those that result in the most beneficial balance of good over bad consequences for everyone involved” (Vaughn 64). In other words, for a utilitarian,