Public Health Concerns Justify Compulsory Immunization

Thank you for starting this debate. I'm going to start off by saying that this is the first time running this case, so if I can improve my case, please tell me. Good luck to my opponent! I affirm the resolution "Resolved: Public health concerns justify compulsory immunization." .:|Definitions|:. public health- the art and science dealing with the protection and improvement of community health by organized community effort and including preventive medicine and sanitary and social science; concern- an uneasy state of blended interest, uncertainty, and apprehension; justify- to prove or show to be just, right, or reasonable; compulsory- obligatory; required; immunization- the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an agent (For the purposes of this debate, the terms immunization and vaccination are synonymous). .:|Value|:. LIFE, "the general or universal condition of human existence." .:|Value criterion|:. UTILITARIANISM, "the greatest good for the greatest number of people". .:|Link|:. Utilitarianism leads to life because maintaining the greatest good for the greatest number of people in terms of public health means to keep them alive. One of the best ways to keep people alive is by acquiring immunizations, which should become compulsory when public health concerns arise. When people become vaccinated they will stay alive, and under compulsory vaccinations this will achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people. I offer two main contentions in this debate. .:|First Contention|:. My first contention is that vaccinations help save lives. Subpoint A: History tells us that mass vaccinations have led to a decrease in the cases of the disease it was intended to prevent. An example is the Haemophilius Influenzae Type B (HiB). With widespread use of HiB conjugate vaccines beginning in 1990, the incidence of reported HiB invasive disease among children aged <5 years declined from an estimated 100 per 100,000 in the pre-vaccine era to a record low of 0.3 in 1996 [1]. This is more than a 300% decrease in the number of cases. Without vaccinations, these children would have died preventable deaths. Compulsory vaccinations, however, would require that in a case of disease such as HiB, all children would be required to be immunized, and thus would live their lives without the threat of that disease. Subpoint B: Lack of complete vaccine coverage increases the risk of disease for the entire population, including those who have been vaccinated, which leads to a loss of life and utilitarianism. One study found that doubling the number of unvaccinated individuals would increase the risk of measles in vaccinated children anywhere from 5–30%.[2] A second study provided evidence that the risk of measles and pertussis increased in vaccinated children proportionally to the number of unvaccinated individuals among them, again highlighting the evident efficacy of widespread vaccine coverage for public health.[3]. This means that a lack of vaccination results in a loss of life because those who did not get vaccinated are capable of being hosts of the disease and can transmit it to other beings. This is the opposite of my value; thus, in order to prevent a loss of life, compulsory vaccinations are necessary in times of public health concerns. Subpoint C: In several countries, reductions in the use of some vaccines were followed by increases in the diseases' morbidity and mortality. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, continued high levels of vaccine coverage are necessary to prevent resurgence of diseases which have been nearly eliminated. In Stockholm, Sweden, smallpox was present between 1873 and 1874. An anti-vaccination campaign motivated by religious objections, by concerns about effectiveness, and by concerns about individual rights, led to the vaccination rate in Stockholm dropping to just over 40%, compared to about 90% elsewhere in Sweden. A major smallpox epidemic then started in 1873. It led to a rise in vaccine uptake and an end of the epidemic. [4] This shows that vaccines have an inverse relation with deaths: as the number of vaccines go up, the number of deaths goes down, promoting my value and value criterion. .:|Second Contention|:. My second contention it is cheaper to get vaccinated than to get the treatment for a disease, while still promoting life, and eventually promoting utilitarianism by saving money and using it towards different items, benefiting the economy. Subpoint A: The cost of a vaccine is far less than that of the treatment for a disease that could have been prevented by the vaccine. For example, the polio vaccine costs $28.50 [5]. However, treatment for polio costs $500 per day, for fourteen days, totaling to a whopping $7000 [6]. Failure to get the vaccine for polio results in a waste of money in the treatment for polio. Why decline a vaccination when, in the possibility of one's contraction of a disease, you waste money in paying for the treatment, when in the end, once you take either option, you are remedied from the disease. Subpoint B: Commonly-used vaccines are a cost-effective and preventive way of promoting health, compared to the treatment of acute or chronic disease. In the U.S. during the year 2001, routine childhood immunizations against seven diseases were estimated to save over $40 billion per birth-year cohort in overall social costs including $10 billion in direct health costs, and the societal benefit-cost ratio for these vaccinations was estimated to be 16.5 [7]. I now stand ready for cross-examination. .:|Sources|:. [1] www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5111a4.htm: CDC: MMWR (Center for Disease Control, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) March 22, 2002 [2] jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/282/1/47: The Journal of the American Medical Association, July 7, 1999 [3] jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/284/24/3145: The Journal of the American Medical Association, December 27, 2000 [4] jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/282/1/47: The Journal of the American Medical Association, July 7, 1999 [5] www.uaa.alaska.edu/studenthealth/immunizations.cfm: University of Alaska Anchorage, September 22, 2009 [6] http://www.polionet.org...: Future Unlimited, Inc. August 30, 2004 [7] http://archpedi.ama-assn.org...: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, December 2005