Promoting Vaccines and Herd Immunity

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Costs of Disease Outbreaks Caused by Non-Vaccinations,” authors, Charlotte A. Moser, Dorit Reiss, and Robert L. Shwartz suggest that families that choose to opt out of vaccinations for non-medical reasons, should be held financially responsible for disease outbreaks in some way. Moser et al. proposes a variety of ways non vaccinators could be taxed, they write, "...all other opt outs could be assessed a consistent fee because regardless of their different underlying reasons, these decisions impose the same cost on society" (245). This money would then go towards disease control and prevention or distributed among the individuals that are medically obligated not to vaccinate. Requiring an opt out fee or an extra tax would promote more people to vaccinate and a more effective herd immunity among communities. Disease outbreak is a costly and dangerous consequence of a large group of people choosing not to vaccinate. Moser et al. writes, “Finally, a small number of states have ...

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healthy enough to vaccinate.
Disease outbreaks are dangerous, costly and not everyone can vaccinate due to medical reasons. Holding non vaccinators responsible for these costs would ease the financial burden at-risk families face. Moser et al. says, “Costs associated with acute disease and lifetime medical costs for these individuals have been estimated to range from $87,261 for deafness to $253,723 for someone with multiple amputations. Most of the costs associated with permanent harm caused by an infectious disease are absorbed by the family and its insurer” (240). Those that are healthy enough to vaccinate should so they are not putting others at risk. If they still choose not to ...

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