Category Archives: Legislation

Immunization Mandates do not Discriminate

“Anti-vaccine activists have been claiming that statutes abolishing exemptions from school immunization requirements – like SB277 in California – are discriminatory. This post explains why this claim is wrong in both its form: school immunization requirements without exemptions are neither discrimination nor segregation.”

 

http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/immunization-requirements-neither-discriminate-nor-segregate/

CALIFORNIA SB 277 VACCINE LEGISLATION PROTECTS CHILDREN

“Two bills are currently proposed in California that may dramatically affect vaccination rates. Anti-vaccine activists have mobilized against them. We, the majority of vaccinating parents, need to do the same, speak up and make our preferences known. Say clearly that we will no longer have a preventable risk of disease forced on our children, ourselves, and other family members and friends by a minority. And we can. ”

 

 

http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/california-sb-277-vaccine-legislation-protects-children/

Informed Consent and School Immunization Requirements

“Several people have asked me whether having school mandates is in tension with the idea of informed consent. The answer is no. While school mandates have some effect on parental autonomy, the doctrine of informed consent should not be conflated with autonomy.

For a somewhat different reason, imposing sanctions on those who do not vaccinate is also not a violation of informed consent.”

 

http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/immunization-requirements-neither-discriminate-nor-segregate/

Article: Tools for dealing with Childhood Vaccination Crisis

Responding to the Childhood Vaccination Crisis: Legal Frameworks and Tools in the Context of Parental Vaccine Refusal


Dorit Rubinstein Reiss


University of California Hastings College of the Law

Lois A. Weithorn


University of California Hastings College of the Law

March 4, 2015

Buffalo Law Review, Vol.63, August 2015, Forthcoming
UC Hastings Research Paper No. 134 


Abstract: 

In spite of vaccines’ impressive record of safety and effectiveness, some families have failed to immunize their children, denying those children protection against vaccine-preventable diseases. In the last years, rates of nonvaccination, as well as rates of partial adherence to vaccination schedules, have been increasing. Predictably, this has led to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. This article examines potential legal responses to this crisis. It sets out the legal framework governing childhood vaccination policies, highlighting the strength of governmental authority when the state’s police power to protect the public health and its parens patriae authority to protect the health of children and other vulnerable members of society converge, as they do in this context. After describing the phenomenon of nonvaccination, the reasons leading to parental refusals and the effects of those refusals, the article provides a menu of legal tools that can be used to improve vaccination rates.

 

 

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2574001