(AMA Article): Should Participation in Vaccine Clinical Trials be Mandated?

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This article sends chills down my spine.  The author's goals represent the very essence of hard-core communism as one would expect under the Red Chinese or the old Soviet Union.

When you hear terms like "for the greater good", you had better run like crazy in the other direction.  The following example is no exception:

Should Participation in Vaccine Clinical Trials be Mandated?

http://virtualmentor.ama-assn.org/2012/01/pfor1-1201.html

* It's hard to find an excerpt from this article because the entire article is so completely appalling.

(excerpt):

If progression of promising vaccines from the lab to the clinic is to remain unaffected and financial inducement is an ethically unacceptable solution to the recruitment shortage, other strategies need to be considered. Compulsory involvement in vaccine studies is one alternative solution that is not as outlandish as it might seem on first consideration. Many societies already mandate that citizens undertake activities for the good of society; in several European countries registration for organ-donation has switched from “opt-in” (the current U.S. system) to “opt-out” systems (in which those who do not specifically register as nondonors are presumed to consent to donation) [10], and most societies expect citizens to undertake jury service when called upon. In these examples, the risks or inconvenience to an individual are usually limited and minor. Mandatory involvement in vaccine trials is therefore perhaps more akin to military conscription, a policy operating today in 66 countries. In both conscription and obligatory trial participation, individuals have little or no choice regarding involvement and face inherent risks over which they have no control, all for the greater good of society.

As ever, then, the debate boils down to a consideration of the “greater good” or the “lesser evil.” A key consideration is the risk benefit ratio—risk to the individual volunteer balanced against the benefit to society. Society is unlikely to accept compulsory recruitment to a trial for a vaccine against the common cold if the vaccine causes severe complications in vaccinees. Increase the severity of the disease in question, however, and compulsory recruitment becomes a more palatable option.

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