Michelle J. Bayefsky, B.A., is a medical student at Harvard Medical School. Previously she was a post-baccalaureate fellow in the Department of Bioethics of the National Institutes of Health, where her work focused on topics related to reproduction, genomics policy, and public health.
J Law Med Ethics. 2018 Jun;46(2):501-510. doi: 10.1177/1073110518782957.
When the HPV vaccine was released over a decade ago, there was intense opposition to mandating the vaccine, including among bioethics and legal scholars. Some of the original concerns are now obsolete, while other objections continue to present an obstacle to mandating the vaccine. This essay responds to earlier critiques of mandatory HPV vaccination and offers a series of arguments in support of a vaccine mandate. The first section briefly addresses initial concerns that are no longer relevant. The second section makes the ethical case for mandating HPV vaccination, based on three principles: 1) the best interests of children, 2) solidarity, and 3) health equity. The final section addresses concerns related to implementation of the vaccine, including the validity of linking vaccination to school entry. The essay concludes that we have a moral imperative to protect children from the leading cause of cervical cancer, and that mandating HPV vaccination is the best way to ensure that children of all backgrounds receive the vaccine before they have been exposed to the virus.
当 HPV 疫苗在十多年前推出时，人们对强制接种疫苗表示强烈反对，包括生物伦理和法律学者。现在，一些最初的担忧已经过时，而其他反对意见仍然是强制接种疫苗的障碍。本文回应了早些时候对强制性 HPV 疫苗接种的批评，并提出了一系列支持疫苗接种的论点。第一节简要讨论了不再相关的最初关注点。第二节根据三个原则，即 1）儿童的最大利益、2）团结和 3）卫生公平，为强制 HPV 疫苗接种提供了伦理依据。最后一节讨论了与疫苗接种实施相关的担忧，包括将接种疫苗与入学联系起来的有效性。本文结论认为，我们有道德义务保护儿童免受宫颈癌的主要病因的侵害，强制接种 HPV 疫苗是确保所有背景的儿童在接触病毒之前接种疫苗的最佳方式。
