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Megan Nethercutt
Rogers
Government 4
October 22, 2015
Mandatory Vaccination Bill
Is vaccinating my child for Measles safe? This seems to be a question that many
parents are asking in todays generation. In earlier years, vaccinating your child wasnt such a
controversial topic. Parents followed the advice of their physician and went ahead with most
vaccinations. In even earlier times, since vaccines were not yet discovered, the only way to
become immune was to contract the disease and survive it. Today is a different story; many
parents are faced with conflicting information that makes them more skeptical of vaccinations.
Due to this, parents are sending their children to school without the recommended vaccinations
causing unnecessary outbreaks of Measles all around the United States. This is exactly what
needs to be prevented. The Measles vaccination shouldnt be recommended, it should be
mandatory. The solution is to remove religious exemptions, limit medical exemptions, and
reduce the probability of herd outbreaks.
Personal or religious exemptions endanger the lives of everyone, even if you have had a
vaccination. While there is precedent for religious freedoms, it is also established law that
religious freedoms do not trump population at a whole. In an article referenced in the CDCs
website, Professors Malone and Hinman referenced the courts decision in the 1944 US
Supreme Court case of Prince v. Massachusetts, the court noted;

Neither rights of religion nor rights of parenthood are beyond limitation. Acting to guard
the general interest in youths well being, the state as parens patriae may restrict the

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parents control by requiring school attendance, regulating or prohibiting the childs

labor, and in many other ways. Its authority is not nullified merely because the parent
grounds his claim to control the childs course of conduct on religion or conscience.
Thus, he cannot claim freedom from compulsory vaccination for the child more than for
himself on religious grounds. The right to practice religion freely does not include liberty
to expose the community or the child to communicable disease or the latter to ill health
or death,(Malone).
What the court is saying is that when a parent decides to put not only the child at risk, but the
greater whole, states have the right to step in and take charge of the situation. When it comes to
the protection of the population as a whole, individuals do not have the right to jeopardize the
health of others. Vaccines are not 100% effective for every person that receives them. Because of
this, the greater the population that is vaccinated, the better the chances of preventing an
outbreak from spreading. In 2015, an outbreak of Measles occurred at Disneyland Anaheim,
California. An unvaccinated 11 year old child started the outbreak when he visited Disneyland
with a visible rash. A total of 125 Measles cases were then reported after people had attended
Disneyland during the times of December 28, 2014-February 8, 2015. [Out of 110 Californians
that contracted Measles] 25% were intentionally unvaccinated because of personal
beliefs,(Zipprich). A staggering 55% of people that contracted Measles were vaccinated,
showing that the small 25% put the vaccinated population at a great risk. Allowing people
exemptions, causes even vaccinated people to become infected.
Although religious exemptions should not be allowed, medical exceptions will be
allowed on a limited basis to protect persons with permanent and temporary medical reasoning.
There will be no exceptions except for a prior medical condition that is validated by a licensed
medical physician. According to the National Vaccine Information Center, some states accept a

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doctors written medical vaccine exemption without question, but other states allow state public
health officials to review the medical exemption request and revoke it if officials do not think it
is justified because it does not conform to CDC vaccine contraindication guidelines,(Vaccine
Law Information - NVIC). Contraindication is a condition or factor that serves as a reason to
withhold certain medical treatments due to the harm that it would cause the patient. No person
should be forced to receive a vaccine if it is known that it will cause them harm. Even the CDC
recognizes that there are factors that increase health risks associated with receiving the vaccine.
They state that some reasons not to vaccinate are, 1)[people that have had] a severe allergic
reaction to a previous dose, or to a vaccine; 2) known severe immunodeficiency; 3)
pregnancy,(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Medical exemptions are put into place
to protect the few people that will be harmed if they receive the vaccine. By protecting the
people who cant receive the vaccine, there is a better chance of being able to protect the herd.
Herd outbreaks are becoming more and more likely with a decreasing number of parents
choosing to vaccinate their children. A herd outbreak occurs when a critical number of the
community isnt vaccinated. This makes it more likely for the herd to become infected with the
disease. According to epidemiologists, the immunity threshold needed to protect a community
(from Measles) is high at 95%,(Willingham). This is in large part due to the fact that Measles is
so easily spread; measles is airborne. If a person who hasnt been vaccinated comes in contact
with a person who has contracted the disease and breathes the same air, they are highly likely to
also contract Measles, thus leading to a potential epidemic. Many people in a community depend
on the idea of herd immunity. In a presentation by Dr. and medical researcher Romina Libster,
she said, Those that cannot receive a vaccination due to medical conditions or otherwise stated
by their medial physician become indirectly protected from the disease when a higher percentage

