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Vaccinated?
Mackenzie Nemecek and Paulina Camaj
Vaccination Rates
All 50 states require certain vaccinations for
children to enter public school
48 allow religious exceptions
19 allow philosophical exceptions
The FDA approved the first HPV vaccine in 2006. After the ACIP recommended
three doses of the vaccine for girls aged 11-12, various state legislatures attempted to
mandate vaccination.
Ethical objections to this mandate have ranged to include religious concerns that a
vaccine to protect against an STD contradicts abstinence-based messages; fears that
the vaccine could potentially force a child to undergo an intervention misaligned with
her familys beliefs; and human rights questions about the fairness of providing a
vaccine to one sex only.
Reviewed by The National Vaccine Program and other key vaccine committees, like the
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices States
To be licensed, vaccines go through many years of research, and must pass rigorous
safety and efficacy standards
Process includes diverse experts many scientific and social disciplines, public health,
epidemiology, immunology, and statistics
Researchers must balance the need to protect childrens safety with the need to
adequately understand how a vaccine will perform and protect children when
administered
Access Issues
Some say that access to vaccinations can be limited
depending on socioeconomic status and race
Health Insurance
Vaccine shortages
Nov 2000 - May 2003: Shortage of 8 out of 11
vaccines for childhood diseases
Whooping Cough
All 7 of a Canadian womans children
contracted whooping cough
3 of her children were vaccinated on an
alternative schedule
4 were not vaccinated at all
Possible Solutions
Require that all children have certain necessary vaccines
before attending public schools
Cover all vaccines on all forms of health insurance
Offer an informative meeting regarding vaccinations at
public schools for parents and staff
Ethical Viewpoints
Ethics is the study and philosophy of human
conduct with emphasis on the determination of
right and wrong.
Meta-Ethics
Applied Ethics
Normative Ethics
What types of questions should we ask?
Ethical Questions
Should the government regulate and require
children to have vaccinations?
Should there be religious and philosophical
exceptions for vaccinations?
Being in a school, do you think it is
important for us to be vaccinated? Why?