Should Vacination be Made Mandatory to Enter School?

Eradication is the concept that illness is completely eliminated in a certain area. (Carter n.d.) Up to now, only one infectious disease has been classified as global eradication (CDC 2010). How does this eradication happen? From 1958 to 1965, all 50 states enacted a law requiring school-aged children to receive a small pox vaccine (University of Philadelphia). Therefore, by 1971, the United States has not reported cases of small pox over the past 20 years. The last case of smallpox in the world was Somalia in 1977 (CDC 2010).

"Can children enroll in a compulsory vaccine?" By using vaccines such as measles, pertussis, polio, rubella, many diseases can be prevented. In the United States, Massachusetts became the first province to obligate children to vaccinate at the time of enrollment in 1855. Since then, each state has added or revised various requirements of immunization programs. However, there are various exemptions to overcome immunization such as religious reasons and treatment.

Many countries require citizens to receive specific vaccinations. In the United States, according to state law, essential vaccination such as vaccine for children under school is stipulated. The controversy over the effectiveness, safety, and morality of forced vaccination arises from two different goals, namely the long-term tension between the protection of individual freedoms and the protection of public health. More than 100 years ago, the US Supreme Court first discussed personal and public health priorities. In Jacobson and Massachusetts, Cambridge residents refused to vaccinate the smallpox vaccine as they believed that the law infringed the right to know their body best. The court dismissed Jakobson's challenge. This revolutionary 1905 ruling is the basis for domestic actions to limit the freedom of individuals to protect public health.