Question

Culturally, the United States places great value on individual liberties, arguably more than any other nation on earth. This creates a natural tension between what may be beneficial for the general population and what may infringe on individual rights. Working within a group designated by your professor, develop a consensus statement supporting or opposing one of the following issues: Discussing the Influenza Vaccination and the origin of vaccination.

Answer 1

The United States values individual liberties a lot, which creates a natural tension between regulations beneficial for the general population and individual rights. The use and origin of the influenza vaccine is not an exception. The influenza vaccine was first developed in 1938 by Thomas Francis and Jonas Salk. This was a monovalent vaccine effective only for type A virus. Then the phenomenon called influenza mismatch occurred because of the development of new type B virus due to mutation. The subcutaneous route was tested in 1942 with an inactivated bivalent vaccine meant for both type A and type B, and it was first approved for general population use in 1946. From there, the development of the vaccine has covered a long distance with the development of quadrivalent and recombinant vaccines given intradermally. These were all done with the aim of prevention of flu, which is beneficial for the general population, but this has been opposed by the anti-influenza vaccine activists. Some of them are against flu vaccines stating that the flu vaccine is not effective as new influenza viruses are formed by mutations. Others just oppose with some baseless arguments. These activists oppose immunizations stating their preference and individual rights. In the long run, their arguments will only pave the way for more suffering of the general population and they themselves will be part of this suffering.