Topics / Climate, energy and science
Are childhood vaccines safe and should they be strongly encouraged or required?
This issue combines a largely factual question, whether routine childhood vaccines are safe and effective, with a largely values-based one: how far governments should go in promoting them, from leaving the decision to parents, through strong encouragement, to requiring vaccination for school attendance.
Positions
- Vaccines are safe and effective; strongly encourage but do not mandate: Routine childhood vaccines are safe and highly effective, and governments and health services should strongly encourage them through trusted advice, easy access, reminders and follow-up, but should not make them compulsory.
- Mandate for school attendance: Childhood vaccines are safe and effective, and because high coverage (herd immunity) protects those who cannot be vaccinated, routine vaccination should be a condition of attending school or nursery, with exemptions only for genuine medical reasons.
- Voluntary, parental choice: The state should not override parents' medical decisions for their children: vaccination should be offered freely with honest information, but should remain voluntary, without penalties such as exclusion from school.
- Vaccines cause autism or are generally unsafe: Childhood vaccines cause autism or are generally unsafe, so their harms outweigh their benefits. (not argued: contradicted by strong evidence)