SB 277: Mandatory Vaccination

Between 1924 and 2013, vaccinations prevented 103 million cases of polio, measles, rubella, mumps, hepatitis A, diphtheria, and pertussis (Bailey). Vaccinating is “the process by which pathogenic cells are injected into a healthy person in an attempt to cause the body to develop antibodies to a particular virus or bacterium—successful creation of antibodies is referred to as immunity to the disease caused by the particular pathogen” (Introduction to Should Vaccinations be Mandatory). Popular conflicts regarding vaccination include the worry that this form of immunization isn’t natural, the idea that vaccination schedule for children in the U.S. takes away parents’ rights to make decisions for their children, and the concern that vaccinations aren’t safe for all children. Most doctors and scientists advocate for vaccinations in the name of herd immunity, protection against foreign diseases and prevention against pockets of disease outbreaks. Vaccinations should be mandatory for all children in the United States for who they are deemed safe and effective.

“Vaccines save lives; fear endangers them. It's an unpretentious message parents need to keep hearing.” –Jeffery Kluger. The change in seasons can be intense for some people. It triggers them to become ill and get sick if they do not take care of themselves. Children, among these people, are more prone to becoming ill because their immune systems are not yet fully developed. A great number of parents do not know that getting their children vaccinated when recommended by doctors is a simple solution to childhood illnesses. Therefore, there should be stricter legal regulations that encourage parents to ensure that their children receive vaccinations. This will raise the awareness of vaccinations which will help more people receive them so

“Why should I get vaccinated? It is just a waste of time and money. I never got vaccinated before and never will.” That’s what one of my colleagues said when he was asked to get vaccinated during the outbreak of SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, few years ago in Mongolia. Then, I had reasoned him that disease comes all of a sudden and it is more serious than he thinks. As reported on CDC, Centers for Disease Control, 40 percent of all American parents were refusing one or more vaccines for their children (Willrich 3). So it is clearly one of the most significant public health issues today. There are lots of people who hold the belief against vaccination because of several reasons. Even though there is a public notion that vaccine

The reason for making this law in the United States is because of the serious outbreaks that still happen in schools. When this happens, some students are not able to go to school and are not getting the important education they need. An elementary school in Denver, Colorado had a chickenpox outbreak, just recently, that came from children who were not vaccinated being at school. The school allowed the children not to be vaccinated because the parents of the children didn’t want them to be. The school said there was two unvaccinated children in the school that were experiencing symptoms of chickenpox. (Kovaleski, 2016). Because of this, the school, along with some health officials told the parents of the unvaccinated children, who are also at the school, that their children should not go to school so they did not get exposed to the chickenpox. The children that were vaccinated were able to stay in school. The parents chose not to get their children vaccinated because of religious reasons. So because of this, these unvaccinated children were not at school for about twenty-one days. The chickenpox vaccine, varicella, is 99% effective at preventing the chickenpox infection in children (Kovaleski,2016). The parents of these children knew this but chose to ignore it. With the vaccination requirement law put in place, chickenpox outbreaks would not be an issue because the children that were not vaccinated would not be going to school. The fact is, if a child is not vaccinated they

Throughout history people have seen many public health innovations. Numerous advancements were made between 2001 and 2010. These advancements include “tobacco control, motor vehicle safety, public health preparedness and response, and occupational safety.” (Ten Great Public Health Achievements --- United States, 2001—2010) One of the most important innovations was vaccine preventable diseases. Many people believe that it is right for the government to necessitate children to be vaccinated. Others think it is wrong and that the parents should decide what is best for their children’s health. It is beneficial for the United States government to require young children in the United States to get vaccinations including hepatitis A and B,

According to the Center’s of Disease Control and Prevention (2012), there are no federal requirements for childhood immunizations. While the CDC (2012) provides recommendations, each state sets their own rules and exemptions for schools and childcare attendance. On June 30, 2015, Governor Jerry Brown of California made history by eliminating the exemption from immunizations due to personal beliefs for children in public or private schools; however, medical exemptions initiated by a DO or MD will still be allowed (Royce, 2015; California Department of Public Health, 2015a). In 2013-2014, there were nearly 17000 personal belief vaccination exemptions in California (Almasy, 2015). Throughout the history of vaccinations very strong opinions for or against immunizations have existed,

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.

