Secondary School Students' Evaluation of Vaccination

In Austria, science teaching aims at encouraging students to develop decision-making competence and moral judgment by addressing socioscientific issues. This work considers how Austrian secondary school students evaluate ethical aspects of vaccinations. In biology lessons and a talk given by a medical scientist, students were confronted with the biological basics of vaccination, advantages for both the individual and society and the risk-benefit balance of vaccination. The students (n=17; aged 16-17) participated in semi-structured interviews, which mainly addressed their attitudes towards vaccination, responsibility to society and compulsory vaccinations. The interviews were audio taped, transcribed and qualitatively analysed. Most students showed an indifferent attitude towards vaccination. Students were mostly concerned with protecting the health of individuals and hardly with public health protection. Most students valued freedom of choice and thus rejected compulsory vaccination. They hardly addressed ethical or moral aspects of the issues discussed in the interviews. In general, students ignored recent lessons learned and argued rather intuitively and emotionally than rationally. Critically evaluating normative positions, e.g. compulsory vaccination, implies considering relevant knowledge as well as multiple points of view and balancing them. Most students seemed to experience difficulties in doing this. Perhaps they did not associate vaccinations with their personal life, socio-political responsibility or ethical considerations and/or felt that vaccination is not an issue that provokes discussion.