What Is Ethically Obligatory

It is ethically obligatory (i.e. must be done on ethical grounds) to test an anthrax vaccine on young children in order to prepare for the possibility of a terrorist attack because it is our duty to protect our children’s health. The first main reason for testing a vaccine on children is for their safety. One needs to be able to protect the children if a bioterrorist attack is to occur. The risks that are faced by not testing the vaccine are that the virus could have a reproductive rate(R0) that is very high due to the fact that it could be easily transmitted by coughing, sneezing, hand shaking, etc. If one child comes in contact with another child, this could cause an exponential growth rate in the virus, making it almost impossible to quarantine all the children effected. …show more content…
The benefit of testing outweighs the risks of not testing for children’s safety with an anthrax vaccine because the children will be protected in an attack and the virus could not spread. Another reason for testing is to be able to collect data. The risks of not having data on the vaccine are that there would be no known dosage for children nor the possible side effects. In an extreme cases an improper dosage could result in death. Likewise, the side effects could cause an allergic reaction which could lead to death. The benefit of testing the vaccine out weighs the risk because the data can be collected in order to further develop the vaccine in order to make it more effective during a bioterrorist