Personal Vaccine Opt-Outs

Recently, Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Vaccination Bill SB 277. This bill no longer has exceptions based on religious or personal-beliefs, and it requires every single child to have the proper vaccinations in order to be allowed into a public or private school. So if parents truly do not want their child to be vaccinated they would have to homeschool them instead. This bill was influenced by the recent outbreak of measles that started at Disneyland and spread very quickly and caused the infection of one hundred and fifty people. California, Mississippi, and West Virginia are the three states that no longer allow non-medical exemptions. This new law goes into effect on July 1, 2016.

Florida needs to act. In the 29ᵗʰ of September 2015, California passed California Senate Bill 277 which states the “bill would eliminate the exemption from existing specified immunization requirements based upon personal beliefs, but would allow exemption from future immunization requirements deemed appropriate by the State Department of Public Health for either medical reasons or personal beliefs” (CSB 277). Florida should not eliminate the personal and religious exemptions of vaccine use, instead, the state should restructure the vaccination system. By offering few mandatory vaccines (agreed upon by all parental, medical and political communities) that are both safe and effective for the wellbeing of the country's young population. Also

Jerry Brown has signed a ‘controversial’ legislation. Senate Bill 277 is trying be passed through each state, and now passed by Mississippi and West Virginia. The bill is about that all school kids have be vaccinated. Due to the outbreak of me seals in Disneyland Jerry Brown and Richard Pan are pushing for this to be passed. It’s one of the ‘strictest’ bills that has ever been passed about vaccines. In the bill itself it says that if your child does not get vaccinated for the 10 shots then they have to attend homeschool, unless a doctor has proven that your child cannot get this vaccine. Now this bill removes personal belief exemptions, including religious objections for vaccinations (Chabria). Now if they child does not get vaccinated they

Policy makers in response have considered different approaches to address the concern in societies, which include modifying the exceptions. The first approach is to eliminate the personal-belief exceptions concerning religious and cultural exceptions. The move is understood to contribute to decreased incident of exemption rates which has proved to be a real challenge. Furthermore, people wishing to exempt themselves from the vaccination should be made aware of the implication of their decision. The reform includes engaging in broad consultation with health practitioners or other government agencies who are more informed on the matter. The

In the United States, the law states that vaccinations are required for children entering school unless they have a valid reason that prevents them from receiving the vaccinations. Starting when children are born, they begin the regimen of vaccinations that continue throughout their adolescent years and adulthood. Each year children receive a variation of shots to protect them from the illnesses they will encounter in the world, especially once they attend school. The most common reasons parents forego getting their children vaccinated are religious beliefs, medical exemptions, and personal beliefs. Due to the rising number of parents declining to get their children vaccinated, the number of outbreaks of preventable diseases has increased. The question is now should parents/guardians be forced to vaccinate their children?

In the 1850s the first school vaccination requirement were enacted to prevent smallpox. Federal and state efforts to eradicate measles in the 1960s and 1970s motivated many to mandate policies. By the 1990s, all 50 states requirement for children to be enrolled in school must receive certain immunizations and if these requirements were not met than children were not allowed to be enrolled in school (Center for Disease Control Prevention, 2010). For example, in the state of California, private public school or daycare cannot admit children unless vaccinations were received for all ten of the diseases. If the California Department of Public Health implements a requirement for vaccination parent can be allowed to obtain personal belief exemptions that would allow parents to opt out of vaccination for their children if form is filled out by healthcare professional that states vaccinations were countered to personal beliefs. This law has not been implemented as of yet but should be in 2016. The healthcare of policy decision in laws can have an influence on individuals based on the decision that are made. Health care policy and issues can affect providers and patients in many different ways. Stakeholders’ in the policymakers for vaccination main concern is the safety and health of children so the implement exemptions of laws from concern about vaccine

Is it ethical to allow parents to be exempt from vaccinating their children before they begin attending school due to their religious or personal beliefs? Childhood vaccinations have been around since the 1977 Childhood Immunization Initiative. It is important to have your child vaccinated for both the benefit of your child and your surrounding community. Vaccinations help prevent the spread of diseases that can lead to hospitalizations and sometimes even death. In the United States, only medical exemptions are allowed throughout all 50 states. Exemptions that are religious or personal vary from state to state. These exemptions are given due to the fact that individuals have a constitutional right to exercise such beliefs. An important fact to keep in mind is that many cases of diseases like measles, smallpox, and polio have been prevented from turning into an outbreak because a majority of the population in the United States is immune to them. If it were not for this majority, diseases would be spreading rapidly. We have progressed as a society to protect each other’s health and allowing an alarming number of individuals to opt out of getting these vaccinations will cause a serious threat to our society. Is it ethical to allow people to put the lives of others in danger?

