Vaccines are one of the most successful public health interventions in history. Yet there has always been and will always be a vocal anti-vaccination movement. Should governments exert their powers to make vaccines mandatory?
Yes, vaccines should be mandatory
Vaccines are possibly the most important modern medical advance and have saved countless lives. We cannot allow freedom of choice to endanger the lives of whole populations. Governments must step up and make vaccines mandatory.
Vaccine mandates are constitutional
In the 1905 case Jacobson v. Massachusetts, the Supreme Court upheld the authority of the states to enforce mandatory vaccination laws under the police power of the states. Vaccine mandates have always been constitutional, and they always will be.
Community immunity can be developed when vaccines are made mandatory. When enough people are vaccinated, the entire community is less likely to get the disease. This is important to help keep immunocompromised as safe as possible.
Vaccines are very safe and very effective. Vaccines routinely recommended in the US today provide high levels of protection against targeted diseases. Mandates help toward the goal of eradicating these diseases.
Vaccine mandates impose on basic human rights. Freedom of choice should extend to whether or not people choose to vaccinate themselves and their kids. Government mandates may perpetuate the dangers of vaccines that are often ignored.
Mandates impose on freedom of choice
Vaccination should be an individual choice. In many cases, vaccination is against the religious values or morals of those who do not want to be vaccinated. The government does not have the right to impose in this manner.
Governments and pharmaceutical companies cannot be trusted
Many people do not trust the government and pharmaceutical companies to bring us safe and effective vaccines- and rightly so. Politicians and Big Pharma often do not have the best interest of the public in mind.
There exist far too many vaccine horror stories to be ignored. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that shows that vaccines have been extremely detrimental to the health of those who were healthy before vaccination.
