Health Benefits Of Vaccination Research

Recent measles outbreaks in the United States are increasing and this suggests that herd immunity has been compromised. Parents seek exemptions for themselves and their children. As a result, growing populations of unvaccinated people are susceptible to outbreaks. States respond with more stringency in their mandated programs such as California’s SB 227. This type of legislation only allows for medical exemptions. This reactionary policy often incites libertarian opposition and religious dispute. But legislation can still promote the health of society while still promoting protected freedoms. Since children do not have a legal stance and a subjected to an infection prone environment (school), children require vaccination and this can be lawfully
The opportunity costs for a person to get vaccinated are not only price of the vaccination and health risks (very minor), but time is also a factor. If one raises the amount of time it takes to get exempted, then there will be less exemptions. Opel (2012) mentions this concept of creating obstacles for those vowing exemption. For example, Washington State adopted a law that forces people to be counseled by a physician if they want an exemption (Opel and Diekema 2012). Not only does this pose an inconveniency for free riders, but the law serves educational purposes in the process. As mentioned before, some families are still ignorant about the extremely low vaccine failure possibilities (non-scientific studies often lack legitimate evidence). Another solution could be a registration system. Adults requesting exemptions would register their claim with the government. Claims would either be granted or denied based on legitimacy. This would provide the government with coverage of unvaccinated populations and they can use registration information to construct future measures of coercion or
Mandates are essential to protecting the herd immunity and the lives of children. Aside from religious and medical exemptions, policy makers can curb adult dissent by creating more obstacles for exemptions or providing tax rebates. Furthering this study, one could examine the threat of unvaccinated immigrants and bypass coercion, especially since a good portion of VPDs have been eradicated. The airports could develop screening methods and mandated vaccination laws for immigrants could get passed. Since other countries might lack the resources for vaccine distribution or enforcement, the United States has to be on guard especially as the unvaccinated population rises and as some vaccines lose potency over time. Outbreaks have risen tremendously within the past decade. Hopefully reactionary policies such as SB 227 produce results instead of more