Giving Compass' Take:

• Joel Michael Reynolds, writing for The Conversation, lists three reasons based on ethical grounds of why vaccinations are necessary for the public. 

• How can health funders help spread more awareness of the ethics behind vaccinations?

• Read about how global vaccinations are a high impact opportunity. 

Across the country, billboards are popping up suggesting that vaccines can kill children, when the science behind vaccination is crystal clear – vaccinations are extremely safe.

As a bioethicist who investigates how societal values impact medicine, I consider such decisions to be downright indefensible. And here are three reasons why.

  1.  Failure to contribute to the public good: Years of research involving hundreds of thousands of people have proven vaccines to be safe and effective. One reason why they are so effective – to the point of complete eradication of certain diseases – is because of what scientists call “herd immunity.”
  2.  Impact of health choices on the vulnerable: Viruses do not affect everyone equally. Oftentimes, it is the elderly, infants, and people with weakened immune systems, who are most at risk. Ethicists have long argued for special obligations towards the most vulnerable. And we need to be mindful of the impact of individual health choices on others, particularly the vulnerable.
  3. Health is communal: In the face of overwhelming scientific evidence concerning the efficacy, safety and importance of vaccines, citizens have a duty to support vaccination and encourage others to do so as well. At the foundation of each of these duties lies a simple and powerful truth: Health is communal. Health-related ethical obligations do not stop at our own doorstep.

Read the full article about ethical reasons for vaccinations by Joel Michael Reynolds at The Conversation