A debate has started on whether or not vaccinations should be mandatory in order to preserve the health of the nation. This website is dedicated to informing visitors on the background of the topic, the ethics of the topic in question, and my recommendations on vaccinations.

It is important to be able to make an informed decision about vaccinations because the choice to opt-in or opt-out affects a whole community. This is due to a concept called herd immunity, which supports the idea that if a massive amount of people are immunized from a disease, a communal protection from the disease is developed by reduced number of susceptible people.

Some people do not have the choice to opt-in or opt-out because of medical reasons such as immune disfunction or allergies. These people rely on herd immunity to protect them from diseases for which they cannot receive immunizations. As members of a community, we have an obligation to prevent diseases by getting vaccinated if we are able. By doing this, each person is contributing to the health of the community in which they belong.

 

Herd Immunity

For more on Herd Immunity Studies: Click here

 

Legal Stance on Vaccinations

The preservation of public health has traditionally been regarded as primarily the responsibility of state and local governments, and the authority to enact laws relevant to the protection of the public health derives from the states’ general police powers. With regard to communicable disease outbreaks, these powers may include the enactment of mandatory vaccination laws. The Supreme Court has upheld the power of states to institute a mandatory vaccination program as an exercise of its police powers.²⁷ In Jacobson v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Supreme Court upheld a state law that gave municipal boards of health the authority to require the vaccination of persons over the age of 21 against smallpox, and determined that the vaccination program had “a real and substantial relation to the protection of the public health and safety.”²⁸ In upholding the law, the Court noted that “the police power of a State must be held to embrace, at least, such reasonable regulations established directly by legislative enactment as will protect the public health and the public safety.”²⁹

The Measles: Background and Federal Role in Vaccine Policy. (2015, February 09). Retrieved from https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R43899.html

 

Center for Disease Control

Check out the CDC’s website for more information on vaccinations here.

For parents: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/index.html

For Vaccine Safety Research : https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/research/index.html

For more information on specific vaccines: Immunization Action Coalition