This collaboration examines mandatory vaccination policies and potential vaccine harms, concluding mandates are likely unnecessary and vaccines remain important for public health despite some ongoing safety concerns.
Longer summary
This adversarial collaboration examines two questions regarding childhood vaccination policies in economically developed nations: whether vaccination should be mandatory, and whether health authorities should normalize parental decisions not to vaccinate. The authors conclude that mandatory vaccination is likely not necessary to achieve public health objectives, and that while vaccines are an important element of disease control, there is not sufficient evidence that they cause significant harm to justify discouraging vaccination as a matter of public policy. They suggest studying alternative approaches to increasing vaccination rates without mandates.
Shorter summary