Course
RELG-326: Medical Ethics
Document Type
Student Paper
Publication Date
2019
Disciplines
Bioethics and Medical Ethics | Public Health
Description, Abstract, or Artist's Statement
In the last few decades, many parents have chosen not to vaccinate their children against serious infectious diseases. In seeking exemptions, they often cite conflicting religious beliefs and fear of risks. Using the principle of utilitarianism, this paper argues that despite parents' cited religious beliefs and concerns about risks, state laws should require all children to get vaccinated unless doing so would cause direct harm to the child’s health. Adopting this mandate would ensure that the maximum number of people would benefit from immunity to serious and deadly diseases.
Augustana Digital Commons Citation
Vercellotti, Hannah. "Health for All: Using Utilitarianism to Require Childhood Vaccinations" (2019). Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics Essay Contest.
https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/ethicscontest/16
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Comments
2nd Place Winner, 2019