Should parents be obliged to immunise their children against childhood diseases?
Or do individuals have the right to choose not to immunise their children?
Some people argue that the state does not have the right to make parents immunise their children. However, I feel the question is not whether they should immunise but whether, as members of society, they have the right not to.
preventative medicine has proved to be the most effective way of reducing the incidence of fatal childhood diseases. As a result of the widespread practice of immunising young children in our society, many lives have been saved and the diseases have been reduced to almost zero.
In previous centuries children died from ordinary illnesses such as influenza and tuberculosis and because few people had immunity, the diseases spread easily. Diseases such as dysentery were the result of poor hygiene but these have long been eradicated since the arrival of good sanitation and clean water. Nobody would suggest that we should reverse this good practice now because dysentery has been wiped out.
serious diseases such as polio and smallpox have also been eradicated through national immunisation programmes. In consequence, children not immunised are far less at risk in this disease-free society than they would otherwise be. Parents choosing not to immunise are relying on the fact that the diseases have already been eradicated. If the number of parents choosing not to immunise increased, there would be a similar increase in the risk of the diseases returning.
mmunisation is not an issue like seatbelts which affects only the individual. A decision not to immunise will have widespread repercussions for the whole of society and this reason, I do not believe that individuals have the right to stand aside. In my opinion, immunisation should be obligatory.
有些人认为，国家无权要求父母为子女接种疫苗。然而，我认为问题不在于他们是否应该接种疫苗，而在于作为社会成员，他们是否有权不接种疫苗。
事实证明，预防医学是降低致命儿童疾病发病率的最有效方法。由于我们的社会普遍对幼儿进行免疫接种，许多人的生命得到了挽救，疾病的发病率几乎降为零。
在过去的几个世纪里，儿童死于普通疾病，如流感和肺结核，由于很少有人有免疫力，疾病很容易传播。痢疾等疾病是卫生条件差造成的，但自从有了良好的卫生条件和干净的水，这些疾病早已绝迹。没有人会因为痢疾已经绝迹，就建议我们现在扭转这种良好的做法。
通过国家免疫计划，小儿麻痹症和天花等严重疾病也已绝迹。因此，在这个没有疾病的社会里，未接受免疫接种的儿童所面临的风险远远小于其他儿童。选择不接种疫苗的家长是在依赖疾病已被根除这一事实。如果选择不接种疫苗的家长人数增加，疾病复发的风险也会同样增加。
免疫接种不像安全带那样只影响个人。不接种疫苗的决定将对整个社会产生广泛影响，因此，我认为个人无权置身事外。我认为，免疫接种应该是强制性的。
