Page 48 - Summer2015

According Anyone concerned about mandatory vac- endangered by epidemics of disease' (197 U.S.

to the CDC, cination should read this document, posted at at 37, 25 S.Ct. at 366). The Court elaborated on
the tension between personal freedom and public
cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-managers/guides-pubs/
court downloads/vacc_mandates_chptr13.pdf. The health inherent in liberty: 'The liberty secured
decisions not underlying premise is the germ theory of disease, by the Constitution of the United States to every
only allow with no acknowledgment of the role that sanita- person within its jurisdiction does not import an
tion and good nutrition play in protecting us from absolute right in each person to be, at all times
states to illness. Public health authorities seem unable to and in all circumstances, wholly freed from
require question the notion that only vaccinations can restraint. There are manifold restraints to which
vaccinations, protect us against disease. every person is necessarily subject for the com-
mon good. On any other basis organized society
but give them POLICE POWER could not exist with safety to its members' (197
police According to the CDC, court decisions not U.S. at 26, 25 S.Ct. at 361).”
powers to only allow states to require vaccinations, but give Actually, Jacobson v. Massachuseetts did
them police powers to enforce them. On page not force the vaccine―it allowed the person
enforce them. 271 of the aforementioned document we read: to pay a fine of five dollars (about one hundred
“The first state law mandating vaccination was twenty-five dollars in today's money) for refus-
enacted in Massachusetts in 1809; in 1855, Mas- ing. However, CDC and other agencies interpret
sachusetts became the first state to enact a school this legal decision as allowing doctors and public
vaccination requirement. The constitutional basis health officials to overlook the terrible side ef-
of vaccination requirements rests in the police fects of vaccines as necessary for “the greater
power of the state. Nearly one hundred years good.”
ago, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark
ruling in Jacobson v. Massachusetts, upholding SCHOOL VACCINATION LAWS
the right of states to compel vaccination. The Regarding vaccination as a requirement for
Court held that a health regulation requiring school attendance, the CDC document states on
smallpox vaccination was a reasonable exercise page 272: “The Supreme Court in 1922 addressed
of the state's police power that did not violate the the constitutionality of childhood vaccination
liberty rights of individuals under the Fourteenth requirements in Zucht v. King. The Court denied
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The police a due process Fourteenth Amendment chal-
power is the authority reserved to the states by lenge to the constitutionality of city ordinances
the Constitution and embraces 'such reasonable that excluded children from school attendance
regulations established directly by legislative for failure to present a certificate of vaccina-
enactment as will protect the public health and tion holding that 'these ordinances confer not
the public safety' (197 U.S. at 25,25 S.Ct at 361). arbitrary power, but only that broad discretion
“In Jacobson, the commonwealth of Mas- required for the protection of the public health'”
sachusetts had enacted a statute that authorized (260 U.S. at 177, 43 S.Ct. at 25).
local boards of health to require vaccination. “More recently, in the face of a measles
Jacobson challenged his conviction for refusal epidemic in Maricopa County, Arizona, the
to be vaccinated against smallpox as required by Arizona Court of Appeals rejected the argument
regulations of the Cambridge Board of Health. that an individual's right to education would
While acknowledging the potential for vac- trump the state's need to protect against the
cines to cause adverse events and the inability spread of infectious disease short of confirmed
to determine with absolute certainty whether a cases of measles in the particular school. Given
particular person can be safely vaccinated, the the nature of the spread of measles and the lag
Court specifically rejected the idea of an exemp- time in getting laboratory confirmation of cases,
tion based on personal choice. To do otherwise the court in Maricopa County Health Depart-
'would practically strip the legislative department ment v. Harmon was satisfied that it is prudent
of its function to [in its considered judgment] care to take action to combat disease by excluding
for the public health and the public safety when unvaccinated children from school when there
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