While a majority of people receive vaccines an increasing number of people are making the decision for themselves or children to reject a vaccine, this is compromising the concept of herd immunity. Herd immunity occurs when a large number of a community are vaccinated, which in case of an outbreak isolates the spread of the disease. As the majority of a community are unable to contract a disease, it prevents the disease from spreading which in turn protects people such as infants, pregnant women and those with weaker immune systems from contracting the disease. Considering the increasing number of people rejecting vaccines, the herd immunity principle could be threatened resulting in an increase of outbreaks; only those who have received

Likewise, some people should not receive vaccinations. These individuals should not receive vaccinations due to their age, health conditions, among other factors. These other conditions are independent depending on the type of vaccination received. “They can range from an individual who cannot swallow, to a pregnant woman, to a person with a life-threatening allergy, to a component in the vaccination” (Hales 543). A small percentage of individuals do not respond to a particular vaccine. ”All states provide medical exemptions, and some state laws also offer exemptions for religious and philosophical reasons” (State Vaccination Requirements). “Some religions even prevent certain parents from vaccinating their children because of their belief that the disease is a naturally occurring thing and humans have no right interfering with it” (Hales 544). However, most state laws establish vaccination requirements for school children. These laws apply to public schools, private schools, and day care centers. “State laws also establish mechanisms for enforcement of school vaccination requirements” (State Vaccination Requirement). “Vaccines save

Millions of lives have been saved thanks to a global effort to vaccinate for deadly diseases. Peter Yeo reports “Immunizations have saved more children than any other medical intervention in the last 50 years” (Reforming the U.N. 118). Yet, a new trend for parents is opting out of vaccinating their children for personal beliefs or religious exemptions. Although, the majority of Americans believe vaccines protect children, and conclusive evidence has proven vaccines can prevent the spread of deadly diseases. Still, a few parents believe vaccinating children is not essential for their health, additionally, they believe an increase in mandatory vaccines has insufficient scientific research to prevent serious medical side effects.

Should children’s health be at risk for the greater good of community health? The news today is full of tragic stories about complications of vaccine use and there have been injuries from the beginning of vaccine use due to incomplete data on the side effects. The injuries have also brought about changes in the way vaccines are manufactured. The Georgia State Government requires citizens to receive vaccines in order to attend day care, go to school, and work at certain jobs and each state has its own mandates as well. The only way to get around the vaccine is to claim religious or medical exception. For either of these exceptions, one has to have a notarized affidavit for religious exception or a

One hot topic of discussion for mandated medical treatment that is subjected to much debate is the requirement of vaccinations for school children and those who work in the medical field. Often used as an argument is a now-debunked study linking vaccines to autism, but no matter how many times the medical community proves this study was fraudulent, there are many who refuse vaccinations for their children. As a result, previously eradicated diseases are coming back, such as measles. Another issue within this controversy is the need for herd immunity. Herd immunity is when those who cannot be vaccinated are still immune because all of their peers and community are vaccinated and free of harmful diseases like polio, measles, etc. Parents of children with cancer, small children too young to be vaccinated, and children with immune disorders rely on those around their children to be immune because they cannot vaccinate their children. As a country, the conservative legislation seems to favor the

On June 30, 2015 Governor from California signed one of the strictest law regarding school children vaccination. This law will go in effect on July 01, 2016. This law will eliminate personal and religious belief exemption to vaccination. The governor goes on to say that there is clear science that vaccines protect children against infections and disease (Diders, Koseff, and White, 2015 & Andre et al., 2008). The positives of this law is that if all children are vaccinated, it will prevent the disease from spreading and turning the disease into an epidemic. There are some children that are immunocompromised or too young that cannot handle the complications that can occur from specific diseases (Importance of Vaccines, 2016). There are some states

Immunization via vaccines has been a hot topic of debate in recent years. As with many issues advocates for and against vaccines can be found. The problem that has been identified is that Nevada is one of many states in the country that is considered to be more lenient on vaccination requirements for school aged children. The Nevada school system will take medical and religious exemptions when it comes to vaccinations. All fifty states and the District of Columbia grant medical exemptions to immunization requirements (Blank, Caplan, & Constable, 2013). While medical exemptions are a rational reason as to why children cannot receive certain vaccines the question that is being asked is: whether or not religious exemptions are a good enough reason to not have a child vaccinated? These exemptions can cause an increase in acquiring and

Vaccine hesitancy is the phenomenon whereby individuals either omit or delay vaccination due to either beliefs, attitudes or behaviours or a combination of them (Peretti-Watel et al.2015). Furthermore, this definition is placed on a continuum between pro-vaccination and anti-vaccination individuals in order to address both individuals who actively deny vaccinating and those who simply express reluctance and delay the process. This is a major issue because evading vaccination disrupts herd immunity, and endangers multiple individuals as herd immunity is population based immunization where if enough people are vaccinated, disease transmission is drastically minimized. To combat vaccine hesitancy, concentration on policy development specific to