Compulsory Vaccination, the Constitution, and the Hepatitis B Mandate for Infants and Young Children

May 20, 2020 in News by RBN Staff

 

By YALE JOURNAL OF HEALTH POLICY, LAW, AND ETHICS

Source: Digital Commons

[EXCERPT:]


INTRODUCTION
The federal government today recommends that all children between birth and age eighteen years receive seventy doses of sixteen vaccines.[1] Of these recommended vaccines, the majority of states mandate between thirty and fortyfive vaccine doses for children to be able to attend school.[2] Forty-seven states require preschool-age children to receive three doses of the hepatitis B vaccine to attend public school.[3] The federal government recommends that infants receive their first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine shortly after birth, while they are in the hospital.[4] The disease hepatitis B today affects approximately 730,000 people in the United States.[5] Hepatitis B is usually a chronic disease for which there is no known cure; it can lead to severe liver disease and death.[6] People spread the disease through intimate contact, primarily through sex and shared intravenous drug use.[7] The vaccine has demonstrated efficacy in checking the spread of the disease among the at risk population.[8] So what is the medical rationale for the hepatitis B vaccination mandate for  very young children? What legal requirements must a state meet to enable it to impose such a mandate? To what extent have the legal requirements for vaccination mandates changed over time? Do states today meet the constitutional requirements for the hepatitis B vaccination mandate for very young children? These are the questions that this Article explores.

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  1. Recommended Immunization Schedule for Persons Aged 0 Through 6 Years-United States, 2011, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION, http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/ downloads/child/0-6yrs-schedule-bw.pdf (last visited Nov. 9, 2011); Recommended Immunization Schedule for Persons Aged 7 Through 18 Years-United States, 2011, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION, http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/downloads/child/7-18yrsschedule-pr.pdf (last visited Nov. 28, 2011).
  2. See Hepatitis B Prevention Mandates for Daycare and K-12, IMMUNIZATION ACTION COALITION, http://www.immunize.org/laws (last updated May 26, 2011) (showing vaccination mandates by state). While the Coalition is solely responsible for the website, its information is based on government sources, and the website is funded in part by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

  3. Id. (showing that only Alabama, Montana, and South Dakota have no hepatitis B mandates for daycare or school).

  4. Ctrs. for Disease Control & Prevention, A Comprehensive Immunization Strategy To Eliminate Transmission of Hepatitis B Virus Infection in the United States: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) Part I: Immunization of Infants, Children and Adolescents, 54 MORBIDITY & MORTALITY WKLY. REP., Dec. 23, 2005, at 1, 15, available at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5416al.htm.

  5. Annemarie Wasley et al., The Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus Infection in the United States in the Era of Vaccination, 202 J. INFECTIOUS DISEASES 192 (2010).

  6. Hepatitis B Information for the Public, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION, http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/B (last updated Mar. 12, 2009).

  7. Ctrs. for Disease Control & Prevention, supra note 4.

  8. Ctrs. for Disease Control & Prevention, Hepatitis B Virus: A Comprehensive Strategy for Eliminating Transmission in the United States Through Universal Childhood Vaccination: Recommendations of the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (ACIP), 40 MORBIDITY & MORTALITY WKLY. REP., Nov. 22, 1991, at 1, 2, available at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/ mmwrhtmli/00033405.htm. 41 3 Holland: Compulsory Vaccination, the Constitution, and the Hepatitis B Mandate for Infants and Young Children Published by Yale Law School Legal Scholarship Repository, 2012 YALE JOURNAL OF HEALTH POLICY, LAW, AND ETHICS


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