The Importance Of Compulsory Vaccination

Mandatory vaccination is an extremely controversial topic because it violates constitutionally protected right to practice religion and personal beliefs in the absence of the true health emergency (First Amendment of the Constitution). The new law destroys the individual rights of parents to make voluntary decisions in the best interest of their children in the health care decisions and diminishes the role of parents in upbringing and educating their children (Skov).

Vaccination is widely considered one of mankind’s utmost medical achievements. Diseases that were not long ago commonplace in society are now increasingly rare due vaccines. Despite this, the United States continues to allow vaccination exemptions for children on the basis of religious or philosophical beliefs. Today, the vast majority of states allow religious exemptions and a smaller, but still substantial, number of states permit the more troubling philosophical exemptions. The exemptions compromise vaccination programs and leave the population susceptible to outbreaks. Thus to stop the growing percentage of Americans claiming exemptions, the federal and state governments, could consider utilizing measures currently used in Australia and France that would further dissuade people from seeking such exemptions.

Along the same idea, the justices also stated that the rights of the people are only applicable when they go along with the common good. Jacobson was attempting to exercise his rights that could have led to potential harm to others. The Court also stated in the ruling that the common good “applies to the right of society to protect itself from epidemics and that legislative bodies have authority to choose the means toward that end” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). The final statement in the ruling of Jacobson v. Massachusetts was that the police power had to adhere to four standards to determine if the 14th amendment is void when it comes to the good of public health. First, the issue, which in this case was vaccination, has to be a necessary measure to aid officials in stopping a disease outbreak. Second, the issue has to be reasonable and lead to desirable results. The third standard is whatever the public health officials propose, the benefit must outweigh the hassle to citizens. And finally, the issue should follow the ethical principle of nonmaleficence and should not cause harm to anyone.

As Ezekiel Emanuel, an American oncologist said, “Childhood vaccines are one of the great triumphs of modern medicine. Indeed, parents whose children are vaccinated no longer have to worry about their child’s death or disability from whooping cough, polio, diphtheria, hepatitis, or a host of other infections.” For millions of years diseases have plagued entire populations, and in the late 1700s, Edward Jenner invented the smallpox vaccination which brought about a new era of disease prevention. Vaccinations should be enforced because they save lives, rarely cause reactions, and have eliminated diseases.

1853- Vaccination for smallpox was made compulsory and started by Edward Jenner; this was because a great amount of people were getting ill and dying from it.

Mandatory vaccinations have been hotly debated in the United States for over two centuries, making the argument almost as old as the country itself. As early as 1809, Massachusetts became the first state to mandate the world’s premiere vaccine. Authorities recognized the life-saving benefits of the smallpox vaccine. They chose to require inoculation to protect the community from further outbreaks. Public outrage ensued as some community members feared the new vaccine and believed they should be able to choose if they wished to receive it. The most vocal protestors formed anti-compulsory vaccination groups and were successful in getting laws overturned in many states. However, even the United States Supreme Court has upheld states’ rights to require immunization. (A) Vaccinations should be

According to the association of state and territorial health officials, every one dollar spent on immunizations saves sixteen dollars in avoided costs. In the Jackson vs. Massachusetts case, “the supreme court addressed for the first time the issue of compulsory vaccination” (Jacobson v. Massachusetts. (1999). When this court case happened, it was the beginning of the vaccination issue. “vaccines are one of the most successful advances in public health of all time” (tinyurl.com/gtgzrlo). “among American children born between 1994 and 2013, three hundred and thirty-two million cases of illness and seven hundred and thirty-two thousand deaths will be prevented over their lifetime” (tinyurl.com/gtgzrlo). Over the course of nineteen years seven hundred and thirty-two thousand lives were saved due to the law put in place. The spread of sickness in schools were cut down drastically after this law was put into

D.J. v. Mercer County Board of Education: court found that right to education was public right, and since protecting public health/safety is state’s responsibility, vaccination must be mandatory

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

Jenner. His experiments were extremely primal, however, and from that point on the vaccine production rate and quality rose exponentially. In 1809 the first United States law requiring vaccinations for smallpox was written after frequent outbreaks created great health and economic consequences.(Omer, 2011, 169-182). Before vaccines for children were created children died by the thousands from disease like in the 1920’s when diphtheria used to take on average 10,000 lives of children every year. The first vaccine as we have come to know them today emerged in 1914 with the first pertussis or whooping cough vaccine. This was followed by several Supreme Court decisions cementing a states right to create vaccination and school immunization laws regarding unvaccinated children and their ability to attend public and private schools. These decisions included the Jacobson v. Massachusetts decision of 1905 and a 1922 decision on a San Antonio, Texas case about a girl excluded from both public and private schools due to her lack of vaccination. Social call for change in the 1970’s called for the exclusion of unvaccinated children from schools to create quick improvement and controlled outbreak of a measles virus running rampant in the country. Thus after much legislative and social change on the subject of unvaccinated children’s exposure to

Caplan, Hoke, Diamond, & Karshenboyem (2012) examine whether it is legal to hold non-vaccinators responsible for any negative effects caused to another by not vaccinating. Caplan et al. (2012) describes a hypothetical scenario of a child’s death from contracting the mumps from an unvaccinated child. Caplan et al. (2012) conclude that parents can be held liable when a death occurs as a result of parents who chose not to vaccinate their child. In particular they discusses a stance New York state holds that it will charge a parent with neglect if a measles outbreak occurs and a child is not vaccinated. According to Caplan et al. (2012), the stance that New York state has taken demonstrates that the courts are willing to pursue more than just

While the anti-vaccination movement appears to be a present issue, it has roots in 1866 England. Immediately following the formation of The Parliament of England Compulsory Vaccination Act, anti-smallpox propaganda spread. The argument against mandatory vaccination was it was a way, “to steal away our medical liberties one by one,” (Cawkwell). To have a more unified message, they formed the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League. In four years it had about 10,000 members (Cawkwell). Pamphlets and periodicals were published throughout Britain to illuminate the issue of mandatory vaccination.

Modern day vaccination against disease was developed in 1796 when Edward Jenner inoculated a child for smallpox (Parent 's Guide to Childhood Immunizations 27). Controversy over vaccinations were alive in the early 1800’s also. In 1802 a British satirist made a cartoon depicting humans turning into cows from Mr. Jenner’s cowpox vaccine to prevent smallpox

First, in 1796, a doctor named Edward Jenner performed the very first vaccination. “Taking pus from a cowpox lesion on a milkmaid’s hand, Jenner inoculated an eight-year-old boy, James Phipps. Six weeks later Jenner variolated two sites on Phipps ' arm with smallpox, yet the boy was unaffected by this as well as subsequent exposures” (Minna & Markel, 2005)& (Cave, 2008). The first vaccination allowed people to recognize that it was beneficial for their health. It provided the base for the rest of the variations of vaccinations to come. Vaccinations began with the notion that it is rooted in the science of immunology. Throughout history, there have been many variations of this first vaccine for things such as small pox, mumps, malaria and guinea worm. (The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, n.d.)

To fully understand the argument for mandated vaccinations, it is important to understand how different States define the word, “mandate,” and the Supreme Court’s reasoning behind upholding vaccination laws. Many would associate the word “mandate” with an order or command, or something that signifies requirement or inexcusableness, but States’