Kohr's Dilemmas

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).

An ethical consideration that is important to recognize is respect for persons. This means to respect others’ beliefs. If the individual cannot be vaccinated due to religion, then he or she has the right to opt out from the procedure with valid confirmation. This relates to the policy because one of the exemptions is religion. Also, if the person refuses to be vaccinated, then law enforcement cannot use physical violence to force the individual to be vaccinated.

I agree with Lantos, Jackson and Harrison (2012) that personal belief exemptions should not be allowed when it comes to vaccinating children. However, Opel and Diekema do make a good point about changing the way exemptions are made and could be a possibility in the future before completely. I do, however still believe that all parents try to make a choice based on the best interest of their child but in this circumstance they are not only choosing for their own child but are putting other children at risk in the process. This is what I don’t agree with. Many parents have said that it goes against their religious freedoms, or they don’t want to be forced to do something but I believe those are not good enough reasons unless the risks are outweighing the benefits through allergy or medical condition.

First of all, religion has become a frequently used excuse. Recently, a case arose in New York City when three families obtained vaccination exemptions due to religious reasons (NYC Court 1). Because they chose to not vaccinate their children, their children were not allowed to attend school during times when another student had a vaccine-preventable illness (NYC Court 1). Naturally, this sparked an uproar among the parents, who then sued the city by claiming it was a violation of their First Amendment right to religious freedom and their 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law (NYC Court 1). The dogma of several mainstream religions references vaccines and whether or not they are necessary. For example, “the Catholic Church strongly supports vaccination, even making it a moral and

Policy makers in response have considered different approaches to address the concern in societies, which include modifying the exceptions. The first approach is to eliminate the personal-belief exceptions concerning religious and cultural exceptions. The move is understood to contribute to decreased incident of exemption rates which has proved to be a real challenge. Furthermore, people wishing to exempt themselves from the vaccination should be made aware of the implication of their decision. The reform includes engaging in broad consultation with health practitioners or other government agencies who are more informed on the matter. The

Choosing to vaccinate or not vaccinate children has become a large topic of contention between parents and medical personnel. Rates of non-medical vaccine exemptions for children entering public school continue to increase across the country. This increase has coincided with a resurgence in outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, or VPDs (Lynfield, 2014, p.1). There are a variety of reasons why a family might apply for a non-medical exemption and the validity of these exemptions varies from state to state. Regardless of the justifiability of an exemption, growing numbers of non-vaccinated children entering school will increase the prevalence and mortality from VPDs (Lynfield, 2014, p.2).

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

Likewise, some people should not receive vaccinations. These individuals should not receive vaccinations due to their age, health conditions, among other factors. These other conditions are independent depending on the type of vaccination received. “They can range from an individual who cannot swallow, to a pregnant woman, to a person with a life-threatening allergy, to a component in the vaccination” (Hales 543). A small percentage of individuals do not respond to a particular vaccine. ”All states provide medical exemptions, and some state laws also offer exemptions for religious and philosophical reasons” (State Vaccination Requirements). “Some religions even prevent certain parents from vaccinating their children because of their belief that the disease is a naturally occurring thing and humans have no right interfering with it” (Hales 544). However, most state laws establish vaccination requirements for school children. These laws apply to public schools, private schools, and day care centers. “State laws also establish mechanisms for enforcement of school vaccination requirements” (State Vaccination Requirement). “Vaccines save

Throughout the U.S., individualism is greatly promoted. Individualism has allowed our country to moved forward in many, many ways. It has brought about many topics that are controversial due to clashing mindsets. One of the topics that has been heavily debated upon are vaccinations. Vaccinations have been given throughout time in order to make the person receiving the vaccination immune to a disease or to improve their current health condition. Many religions, however, don 't approve of vaccinations or injecting anything in to the body. These religions range from non-theistic religions like Buddhism to monotheistic religions like Christianity. Among religions that disagree are people who have personal issues with vaccinations. These reasons can range from being a vegan to just being against medicine. Whether someone disagrees with receiving a vaccination based on religion or personal belief, their choice should be protected at all costs. I believe that the U.S. should respect an individuals choice on this topic and not only continue to respect non-medical exemptions, but expand their current acceptance of non-medical exemptions across all fifty states. To do this, I recommend that the law that is in place currently, should be put in place in all fifty states to protect the citizens who are choosing to not receive a vaccination, no matter what their choice is based on.

