John Burke
Infowars

Note: This essay deals only with the philosophical argument against forced vaccination by the state.

A few years ago I entered into a discussion with a close friend regarding vaccination. This person stated that their child was not up to date with state recommended vaccinations and was debating internally whether or not she felt they were necessary. Without being asked my opinion, my reaction was quite strong in favor of vaccination and I made common claims that vaccinations were for the ‘common social good’ and that we all had to ‘do our part for society.’ Days later I thought back on the encounter and was surprised at how undiplomatically I pursued this argument. I had never researched vaccines, the potential health benefits or risks, or sought information from a variety of sources as one would commonly do before making an argument on any important subject. Regardless of our differing opinions I was only able to bring to the discussion force to try to convince her of my opinion – I offered no information, cited no facts or statistics in my debate – the apparent ‘will of the people’ which my ignorance represented was argument enough. Was this enough to base a decision on concerning the health and well-being of a child?