Is it OK if I don't get a flu shot?

• Author: Klosterman, Chuck
• Position: THE ETHICIST - Brief article

I work in an open-air office, eat in crowded restaurants, and take the subway. But my mother, a doctor who practices alternative medicine, has raised me to be anti-vaccine, and I don't want a flu shot. I know that if I don't get one, I could become sick--and potentially get a bunch of other people sick too. What is my ethical obligation here?

BEN REININGA, NEW YORK

SHOULD YOU GET A FLU SHOT? YES. It's more socially responsible, and thus more ethical (relative to not doing so). But are you obligated to do so? You are not.

It's one thing to directly put others in harm's way (like entering a crowded workplace when you're already sick). But your question involves just a possibility. Though not getting a flu shot could affect other people, that outcome is not even close...