Mandatory Vaccinations: Precedent and Current Laws

Resource Information

The work Mandatory Vaccinations: Precedent and Current Laws represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Boston University Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Mandatory Vaccinations: Precedent and Current Laws

Contributor

• LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WASHINGTON DC CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE
• Welborn, Angie A

Subject

• Children
• Corynebacterium diphtheriae
• Emergencies
• Federal law
• History
• Immunization
• Infectious diseases
• Medicine and Medical Research
• Poliomyelitis
• Protection
• Public health
• Regulations
• Requirements
• Rubella
• Sociology and Law
• State government
• State law
• United states government
• Variola virus

Language

eng

Summary

This report discusses the history legal precedent for mandatory vaccination laws and provides a brief overview of state laws that require certain individuals or populations to be vaccinated against various communicable diseases. State laws include those requiring children to be vaccinated before they enroll in a public or private school and laws providing for mandatory vaccinations during a public health emergency or outbreak of a communicable disease. In addition to the current laws, many states are considering or have considered the provisions set forth in the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act. The Model Act addresses a number of issues likely to arise during a public health emergency and offers guidelines for states with respect to what powers may be necessary during such an emergency. Under the Model Act, during a public health emergency the public health authority would be authorized to "vaccinate persons as protection against infectious disease and to prevent the spread of contagious or possibly contagious disease." Under the Public Health Service Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services has the authority to make and enforce regulations necessary "to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the States or possessions, or from one State or possession into any other State or possession." Generally, federal regulations authorizing the apprehension, detention, examination, or conditional release of individuals are applicable only to individuals coming into a State or possession from a foreign country or a possession. This limitation on federal jurisdiction acknowledges that states have the primary responsibility for protecting the public health, but under certain circumstances, federal intervention may be necessary. This report will be updated as warranted

Cataloging source

DTICE

Index

no index present

Literary form

non fiction