Ethics

The production and testing of vaccines often involves animals.There may be side-effects. Vaccines may cause death or long term harm. The risk of contracting the disease should be compared to the risk of death and debilitating side-effects from the vaccine. The severity and incidence of the disease should be taken into account when deciding to vaccinate a population.How should vaccines be tested and is the expense of the vaccine justified? Arguably, vaccines should only be tested in countries where the population has the most to gain by the vaccine. Vaccine trials may result in harm to the test subjects.Should vaccines be compulsory? The needs of the population as a whole need to be balanced against the interests of the individual. Individuals may object to the vaccine on religious, personal or health grounds.Vaccines are expensive to produce and a vaccination program costly to administer. Some vaccination programs are continued even though the disease has been almost eradicated.