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Asked by Radhika to Alex, Laura, Lesley, Richard, vediacan on 18 Jun 2015.
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Richard Prince answered on 18 Jun 2015:
Hi Radhika,
This is a really great question.
The argument for compulsory vaccination is that it allows us to gain something called herd immunity. This is a situation in which there are enough people who are immune, that the disease cannot spread easily.
Countering this argument is the proposition that only the people who choose not to be immunised will get the disease. However, such people will often make that choice for their children (who therefore don’t really get to choose). Also, the healthcare costs of those who choose not to be vaccinated will be borne by the rest of the population who stay healthy.
These seem like strong arguments for compulsion. However, my personal view is that we should not go down the route of compulsory vaccination but that efforts should be made to educate people and get them to volunteer. This can be quite difficult and it has not been helped by some irresponsible scientists and also, irresponsible governments.
In the category of irresponsible scientists I would place those responsible for the MMR vaccine fraud, principally Andrew Wakefield. His scaremongering caused a lot of suffering in terms of increases in measles cases (read about it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22173393
In the category of irresponsible governments, I would place that of the USA. The US Government used a fake vaccination campaign to try and find Osama Bin Laden. As a consequence some people in Pakistan and Afghanistan are very suspicious of genuine health workers and vaccination rates have dropped, endangering the drive to eradicate polio. You can read about that here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-cia-fake-vaccination-campaign-endangers-us-all/
Despite these problems I think that everyone has the right to choose what treatment they should have, provided they are capable of making that choice. That is why I say no to compulsory vaccination.
Best wishes
Richard
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Vedia Can answered on 22 Jun 2015:
Dear Radhika,
Another fantastic question!
I am actually not in favour of vaccines (especially the seasonal flu vaccine). However, I know that they have prevented and protected many patients across the world from deadly diseases, and they still provide effective protection; Tetanus vaccine. I don’t think certain vaccinations should be compulsory, I believe that it is important to ensure that it should be personal choice rather than the risk of an epidemic (the seasonal flu has not prevented epidemics). If there is strong evidence that a particular vaccine can 100% prevent the epidemic then I could be persuaded to be vaccinated against the epidemic causing agent.
Hope this answers your question.
Best Wishes,
Vedia
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Laura Newton answered on 22 Jun 2015:
Hey Radhika!
I totally believe in vaccinations! It’s irresponsible and cruel to leave your children at risk of such horrible, debilitating, even fatal diseases. Not only that but if your unvaccinated child catches something, they can pass it on to those people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. This is why what’s called herd immunity is so important.
As for everything, scientific evidence should be used as a base to decide which vaccines should be made compulsory, taking into account effectiveness, mortality rates and unfortunately, cost.
Here is a really nice cartoon that explains a lot about why vaccines are important and herd immunity: https://thenib.com/vaccines-work-here-are-the-facts-5de3d0f9ffd0
Thanks for your question!
Laura 🙂 -
Lesley Pearson answered on 23 Jun 2015:
Hi Radhika,
This is a really interesting question! For me, this really comes down to how our personal choices impact other people. So we are not able to make the personal choice to drive a car whilst impaired by alcohol, because of the how that might impact other people. By the same token, if someone makes a personal choice not to vaccinate, they are putting at risk other people who might not be able to be vaccinated for other reasons.
Vaccinations have rid us of disease like TB and Polio in this country. But in other countries where vaccinations were not so widespread they are still a huge problem.
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