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of the community is vaccinated, (The Power of Herd Immunity). By receiving a vaccination

you are not only protecting yourself, but also protecting the community as a whole.
Then there is the other side of the argument. Some parents may choose to argue they
dont want to vaccinate their children due to beliefs that they do more harm than good. They
believe that vaccines can cause serious side effects and that they can contain harmful ingredients.
This, however, is not true. In a 2013 study conducted by the CDC, results showed, No evidence
indicating an association between exposure to antibody-stimulating proteins and polysaccharides
contained in vaccines during the first 2 years of life and the risk of acquiring AD, or ASD with
regression,(DeStefano). There is no correlation between the Measles vaccine and Autism.
Parental claims that are made associated with concerns about their children increasing their risks
of Autism are not accurate. Another claim often made by parents choosing to not vaccinate their
children is they say that vaccines dont necessarily prevent the disease. Again, this is something
that can be proven wrong. From 1968 to 1997, reported measles cases dropped significantly.

Source: CDC National Vaccine Program Office: The Effectiveness of

Immunizations." CDC National Vaccine Program Office: The
Effectiveness of Immunizations. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.

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Samples collected through these years prove that vaccines are efficient and helped reduce the
number of reported cases. Continued prevention of Measles, could one day eliminate the odds of
there being any chance of future outbreaks.
In conclusion, vaccines not only help protect and prevent, but they also help protect the
future generations to come. How nice would it be to have your children be born into a world
where diseases such as the Measles were completely abolished? By taking the necessary steps
and getting your family and children vaccinated for Measles, this hope could one day be a reality.
By eliminating religious exemptions and limiting medical exemptions we can begin to watch the
percentage of protection for the herd increase. It is not without everyones participation in this
momentous endeavor that we can continue to eliminate the possibilities of future widespread out
breaks.

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Works Cited
CDC National Vaccine Program Office: The Effectiveness of Immunizations." CDC National
Vaccine Program Office: The Effectiveness of Immunizations. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct.
2015. < http://archive.hhs.gov/nvpo/concepts/intro6.htm>
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 03 Feb.
2015. Web. 10 Oct. 2015. < http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/imz/adultcontraindications-shell.html>
DeStefano, Frank, Cristofer S. Price, and Eric S. Weintraub. Increasing Exposure to AntibodyStimulating Proteins and Polysaccharides in Vaccines Is Not Associated with Risk of
Autism. Rep. Vol. 13. N.p.: Journal of Pediatrics, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(13)00144-3/pdf?ext=.pdf>
Malone, Kevin M., and Alan R. Hinman. "Vaccination Mandates: The Public Health Imperative
and Individual Rights." Chapter 13 - Vaccination Mandates: The Public Health
Imperative and Individual Rights - (n.d.): n. pag. CDC. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.
The Power of Herd Immunity. Perf. Romina Libster. Ted Talks, 2014.
"Vaccine Law Information - NVIC." National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC). N.p., n.d.
Web. 01 Nov. 2015. < http://www.nvic.org/vaccine-laws.aspx>
Willingham, Emily, and Laura Helft. "What Is Herd Immunity?" PBS. PBS, 05 Sept. 2014. Web.
01 Nov. 2015. < http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/herd-immunity.html>
Zipprich, Jennifer, Kathleen Winter, Jill Hacker, Dongxiang Xia, James Watt, and Kathleen
Harriman. "Measles Outbreak California, December 2014February 2015." Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20 Feb.
2015. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6406a5.htm >