Mandatory Vaccination Mandatory

The questions of whether vaccination should be mandatory and what government entity has the power to legislate vaccinations are hotly debated. The ruling of Jacobson v. Massachusetts gave power to the states to enact vaccination laws, which means that only individual states can mandate vaccines.Some people worry the federal government may mandate widespread vaccinations in the face of an epidemic, however, the government currently does not have the power to do so. All states have mandatory vaccination laws for school children that include limited exemptions for religious, medical, or philosophical beliefs. In 2014 there was an outbreak of measles that affected nearly 150 people in California. After this outbreak had occurred the state decided
to pass a bill the following year that ended vaccine exemptions for religious and personal beliefs. Many people may believe that making vaccines mandatory is dangerous and should not be done but other people believe that vaccines are necessary to protect themselves and others.