COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters for Young Adults: A Risk-Benefit Assessment and Five Ethical Arguments against Mandates at Universities

SSRN ^ | 12 Sep 2022

[conservative98]

Abstract

Students at North American universities risk disenrollment due to third dose COVID-19 vaccine mandates. We present a risk-benefit assessment of boosters in this age group and provide five ethical arguments against mandates. We estimate that 22,000 - 30,000 previously uninfected adults aged 18-29 must be boosted with an mRNA vaccine to prevent one COVID-19 hospitalisation. Using CDC and sponsor-reported adverse event data, we find that booster mandates may cause a net expected harm: per COVID-19 hospitalisation prevented in previously uninfected young adults, we anticipate 18 to 98 serious adverse events, including 1.7 to 3.0 booster-associated myocarditis cases in males, and 1,373 to 3,234 cases of grade ≥3 reactogenicity which interferes with daily activities. Given the high prevalence of post-infection immunity, this risk-benefit profile is even less favourable. University booster mandates are unethical because: 1) no formal risk-benefit assessment exists for this age group; 2) vaccine mandates may result in a net expected harm to individual young people; 3) mandates are not proportionate: expected harms are not outweighed by public health benefits given the modest and transient effectiveness of vaccines against transmission; 4) US mandates violate the reciprocity principle because rare serious vaccine-related harms will not be reliably compensated due to gaps in current vaccine injury schemes; and 5) mandates create wider social harms. We consider counter-arguments such as a desire for socialisation and safety and show that such arguments lack scientific and/or ethical support. Finally, we discuss the relevance of our analysis for current 2-dose CCOVIDovid-19 vaccine mandates in North America.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccines, mandates, ethics, young adults, risk-benefit analysis

[conservative98]

Our new paper is now out
Led by @KevinBardosh @KrugAlli @ID_ethics @TrudoLemmens @s_keshavjee @MartyMakary @sdbaral @TracyBethHoeg

5 ethical arguments against booster mandates & an empirical analysis

Policy is 10 steps ahead of data and that's dangeroushttps://t.co/sCv3PlFh4H pic.twitter.com/YbOEqNLqGG— Vinay Prasad, MD MPH 🎙️📷 (@VPrasadMDMPH) September 6, 2022

[conservative98]

Dennis Prager is on this right now. He says not only is colleges mandating third booster shots unethical, it is evil.

[V_TWIN]

[conservative98]

I can't endorse this strongly enough. University mandates have no data to support them, and what data that do exist suggest they will cause more harm than good.

Any mandate or coercion to accept a booster as a prerequisite to attend college is unethical by any medical standard. https://t.co/S3l4SYd8HX— David McCune, MD, MPH (@davidemccune) September 7, 2022

[glorgau]

I was working at a university and let them fire me because I wasn’t getting this barely tested garbage injected into me.

[BenLurkin]

It’s a scam, Jim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okw8mZbz_6U

[high info voter]

While there's proof the whole Covid & vaccine pile of BS was totally unnecessary!!

PROOF! - https://rumble.com/v1ik21d-ivermectin-the-truth.html

[G Larry]

They're unnecessary,

They don't work,

They're dangerous,

There are cheaper, more effective alternatives available,

It's bad practice to encourage state sponsored fear mongering!

[upchuck]

See tag. Check my posting history for details.