Millions of lives have been saved thanks to a global effort to vaccinate for deadly diseases. Peter Yeo reports “Immunizations have saved more children than any other medical intervention in the last 50 years” (Reforming the U.N. 118). Yet, a new trend for parents is opting out of vaccinating their children for personal beliefs or religious exemptions. Although, the majority of Americans believe vaccines protect children, and conclusive evidence has proven vaccines can prevent the spread of deadly diseases. Still, a few parents believe vaccinating children is not essential for their health, additionally, they believe an increase in mandatory vaccines has insufficient scientific research to prevent serious medical side effects.

Schools in the United States require that before children can attend school, they will have to provide the school with records of what vaccinations they have had. If parents can’t provide that information or doesn’t approve vaccines, the child can’t attend public school. Families that don’t support vaccinations feel that this is an attack against their first amendment to follow their religious beliefs. The existence of court cases that address these problems have only set some parts of the issue straight, but still hasn’t resolved the overall issue because there are so many different situations.

Most of us, normally go to the doctor every year or so, they tell us we need a vaccination, we get the shot and go on with or day. For some people, they disagree. They believe that vaccinations are taking away their freedom and rights. They also believe that their children shouldn't get vaccinations which cause them to be prone to many different diseases and viruses. The only reason that people are allowed to do this is because of the current law that states, in california, people can exempt themselves from vaccination for medical, religious, and philosophical reasons. The benefit to all this i believe to be miniscule, but again, the ten percent who believe otherwise would disagree.

On my commute home, I read the Metro newspaper. One of the articles discussed NYC schools and their vaccination rates. I found that NYC schools had 98% vaccination rate overall. I already knew getting vaccinated is important, but I realize that if a child didn't a shot they aren't allowed in a school. The article supplied details pertaining to the ages at which vaccinations are required; 2 months to 18 years. As I read the article, it reminded me of a show I watched a few years ago where these people from this church wouldn't let the ambulance in because they didn't believe in medicine. The article mentioned this as well, saying, in some states, someone's religious or even philosophical beliefs don't exempt their child from getting vaccinations.

For many parents, having their child start school or day care is a scary experience. There are so many schools to choose from, so many teachers to background check, and endless amounts of supplies to get. One important part of school, and one that is often overlooked, is the vaccinations required to enter most public and private schools. Many schools require that children have a certain number of doses for certain viruses and diseases before they can be enrolled (“School”). In the past, this was an easy decision to make. Kids are protected from viruses, and can go to the school of their choosing. In recent years, this has become a bit of an issue. Many parents are deciding to discontinue having the vaccines administered, or skipped it altogether. Some parents are all for the vaccines, while others are totally against them. It leads to an issue on whether schools should legally require students to be vaccinated to attend school. Some believe it should be mandatory before that child is put in close quarters with other children, while other believe it should be up to the parents whether the child is administered vaccines or not. As of now, most students are required to be vaccinated, with exception for religious reasons. The question to address is whether the vaccines should be mandatory for everyone, or if parents should be allowed to opt out of the vaccines, regardless of the reason.

Today, it seems as if more and more parents are choosing to not vaccinate their children. Instead, these parents seem to be circumventing the mandate by utilizing, sometimes arbitrarily, the exemptions carved out by the states. But the growing number of unvaccinated children and the amount of outbreaks of preventable infectious diseases present some legal issues. One of which is the continued tension between the rights of parents and the government’s interest in the welfare of children.