VACCINATIONS A Debate On Mandatory Vaccinations The Reason Institute is a Libertarian organization focused on individual rights. It tackles a controversial topic in a long paper that probably doesnt settle anything. The topic is mandatory vaccinations. It is long and unless you are intensely interested in the subject, you might want to skip reading it all. BUT Ive struggled with this idea as well. The argument in favor of mandatory vaccination is that unless enough people are vaccinated, the spread of the disease cannot be stopped. It is simply a statistical problem that if not enough people are vaccinated, then the possibility of one person spreading the disease to unvaccinated people is high enough that the disease continues to build. This argument is counter to the Libertarian idea of freedom of action by individuals. From a Libertarian point of view, one might say that my not getting vaccinated has no impact on others and so I should be able to make my own decision (full disclosure, I havent had a flu shot in a few years). But scientifically, it is surely possible that if too few people get vaccinated, then the disease could spread causing an epidemic. In a perfect world of science, it should be possible for the paths taken by the disease to be identified and hence the culprit who spread the disease to also be identified. Then the Libertarian answer is that he has violated the liberty of others by not getting vaccinated. He then would be liable for the pain, suffering and possible death of others. Under that scenario, most of us would get vaccinated to protect our financial assets. We would decide how much we want to risk of our resources against the suffering of the side-effects of the vaccination, a strictly personal decision. But science is not that advanced. We dont know who gave us the flu. So out of consideration to the people we come into contact with, we should probably get vaccinated. That is, if the vaccine is effective and the side effects are not worse than the disease. In my case, right or wrong, I have decided that the flu vaccine is not very effective and hence getting vaccinated has little effect on the spread of the disease. In addition, the possible dangers from the vaccine are not to be ignored. Science might eventually allow us to make a more informed decision and surely it is true that government-mandated actions are never terribly satisfactory. But you must weigh the chances that you are causing suffering to other people. If you care, and I do, then you have a decision to make. newsbalance/should-vaccines-be-mandatory-2014-03-30.article
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 16:19:21 +0000
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