Question

• In what ways is vaccination different from other types of personal health decisions? Who should be involved in deciding whether children receive a specific vaccine?
• Should the government have the right to compel vaccination?
• Should parents have the right to refuse it? How does this decision effect others? Explain.

Answer 1

Vaccination is different from other types of personal health decision because vaccination protects one from getting diseases which otherwise can be prevented by it , it differs from other types of personal health decision as though in Vaccination there is risk of having side-effect but in what we do everyday have risk such as driving , to eating hard candies , we are surrounded by risk . Not comparing vaccination completely with driving but point is to keep in mind that nothing is 100% safe not even herbal products are . It is better to get vaccinated as it can prevent from highly morbid or high mortality rate disease ,if decision made not to receive then person have to suffer from a disease which otherwise can be prevented in him/her by vaccination.Other personal health decisions may have its own points but in concern of vaccination it is not 100% safe but it has found to be beneficial that's why government is providing vaccination for specific diseases.

When the question arises who should be involved in deciding whether children recieve a specific vaccination. Health care providers can provide knowledge to parents about vaccination , why that specific vaccination is important but the final decision depends on parents of children as they are the one who have rights to decide what is best fot their children , So others can guide parents and explain them the importance but final decision depends completely on them

Government can provide vaccination related to diseases which is important for people's health and to prevent disease condition in them but government shouldn't have right to compel (force) vaccination as every individual should have right to decide what is best and safe for them. Such decisions shouldn't be forced by anyone as it can affect their right to decide what is best for them and Autonomy

Parents should have right to decide what is best for them and their children , nobody in the world can make best decision for children other than their own parents but the decision should be taken after proper knowledge , uses and why this vaccination is given . But ultimately the parents should have right to refuse as they are the one who decides for their children and right to refuse an important point in treatment is not to be avoided in this case also , but best possible work is to be done to aware parents that nothing in world is 100% safe and decide what is best before taking decision to refuse it

This decision to refuse vaccination can affect others also ,if we take an example of COVID 19 vaccination ( future consideration) , if one parents decides to refuse vaccination then the child will be at risk of getting infection from COVID 19 also can act as carrier for others leading to spread of infection among people who haven't received vaccination yet , ultimately one's decision to refuse vaccination can affect the society too in case of infectious diseases specially as risk of getting infection will be higher in them and also chances of spreading it .

Thus to eliminate such scenario , proper education and awareness about vaccination should be provided so that person will be willing to get vaccinated and also keep in mind about booster dose hence come for follow up

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