Luyten, Jeroen, Vandevelde, Antoon, Van Damme, Pierre and Beutels, Philippe (2011) Vaccination policy and ethical challenges posed by herd immunity, suboptimal uptake and subgroup targeting. Public Health Ethics, 4 (3). pp. 280-291. ISSN 1754-9973
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Vaccination policy is an ethically challenging domain of public policy. It is a matter of collective importance that reaches into the most private sphere of citizens and unavoidably conflicts with individual-based ethics. Policy makers need to walk a tight rope in order to complement utilitarian public health values with individual autonomy rights, protection of privacy, non-discrimination and protection of the worst-off. Whether vaccination is voluntary or compulsory, universal or targeted, every option faces complex ethical hurdles because of the interdependence of humans in infectious disease matters. In this article, we explore the following three policy questions. (i) Ethically, which policy measures should be addressed when vaccination coverage is insufficient in a population? Information campaigns, legal compulsion, or the use of financial incentives can all be effective, but also controversial policy options. (ii) Is it ethical to target vaccination programs at certain risk-groups? If such measures are necessary, we argue that policymakers will often have to decide which is more important to uphold: non-discrimination or the protection of privacy. And (iii), what is the ethical significance of adverse herd immunity effects? Some vaccination programs will improve average population health, but will at the same time increase the risk of severe morbidity and mortality for individuals in the worst-off groups of society.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://phe.oxfordjournals.org/ |
| Additional Information: | © The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press. |
| Divisions: | Social Policy |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine R Medicine > RS Pharmacy and materia medica |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Oct 2014 08:19 |
| Last Modified: | 13 Sep 2024 23:15 |
| Projects: | FWO project number G098911N, IWT, project number 060081 |
| Funders: | The Research Foundation, Flanders, Flemish Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/59726 |
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