Others have questioned the need to increase influenza vaccination rates among HCWs, claiming that HCWs should simply avoid patient contact when ill. Unfortunately, although HCWs say that they will stay home when sick, in reality, many HCWs routinely come to work with symptoms of influenza-like illness.32,46,47 In addition, people may shed influenza virus during the 24 hours before the onset of clinical illness48 or in the absence of clinical symptoms,49 which enables HCWs to transmit the virus to their patients, even when the HCWs feel well. A variety of ethical issues are involved in a mandatory program such as this. In sum, one attempts to balance the benefits that accrue to patient safety against the loss of the individual’s right to choose.50-52 During the planning process for our program, the ethics committee was involved, and we enlisted the help of outside ethicists as well. Overall, it was felt that the importance of protecting our patients was paramount. However, a mandatory program needs to be flexible enough so that valid reasons for avoiding vaccine use can be accommodated. We include both medical and religious reasons as part of this process.…
Healthcare ethics involves making well researched and considerate decisions about medical treatments, while taking into consideration a patient’s beliefs and wishes regarding all aspects of their health. The healthcare industry, above any other, has a high regard for the issues surrounding the welfare of their patients. This power over a patient’s wellbeing creates a mandatory need for all healthcare organizations to develop an ethics committee. The committee’s goal is to establish a written code of ethics that details the policies and procedures that determine proper conduct for all employees.…
Although vaccinations are something generally done by most people, there are people of certain demographics that choose not to vaccinate or are unable to vaccinate for their own reasons. According to Smith et al.’s (2004) Parents who are more likely to go the anti-vaccination route generally come from white, higher income and education households, typically with four or more children. Verses parents who are often young and minorities, with little to no education and live in lower income households. More times than families who don’t vaccinate or are undervaccinated due to economic hardship, health insurance status or lack of, not because they…
The desire and need for a code of ethics in public health came out of growing recognition of the inadequacies of medical ethics for guiding public health decisions (Kanekar & Bitto, 2012). There was an absence of an explicit set of ethical guidelines for organizations that dealt with public health to follow. During the annual APHA meeting in 2000; the PHLS Ethics Work Group, comprised of the Public Health Leadership Society (PHLS), along with local and state public health professionals, public health academia, representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Public Health Association (APHA) were encouraged to come together and initiate the process of writing a code of ethics for public health (Thomas,…
Healthcare professionals have to follow the principle of non-maleficence, meaning not to harm their patients. Implementing the mandated vaccine will represent a way to reduce the probability of unintentionally transmitting a serious infection to other people. Healthcare professionals also have a duty to protect patients and to remain healthy while providing…
In Edward Jenner’s Vaccination Against Smallpox, the way Jenner experiments on the people in his village questions whether or not his actions were ethical. Jenner’s work on the people in his community addresses many health risks due to the smallpox disease, his work may have had both purpose and justification, but the way Jenner carried out his experiments were very dangerous and harmful to his community. Jenner put many people’s lives in jeopardy including men, women and even young innocent children. If the Nuremburg Code was established prior to Jenner’s time, Jenner’s work might have been rejected. Jenner’s work may have been rejected because in his writing and in his case studies, Jenner struggles with the moral implications of developing a vaccine. In order to develop the smallpox vaccine, Jenner had to inject both the cowpox and the smallpox disease in these humans. With developing the smallpox vaccine, Jenner undoubtedly posed ethical problems. Jenner never mentioned in his inquiry whether or not he got verbal or written consent from the people he inoculated with both diseases, Jenner uses majority of young children as his subjects, and lastly, Jenner never inoculated himself. These are all examples of Jenner’s unethical actions.…
To fully combine the ethical troubles of the public health in the field of public health while at the same time into the field of the bioethics (Lindert & Potter, 2015).” The focus of the population is imperative because it allows awareness of prevention and control. Medical ethics is also imperative because it concerns more with the essentials of an individual and their outcomes (Boylan, M,…
In 2010 PBS aired a one hour Frontline documentary about the vaccine war in the United States. This documentary pitted scientists and parents against each other, scientist’s back up their claims with scientific evidence while the parent’s arguments are solely based on opinion. The parents introduced throughout the film who were against vaccines made claims that the vaccines given to children in today’s world are the cause of many issues, like the rise in autism, ADHD, and learning disabilities. These parents also feel there is no need to vaccinate because the diseases that their children are being vaccinated for are no longer an issue in the united states. While the scientists stress the importance of vaccines because they have decreased the issues of these diseases that cause so many problems when infected. A lot of these scientists are older and were children when these diseases had outbreaks and may have even gotten the disease themselves. In the films conclusion Arthur Caplan is quoted saying “Do good in the name of children. Do good in the name of public health”. This quote leaves the viewers with the decision on who to side with. I feel like the documentary was in favor of the scientists and were in support of vaccinating children.…
Influenza vaccination should be mandatory for healthcare workers. The vaccine can reduce the number of transmission of the flu to their coworkers and the patients who are in their care. All health care workers should want to provide the safest care for their patients and “first do no harm, a principle that should apply to everyone in hospitals and health care organizations. “ First do no harm, is a guiding fundamental truth that the patient’s well-being is the primary consideration, with that being said the decision for mandatory Influenza vaccination will help healthcare workers protect the patients wellbeing. Patients with certain health conditions are at higher risk for flu complications. According to the CDC,(2015) “It is estimated that…
Vaccines are responsible for minimizing the risk of many deadly diseases and even eradicating some completely. People today are privileged enough to live during a time where the fear of dying from a disease like measles or smallpox is negligible. Even so vaccines are not without dissenters. There is a segment of humanity that believes there is a credible association between vaccines and rising autism rates. The following articles will show that there are varying ideas on the best way to disprove vaccination opponents, yet no solid solution has been reached on how to convince vaccination opponents that their fears are unfounded.…
I am writing to you because I have three important reasons that why you should always be vaccinated. One reasons is having a vaccination is being safe from all diseases. Also Vaccinations will help keep you healthy. Also vaccinations are important to your overall health as diet and exercise. In the rest of the letter I will explain to you each of my reasons.…
A last major political goal for our party is to mandate vaccinations for our children. In a recent poll, 28% of voters voted no in their children being vaccinated for preventable diseases.…
Throughout the years there have been many things that have threatened children. One of the biggest threats to children has been disease. The human race has worked and fought to prevent children from dying of these diseases. With great strides, this goal has been met with the creation of vaccines. Though many people think that vaccines are a good idea, there are also others who don’t believe in vaccinating their children. In the best interest of children and everyone around them, vaccination is a great way of preventing and eliminating diseases.…
I believe that everyone should be up to date on vaccinations. One reason I believe everyone should be vaccinated is because others do not get sick. Another reason is that the person who is not vaccinated doesn’t get sick and having to go to the hospital. One more reason why people should be vaccinated is because they should be able to go to school and not be kicked out because they don’t have their vaccines.…
To think that a vaccine can save a community is to believe that a single grain of rice can end world hunger. Sure, if everyone was to be vaccinated, perhaps there would be a difference. However, the reality is this is not the case. Several people believe that kids who are not vaccinated impose health threats on kids who have been vaccinated. This belief is flawed because the kids with the vaccines are the ones who are bringing the viruses into our schools. The vaccines carry the very virus that they are supposed to protect kids from. An additional factor that must be considered when looking at the big picture is that the superintendent's forcing parents to get their children vaccinated is the groups that fail to do so.…