In conjunction with efforts to provide vaccines to counter the outbreak of the Coronavirus, some countries are moving to make vaccination mandatory in one way or another, which raises the question about the validity of governments forcing their citizens to receive the vaccine, which was answered by a new study published by the Science Alert website.
The study considered that mandatory vaccination has a “dark side”, saying that “forcing people to undergo mandatory vaccination campaigns can be counterproductive,” noting that when vaccinations are voluntary, more people are persuaded to receive them, through friends and family.
She stressed that “excessive control reduces confidence in vaccination campaigns because if the vaccine is safe and effective, there is no need to make it mandatory according to the thinking of the majority of citizens.”
In turn, Catherine Schmelz, a behavioral psychologist from the University of Constance in Germany, said that “mandatory vaccinations may play a role in certain countries and situations, especially if vaccination rates are significantly low, but this should be applied with caution.”
With some countries and organizations starting to require vaccination to attend events or training courses, or to travel to specific places, it has become important to understand the different reasons that can lead to hesitation in receiving vaccinations.
According to the study, the method of requiring vaccination to participate in events and events can be beneficial from any other scenario, as leaders wish to change the minds of their people and promote an immune and healthy lifestyle, and a softer approach is better.
Here Schmelz argued that citizens’ voluntary compliance with a policy is essential because the state’s enforcement capabilities are limited, and because the ultimate results of a campaign’s success depend on the ways in which the policies themselves alter citizens’ beliefs and preferences.
For his part, the economist at the Santa Institute, Samuel Bowles, warned that mandatory vaccination leads to an escalation of social conflict by alienating citizens from the government or scientific and medical elites.
The Director of the Department of Immunization and Vaccines at the World Health Organization, Kate O’Brien, has said: “I don’t think any country should make vaccinations mandatory.”
And O’Brien added, in December 2020: “There may be some countries or some cases in countries where professional conditions require this or strongly recommend vaccination, such as cases of hospitals and their employees.”
