Individual Liberty
Further information: Vaccination policyCompulsory vaccination policies have provoked opposition at various times from people who say that governments should not infringe on the freedom of an individual to choose medications, even if the choice increases the risk of disease to themselves and others. If a vaccination program successfully reduces the disease threat, it may reduce the perceived risk of disease enough so that an individual's optimal strategy is to refuse vaccination at coverage levels below those optimal for the community. Exempting some people from mandatory vaccination results in a free rider problem, in which a few individuals gain the advantage of herd immunity without paying the cost; too many exemptions may cause loss of herd immunity, substantially increasing risks even to vaccinated individuals.
Read more about this topic: Vaccine Controversies
Famous quotes containing the words individual and/or liberty:
“Life deceives everyone except the individual who doesn’t contemplate it, the individual who demands nothing from it, the individual who serenely accepts its few gifts and serenely makes the most of them.”
—Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818–1883)
“The planter, the farmer, the mechanic, and the laborer ... form the great body of the people of the United States, they are the bone and sinew of the country—men who love liberty and desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)