Ethical Issues In Vaccine Research

Vaccines are responsible for global community health achievements, such as the obliteration of smallpox and decline of other severe infections like measles, mump, and polio. However, vaccines have also been subjected to countless ethical disputes such as vaccine regulation, developments, research and testing, informed consent, access inconsistencies, and mandates. State policies dictate certain immunizations are needed for school entry requirements in the United States. After being researched, tested, and monitored, coordinated and reviewed by The National Vaccine Program, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP) inoculations are licensed and added to the immunization schedule (The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 2018)
Ethical

Debate and Controversies
There are individual and communities that disagree with vaccines mandates, they either have religious or philosophical beliefs that conflict with vaccinations or believe that vaccines are not safe and cause other diseases or sickness. When individuals want to exercise their rights to protect themselves or their children by not accept existing medical or safety evidence, or if ideological beliefs do not support vaccinations, tension will result because public health regulations infringe upon individual autonomy and liberty (The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 2018)

When the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in 2006 for girls aged 11-12, many ethical objections surfaced even though state legislatures attempted to mandate the vaccine. Religious concerns contradicted abstinence-based messages, and fears receiving the immunization would be misaligned with family beliefs; human rights question about fairness regarding that girls gets the vaccine and not boys, (now the vaccine is recommended for all adolescents in the United States). All 50 states allow exemptions for medical contraindications, 48 states allow religious exemptions, and 20 states allow exemptions for philosophical reasons. However many scientist and research studies have found that those who refuse the vaccine due to religious and philosophical reasons are at higher risk of contracting infections and putting themselves and the community at risk. When it comes to the ethics of protecting individuals beliefs and the communities health, medical and public advocates often have a struggle trying to find the balance (Navarro-Illana, Aznar, & Diez-Domingo, 2014)
Research and Testing
Ethical discussions also focus on research and testing of vaccines, vaccine developments, study design, population, and location. Vaccines go through rigorous safety and efficacy standards, and years of research to become licensed. Stakeholders, such as scientific and social disciplines, epidemiology, immunology, and pharmaceutical companies have conflicting priorities and motives for wanting to authorize a new vaccine; these motives often contribute to various ethical discussions.
To properly test a vaccine’s efficacy, a clinical trial must be conducted.

Providing adequated preventive options can be a difficult decision when the vaccine can potentially prevent a dangerous, untreatable, or fatal infection. Testing an immunization on children raises ethical concerns. Therefore, researchers must balance the need to protect the child’s safety with the need to adequately understand how a vaccine will perform and protect the child when administered. Ethics is concerned with rules and principles of human behavior, regulations to govern the actions of human beings, and the development of appropriate guidelines is not straightforward. Ethical ideologies frequently change with time and the development of new knowledge, but attention should be given to protecting patient’s rights, privacy, dignity, and ensuring there are no undue physical or psychological risk to the children (Nieswiadomy,

2012).
Motivators to Increase Retention
One of the most critical encounters faced by researchers is recruitment and retention, how to keep patients involved in studies with active commitment while providing data on the outcomes. Every aspect of the patient experience, from start to finish, should be to make patients feel comfortable and to earn their trust. Three recommendations to use to promote retention is to maintain communication, listen, and conduct the study in a comfortable and convenient location (Nieswiadomy, 2012).
Communication
Communication with participates should be confident, positive, and appealing, not negative, demanding, or patronizing.

There should be a positive message about the disease studied and the research study, rather than worrying numbers of deaths caused by the disease. Clearly explain the requirements of the study, staying in touch with the participants through newsletters or greeting cards with the summaries of the research and by expressing appreciation of participating in the research study. Keep communication, open, have a staff member that the participant to go to if problems arise or to ask questions. Consistent contact applies to all research-related information; providing new educational materials, follow-ups, and appointment reminders. By communicating all expectations before enrolling subjects, the likelihood of them dropping out due to misinformation or misunderstanding (Garvey & Whitlock,

2013).
Listen
Be sure to address problems as soon as they arise, be on the lookout for issues. It may already be too late to resolve the problems by the time they are brought to your attention. Therefore, watch for clues that patients may not be happy or are confused about something. Many times, patient may not come out and directly say what is bothering them. Ask the patient to explain further if you learn of any hesitations or problems. Listen to what the participants have to say, be sympathetic, and then figure out the best approach to dealing with their concerns. More communication from you is possibly what they need (Garvey & Whitlock, 2013).
Location
Providing a comfortable and convenient place that is pleasant and accommodating to make the participant feel welcome is another way of keeping patients motivated in staying the program. Have the area inviting, soft music, pleasing paintings, relaxing lighting, if applicable. The location should be in a place that is ina reasonable distant and easy to access. Provide transportation if necessary, or take the study to the patient (Tappen, 2016).
Conclusion
It does not matter what type of research is being conducted; it must be in an organized and orderly fashion of discovering answers to questions. Research allows us to see the true clarification to crucial issues by providing facts that will assist us to investigate the problem; testing the viability and the influence of programmes; and finding improved solutions to the challenges. From ethical and legal issues of childhood vaccines to retention of participants, research is directed at building knowledge about human responses to actual or potential health-related problems.