Should routine childhood immunizations be compulsory?

Abstract

Routine childhood immunizations are compulsory in a small number of countries, including the United States of America. Arguments used to justify making immunizations compulsory include enhancing the health of the community and treating as paramount the rights of the child to be protected against vaccine-preventable diseases. But compulsory immunization infringes the autonomy of parents to make choices about child rearing, an autonomy which we generally respect unless doing so seriously endangers the child's health. We present a historical review and ethics discussion on whether routine childhood immunizations should be compulsory. We conclude that, for both ethical and practical reasons, routine immunization should not be compulsory if adequate levels of immunization can be achieved by other means.