On June 30, 2015, California governor Jerry Brown signed the new version of Senate Bill 277, which eliminated California 's personal belief exemption. These laws create a very low bar for parents to obtain an exemption. Often they simply have to check a box stating they don’t want to vaccinate their children, and that is sufficient. States with personal belief exemptions have 2.5 times the vaccine refusal rate as states with religious exemptions only. Essentially, the easier it is to obtain a vaccine exemption, the lower the vaccination rate. Personal belief exemption rates have gone up dramatically since 1994. During a survey done by Alexander Capron for his medical journal, “Personal Beliefs Exemption from Mandatory Immunization of Children for School Entry”, in 1994, schools on average had 0.6% of kindergarten students claiming personal belief exemptions; by 2009, the number was 2.3%. By the 2013–2014 school year, schools, on average, had 3.15% of kindergarten students claiming personal belief exemptions. While these percentages may seem low, they are not evenly distributed: Some communities have much higher rates, and a recent research paper demonstrated that those communities were most vulnerable to outbreaks.

In 2012, Dr. Richard Pan, a former assemblyman from Sacramento, proposed a bill entitled ab 2109. This bill caused quite an uproar because it proposed to raise our already world-leading vaccine schedule. The public outrage came because many thought the bill was taking away parent's right to decide what medical procedures and treatments to give to their children. Dr. Pan quickly brushed this off, insisting it would not take away their parental rights to make choices about vaccinations.

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

In December of 2014, an outbreak of measles, which started in Disneyland, resulted in nearly two hundred people being sickened across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The highly contagious respiratory disease spread for three months. Among those who contracted the illness, one developed severe pneumonia and multiple organ injury, while another suffered acute respiratory distress syndrome. So, why did an illness, which was purportedly eliminated sixteen years ago, experience a surge so dramatic that it caused more cases in 2014 than in the five preceding years combined? According to the CDC, the outbreak could be boiled down to one simple reason: “The majority of people were unvaccinated.” So while the California measles outbreak is a thing of the past, the fight to increase compliance with vaccinations continues. Although the benefits and safety of vaccinations are undisputed by the medical and scientific community, there are still sizeable groups of “anti-vaxxers” who refuse to vaccinate their children. These groups spread misconceptions, sometimes unknowingly, and become even more influential when coupled with the power of the internet and social media. Therefore, in order to increase compliance with routine vaccinations, the misconceptions of parents should be targeted, and legislation should be changed in order to prevent leniency and loopholes regarding vaccine exemptions.

The objective of the bill is to “ direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct or support a comprehensive study comparing total health outcomes, including risk of autism, in vaccinated populations in the United States with such outcomes in unvaccinated populations in the United States, and for other purposes” (Posey, 2014). The bill seeks to create an awareness of policy makers on the safety of vaccinated population in the United States. The outcome of this bill is for the public to have continued assurance in public health programs by examining vaccination interactions. In addition,

A public safety issue that is this huge has many interested parties but the main three are parents, medical professionals and the federal government. Parents have a strong interest in this issue because of their natural concern for the safety of their children. It’s a parent’s responsibility to make the best decisions they can with the information they have, in regards to the health of their children. Medical professionals also have a strong connection to this issue for several reasons. First, the growth of the anti-vaccination movement can be pinpointed to

More than ever vaccines are met with a high suspicions and very little education on the realities of vaccination success.

Now, many once-forgotten diseases are reappearing. TIME Magazine reported that “In 2014, the U.S. experienced a major outbreak of measles that totaled 383 cases and was primarily spreading among an unvaccinated Amish community in Ohio.” (Measles Outbreak) The number of cases of these diseases is going up when it can be easily prevented. Worldwide, “Measles is one of the leading causes of death among young children even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available.” (World Health