The questions

You would think that the main issue with vaccines would be a straightforward one: can we force people to take them or not?

But when you look a little into the literature on vaccine ethics, it turns out that it is a surprisingly rich field of philosophical inquiry, and it covers issues from all major moral theories, reaching into world politics, poverty, the role of the state and the morality of taxation and car seat belts.

The US National Science Foundation has a very nice overview (PDF) of the main philosophical questions in relation to vaccines. Some of the more important questions are:

• Can vaccinations be mandated by law or is this violating the rights of individuals to decide for themselves?
• Is the public good more important than the freedom of choice of the individual?
• Does the state have an obligation to pursue the public good or to protect the freedom of the citizens?
• Who can give “informed consent” to a vaccination? What happens with those who cannot? (For example, dementia patients and infants). What is to be done about citizens who are not educated enough to judge for themselves?
• What are we to do with vaccination opponents who are generally able to decide for themselves, but whom we still believe to be mistaken about refusing to vaccinate? What about their children? Should a parent have the right to decide for their child if their decision goes against the accepted truth of the medical and state authorities?
• What about religious beliefs, which are inherently irrational but still generally respected and, in many countries, protected by law?
• What about vaccine safety? All vaccines, like all medicines, may have some (small) probability of harmful side-effects. Who has the right to impose such side-effects on others against their will? Are there specific probability limits for harmful effects beyond which the enforced use of a medicine becomes unethical?
• And, finally, we have all the questions related to access to vaccines: How should we distribute vaccines? Should the most vulnerable come first? The minorities? The youngest?
• What about international distribution, especially if vaccine availability is limited? Should poorer countries get the vaccines first? At the same time as richer countries? Or later? There are meaningful arguments to be made for all three options.

Obviously, it is impossible to discuss all these questions within the length of a blog post. But I will try to give you an overview of the main arguments and the approaches that seem most promising in dealing with these questions. Rather than talking about every question in detail, I will try to present a few …

Read the full article which is published on Daily Philosophy (external link)