publichealth concerns justiffy compulsory immunization

I would like to offer the following definitions. According to Merriam Webster's Dictionary: to justify is to prove or show to be just, right or reasonable. Just is to be in conformity with what is morally upright and good. According to Random House Unabridged Dictionary compulsory is to be required; mandatory. Public health, according to medterms.com, is medicine that is concerned with the health of the community as a whole. Also according to Random House Unabridged Dictionary concern is to relate to; be connected with. My value is morality. Morality is to be in good or right conduct. The resolution is asking whether compulsory immunizations are justifiable which as stated in the definitions mean they are moral. Thus morality should be the value for this round. My criterion is utilitarianism. Utilitarianism states that the morality of an action is determined by how it affects utility. So if an action maximizes happiness/utility then it is morale. This achieves morality because with immunizations we are saving more lives thus creating more utility and thus it is morale. Contention 1) When members of society go unimmunized it is dangerous for society as a whole. John Mill's harm principle states that "The only purpose for which power can rightfully be exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others." Then the people in the society become potential hosts for disease and allow the disease to be spread. When more lives are saved there is more happiness which is utilitarianism and in turn achieves morality. Therefore thousands could possibly die if that one person doesn't take that vaccine shot to save others and that with minimal side effects of the shot. Contention 2) Immunizations are effective in eradicating disease. According to the CDC after the small pox immunization was given out it eliminated 100% of the disease, diphtheria by 99.99%, and measles by 99.98% and polio by 100% and tetanus by 98%. Also vaccinations provide direct and indirect protection because if one person slips through the cracks herd immunity protects that person. According to The Western Journal of Medicine during 1988 through 1990, California experienced its worst measles epidemic in more than a decade, with 16,400 reported cases, 3,390 hospital admissions, and 75 deaths. The major cause of the epidemic was low immunization levels among preschool-aged children and young adults. Rates of complications, admission to hospital, and death were surprisingly high. Outbreak control efforts met with immediate success. But cost of medical care and outbreak control for the epidemic costed an estimated $30.9 million. The Western Journal of Medicine states that unless the level of immunization in preschool-aged children is increased, this type of epidemic will probably recur. So immunizations are effective in getting rid of disease. With compulsory immunizations it would allow herd immunity to benefit society. Contention 3) Immunizations protect society from the negative impacts on the economy caused by disease. "It has long been recognized that a malarious community is an impoverished community." That is from T.H. Weller, a Novel prize winner. Another expert on this is James Klieenstein from Iowa State University, and he talks about how disease causes loss of revenue with its increased death rate. It also puts a burden on the health care system to treat all of those infected which must in some way be payed, most likely through taxes. Dead or sick people cannot work and with our bad economy the worst thing that can happen if millions of people who don't show up to work because they are sick from simple treatable diseases like the one in California as reported in my second contention. First we would have to pay the sick a sick leave which is $21 per day on average but multiple that by a million. Now we have to pay for their rehab, that would be another $17 a day multiply that by a million and we would have to take up losses for every hour they do not work the average is $18.56 an hour multiply that by a million. How much more money do we have to lend from china to pay our bills, well I'll tell you $56,560,000. That's more than half of what we spend on the Iraq war in a year. With compulsory immunizations all of this can be avoided thus maximizing utility and achieving morality.