Influenza Vaccination Research Paper

The shortage in availability of crucial supplies mandatory to sustain life, or a certain quality of life indicates a scarce resource. Worldwide, we continually recognize scarce resources such as water, gasoline, food and medications. Recently, the United States has experienced a drastic flu epidemic, leading to a scarce supply of the influenza vaccines. The flu epidemic encouraged many individuals to vaccinate their families to prevent from catching the flu. The increase in desire for the influenza vaccination has diminished the stock, resulting in this vaccination becoming scarce. When it comes to a scarce resource, such as the influenza vaccine, there should be genuine consideration that determines who receives it. In order to maximize happiness, the scarce resource of the influenza vaccine should be distributed to high risk groups such as elders, pregnant women, young children and healthcare professionals. The high risk groups require an advantage to receiving the influenza vaccine compared to mid-aged individuals, non-pregnant individuals, or individuals with certain careers. The …show more content…
There are individuals that believe no human is more important than another, therefore no matter what, should not get the influenza immunization over anyone else. There are individuals that believe all humans should be treated equally, therefore would not agree with high risk individuals receiving the immunization first. As of today, there is no way to give all individuals an influenza immunization, thus we cannot think of everyone equally. Although it is nice to consider people equally, we must do what is best for the society as a whole and choose our high-risk groups to receive the influenza vaccination first. Therefore, it will maximize society's happiness by using the influenza to treat the most vulnerable parts of society, which will lead to healthier