Just a few hours ago, health officials in Michigan confirmed the first case of a polio-like disease in their state this year, becoming the 33rd state in the country to make this claim (source). Poliomyelitis (polio) is a devastating and potentially fatal infectious disease that causes paralysis (source). Luckily for us, this disease is highly preventable because there is a vaccine for it. However, with the rise of the anti-vax movement, many people are choosing to opt themselves and their children out of getting vaccinations, and this has led to a number of "hotspots" of populations that have lower vaccination rates all across the US (source). With this, the number of polio cases in the US have been on the rise since 2014 (source).
Vaccines typically work by an intramuscular injection of an inactive or attenuated antigen. In the presence of this antigen, the body ramps up its immune response. Lymphocytes produce antibodies to fight off the antigen, and even after the antigen has been sufficiently removed, memory cells remain to help the body produce those same antibodies should it encounter that antigen again (source). There are some adverse side effects in people that are otherwise healthy, such as pain at the injection site that doesn't subside for a few days, but usually the side effects are mild. Because vaccines have to undergo a battery of research, their protection rates often approach 100%. In the case of the polio vaccine, the three doses of the inactivated poliovirus vaccine provide at least 99% immunity (source).
However, many people choose not to get vaccinated. Some people can't get vaccinated because they have a medical condition that prevents it, and others can refuse to get vaccinated due to "religious or philosophical reasons" (source). One popular belief that leads people to choose to skip getting vaccinated is that vaccinations cause autism, even though that has been disproven (source).
One suggestion that people have made is to bar children from attending school unless they have received all of the recommended vaccines, out of fear that unvaccinated children will put the other children at risk (with this being one instance where it happened, and this being another). However, people that would like to refuse vaccinations claim that this is unfair and that they should be able to refuse vaccines if they choose.
Is it the right thing to do to tell parents that their children can't attend school unless their children are fully vaccinated? Should all medical, religious, and philosophical reasons to not be vaccinated be respected, and if not, where should the line be drawn?
Quinn, I think you address a few very important and difficult questions in this post. As someone who grew up in a religous family (as a reform Jew) I often hesitate to impose any type of regulation on individuals that may compromise their freedom of religion. However, there are certain situations and circumstances where the need to prevent future disease and illness unfortunately outweighs the importance of maintaining one’s autonomy. You could therefore say that non-maleficence outweights autonomy in this specific situation, in my opinion. This is why I strongly believe that we, as a society, should require vaccinations whenever they are deemed safe to do so (see Megan’s post about instances where they actually might not be). People often focus to strongly on their own beliefs and decision making process and forget that decisions that may seem personal (such as whether or not to vaccinate your children) can and do affect others around you, as you’ve clearly mentioned in your post. This same type of thinking occurs in many individuals with a poor diet and sedentary lifestyle and in those that smoke as well. They often believe that their decisions will only affect themselves when in reality, any future medical problem that they incur will actually have a fairly substantial impact on the health care system and the taxpayers as a result. This is, once again, why I believe vaccinations should be required and especially in order for children to attend school.
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