Re:Book Is Rallying Resistance to the Antivaccine Crusade
by blurry on Wednesday January 14, 2009 @07:07PM
(#434594)
I don't understand how this affects the system. If the vaccine fails and you need urgent care, you are covered because you did get vaccinated, right? What am I missing?
Re:Book Is Rallying Resistance to the Antivaccine Crusade
by showerst on Thursday January 15, 2009 @01:39AM
(#434928)
You're still covered, but you're paying a cost (missing work, being sick) and so is the insurance provider/govt, that you wouldn't otherwise have paid, and it's the non-vaccinator's fault, and they aren't paying for that damage under your system.
Not really a flaw in your system as much as just something interesting to think about.
If everyone gets vaccinated, and 1% fail (that's just an arbitrary number), it's no big deal because there isn't enough of a population to carry an outbreak.
But if 1% of vaccinated patients are vulnerable, and 5% of people choose not to get vaccinated, then now there's a potential for outbreak, and even some people who vaccinated get sick.
In economic terms, by not vaccinating you're introducing a negative externality into society that you're not paying for, so the true cost to non-vaccinators is artificially low.