[s1artibartfast]

You are correct that there is a utilitarian argument that vaccinations will save lives. You and the parent post disagree about the new vaccine risk level. Do you think that they should be compelled to vaccinate their child with the unproven vaccine. What if the risks outweigh the benefit for the child, but are positive for society at large?

[greedo]

I don't think anyone should be vaccinated with an unproven vaccine. Any vaccine issued should have cleared Phase IV, with minimal short-lived and long-lasting side effects. I won't take a vaccine, nor have my children vaccinated until then. I'm also looking at the current rush for a vaccine with a jaundiced eye. I think the likelihood of ever finding a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 is small, however I hope we get lucky, and the tremendous resources being applied to finding a vaccine pay off.

I don't think we disagree about the new vaccine risk level, since we don't have a vaccine, nor know anything about its side effects.

If a vaccine is has differing risks based on age group, then I would hope that we vaccinate the lowest risk group; assuming the risk variance is significant.

As a society, vaccinations are naturally government infringement upon individual rights. But a well-functioning society routinely infringes on individual rights. We place children in protective services when their parents don't care for them properly (in the mind of the government). We (in extreme times) invoke a draft for military personnel. As my dad used to say, your right to swing your fist stops at my nose. Rights are not inviolable; though care should be taken to limit infringement.

As SC Justice Robert Jackson once said, the protections afforded by the Constitution "must not be discredited by an interpretation to mean liberty without law."

[s1artibartfast]

I agree that we wont have an understanding about the vaccine risk until it is developed, and would add that we wont have a good understanding until many years after it is developed.

I don't feel that you answered my questions directly, but if I understand correctly, it appears that you would hypothetically favor compulsory vaccination of children for the greater good, even if the personal risk outweighs the benefit.

I wholeheartedly disagree, as I do with the draft. Similarly, I 'think the right not to be punched, is analogous to forcing someone else to vaccinate for your benefit.

As a society, we get to decide what impositions we impose on individual liberty. Where would you draw this line?

I draw the line at criminal charges for failure to vaccinate.