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Course Project: Issue Review
Mandatory Vaccination
Vaccine Refusal Rates
Recent statistics have shown that there is a growing trend of guardians and parents refusing to have their children vaccinated. A study conducted in the United States showed that between 2000 and 2010, an increase by 67% of personal belief exemption rate of school entry requirements of vaccination was recorded (National Immunization Survey, 2011). Most of the unvaccinated children according to the study came from regions that were more vulnerable and susceptible to disease outbreak, cutting across 15 States, in the United States (Bednarczyk et al., 2014). However, these statistics show that there are specific areas that need evaluations and reviewing including addressing the concerns of public safety among guardians and parents, enhancing risks awareness associated with unvaccinated masses, and promoting a better understanding of herd vaccinations.
Paternalism in Vaccination
For the sake of the study, paternalism in the case of public health is the use of one’s judgement in place of another person’s power of decision making, in a bid to promote a person’s welfare. A case in point is the restriction of food products’ trans-fats which can be viewed as a form of paternalism (El Amin et al, 2012). Any regulation that is centered on mandatory vaccination with no respect for ethical consideration can be viewed as paternalistic, as in the absence of communicable diseases may not be implemented.
However, there are instances where paternalism is tolerable, in which case is considered as a weak paternalism, as it is implemented as a preventative measure to protect vulnerable people such as the elderly and children from contracting serious diseases. A case in point is where hepatitis b is mandatory in most countries with the involvement of public health and child protection services to ensure that newborn infants are vaccinated without the consent of chronically infected parents.
Vaccine safety and effectiveness
The effectiveness and safety of vaccines that are internationally recognized can not be questioned. However, there are concerns about the perfect effectiveness and perfect safety of vaccinations. Rarely, are there cases of adverse effects of vaccination other than the minor cases such as redness and soreness of the skin after injection (Pierik,(2018). The process of development of vaccines passes through a thorough scrutiny and is linked to an extensive database that seeks to ensure the safety and effectiveness of vaccines (Giubilini & Savulescu, 2019). In that case, decisions on vaccine roll-out are based on benefit-risk analysis. However, there are concerns that most of the vaccines, as in the case of Covid-19, were hurriedly developed without giving an extensive period of time for research on causal effects. In that case, many are concerned with the safety rather than the effectiveness of the vaccines.
Legal Issues
Although the effectiveness and safety of vaccines are not to be questioned, there are concerns that some people may adversely be affected by vaccines while others may not be protected. In vaccine development, the underlying challenge is to maximize effectiveness while at the same time minimizing susceptibility to adverse reactions (Flanigan, 2014). To some people, especially those with medical conditions, vaccination is considered risky as it may have adverse effects, in which case vaccination would not be advisable. In that case, laws are inclined to exempt people with underlying conditions (Malone & Hinman, 2003). Additionally, the issues related to religious beliefs and philosophers with some faiths opposing vaccinations. In other cases, however, people may not be opposed to all vaccines, rather the aspect of mandatory immunization. In such cases, laws may gravitate towards flexibility, in which case, uncommon diseases in a particular region may be overlooked in relation to mandatory aspects of vaccination. However, whether vaccinations should be mandatory, depends on certain aspects and variables.
References
Bednarczyk, R. A., Curran, E. A., Orenstein, W. A., & Omer, S. B. (2014). Health disparities in human papillomavirus vaccine coverage: Trends analysis from the National Immunization Survey–Teen, 2008–2011. Clinical infectious diseases, 58(2), 238-241.
El Amin, A. N., Parra, M. T., Kim-Farley, R., & Fielding, J. E. (2012). Ethical issues concerning vaccination requirements. Public Health Reviews, 34(1), 14.
Flanigan, J. (2014, March). A defense of compulsory vaccination. In HEC forum (Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 5-25). Springer Netherlands.
Giubilini, A., & Savulescu, J. (2019). Vaccination, risks, and freedom: the seat belt analogy. Public Health Ethics, 12(3), 237-249.
Malone, K. M., & Hinman, A. R. (2003). Vaccination mandates: the public health imperative and individual rights. Law in public health practice, 338, 339-40.
Pierik, R. (2018). Mandatory vaccination: an unqualified defence. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 35(2), 381-398.
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