The correct but paradoxical answer is: Yes, if the vaccination is mandatory. Why is it paradoxical? Because the question of “whether it is worth it” no longer applies. It won’t be a voluntary matter. However, there remains the aspect of one’s attitude towards the vaccine. In this case, despite being compelled to get vaccinated, one’s attitude towards the procedure can still be positive.
Vaccinations against diseases are, first and foremost, a public good. By getting vaccinated, you are not just protecting yourself, but also “that guy.” You are stopping the spread of disease. If everyone made their own decision about whether to get vaccinated or not, it would be a personal matter and their own risk of getting sick or not. Moreover, in a situation where everyone around is vaccinated, the chances of getting sick are negligible, and one can choose not to get vaccinated without harming themselves. This means that those who do not get vaccinated are “free riders,” taking advantage of a public good without contributing to it. In this case, the “payment” is accepting the risk of vaccination complications, and the procedure itself is not exactly enjoyable.
This is precisely why doctors often do not vaccinate their own children. They are free riders who, taking advantage of their position, avoid contributing to the creation of public goods. The theory suggests that due to the “free rider effect,” people are unable to create public goods. It’s more beneficial not to participate in digging a well and simply take water from it later. As a result, no one digs the well, but everyone waits for it to be done. Most public goods that we know of have been created through coercion. The state forcibly mobilizes people, leading to the construction of roads, bridges, hospitals, and pensions for the elderly. The government collects taxes, exercising its right to use force, and uses that money to create public goods. Of course, this refers to a “normal state.”
In other words, if vaccination is mandatory, meaning that all people participate in creating a public good, then getting vaccinated is both reasonable and fair.
But there is another aspect. This phenomenon was well illustrated in Harry Harrison’s book “The Unconquerable Planet.” The essence of the phenomenon is that if a living system is not killed immediately and completely, it will adapt to new conditions. Just like Nietzsche said: What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. It is precisely because of this phenomenon that antibiotic-resistant bacteria emerge, arising from people arbitrarily stopping their antibiotic courses, leaving behind surviving and now stronger mutated bacteria in their bodies. This phenomenon is also why, long ago, there were cockroaches resistant to dichlorvos, and so on.
In a situation where the population is being vaccinated gradually and voluntarily, we are giving the virus the opportunity to mutate and adapt to new conditions. Even wearing masks, if it doesn’t suppress the virus’s reproduction to zero, will lead to the virus mutating and learning to “get through” that barrier. We already have mutations that are resistant to certain vaccines. So we can confidently expect even more news from the front lines of the fight against this.
It turns out that by getting vaccinated voluntarily, a person does not protect themselves from the disease at all. There is no point in this. With gradual and voluntary vaccination, everyone who is vaccinated will inevitably contract the disease caused by a new mutation of the virus. And the most unpleasant part is that antiviral vaccines—vector-based and mRNA—may or may not work with the new variant, or they might overload the immune system with new information. Why do we need such a thing? We don’t.
Returning to the question in the title, we find the answer: There is no point in getting vaccinated voluntarily because a) you are contributing to the creation of public good, encouraging free riders, and b) you allow the virus to adapt to new conditions. However, with mandatory vaccination, the rationale becomes clear. Wishing everyone good health!