Mandatory Vaccination Argumentative Essay

Vaccination an Obligation? Vaccinations began in 1731 with Edward Jenner invented the vaccine for smallpox. It was revolutionary as it resulted in a new and highly effective way of curing diseases.Currently in the UK, vaccinations are optional and for children, parents have the right to prevent their child from taking a vaccination.A policy of mandatory vaccination would mean that they become compulsory and follow a policy of state paternalism. Arguments in favour of mandatory vaccination:

One of the purposes of mandatory vaccination would be to prevent the occurrence of epidemics.Some may argue that if disease threat is sufficiently low, people can rely on heard immunity, however should the unvaccinated population rise too much then the population as a whole is at risk.As a result Mandatory vaccinations prevent this because the more people there are who are vaccinated against a disease , the less likely it is for epidemics such as the black plague to occur. From a utilitarian point of
For the NHS, they are able to save hundreds of thousands of pounds on treating diseases by vaccinating against them.For example(for measles) , It costs US$1.93 for an individual to be vaccinated while it would have costed an extra US$305.07 to treat them if they were to be infected by the disease meaning that US$305.07 would be saved on every patient.This mandatory vaccination would lead to a large amount of money being saved which can then be re allocated more effectively by the NHS to departments who are desperately low on finances.Mandatory vaccinations will also benefit patients as it is preferable to have an injection and prevent a disease which will take a couple minutes rather than having to undergo weeks of treatment if the become infected. Arguments against mandatory