rumitoid

James Colgrove, Professor of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health; Dean of the Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program, Columbia School of General Studies, Columbia University
Fri, October 22, 2021, 6:39 AM
<span class="caption">Children and parents lined up for polio v*****es outside a Syracuse, New York school in 1961.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="link rapid-noclick-resp" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/LinedUpForPolioV*****e1961/4da7b3b42ecd4a68a089a5985f951f32/photo?Query=school%20v*****e&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:asc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1077&currentItemNo=9" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:AP Photo">AP Photo</a></span>
Children and parents lined up for polio v*****es outside a Syracuse, New York school in 1961. AP Photo

The ongoing battles over C****-** v******tion in the U.S. are likely to get more heated when the Food and Drug Administration authorizes emergency use of a v*****e for children ages 5 to 11, expected later this fall.

California has announced it will require the v*****e for elementary school attendance once it receives full FDA approval after e*******y use a***********n, and other states may follow suit. C****-** v******tion mandates in workplaces and colleges have sparked controversy, and the possibility that a mandate might extend to younger children is even more contentious.

Kids are already required to get a host of other v*****es to attend school. School v******tion mandates have been around since the 19th century, and they became a fixture in all 50 states in the 1970s. V*****e requirements are among the most effective means of controlling infectious diseases, but they’re currently under attack by small but vocal minorities of parents who consider them unacceptable intrusions on parental rights.

As a public health historian who studies the evolution of v******tion policies, I see stark differences between the current debates over C****-** v******tion and the public response to previous mandates.

The first legal requirements for v******tion date to the early 1800s, when gruesome and deadly diseases routinely terrorized communities. A loose patchwork of local and state laws were enacted to stop epidemics of smallpox, the era’s only v*****e-preventable disease.

V*****e mandates initially applied to the general population. But in the 1850s, as universal public education became more common, people recognized that schoolhouses were likely sites for the spread of disease. Some states and localities began enacting laws tying school attendance to v******tion. The smallpox v*****e was crude by today’s standards, and concerns about its safety led to numerous lawsuits over mandates.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld compulsory v******tion in two decisions. The first, in 1905, affirmed that mandates are constitutional. The second, in 1922, specifically upheld school-based requirements. In spite of these rulings, many states lacked a smallpox v******tion law, and some states that did have one failed to enforce it consistently. Few states updated their laws as new v*****es became available.

School v******tion laws underwent a major overhaul beginning in the 1960s, when health officials grew frustrated that outbreaks of measles were continuing to occur in schools even though a safe and effective v*****e had recently been licensed.

Many parents mistakenly believed that measles was an annoying but mild disease from which most kids quickly recovered. In fact, it often caused serious complications, including potentially fatal pneumonia and swelling of the brain.

With encouragement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, all states updated old laws or enacted new ones, which generally covered all seven childhood v*****es that had been developed by that time: diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps and rubella. In 1968, just half the states had school v******tion requirements; by 1981, all states did.

C****-** v******tion has become politicized in a way that is unprecedented, with sharp partisan divides over whether C****-** is really a threat, and whether the guidance of scientific experts can be trusted. The attention focused on C****-** v*****es has given new opportunities for anti-v******tion conspiracy theories to reach wide audiences.

Fierce opposition to C****-** v******tion, powered by anti-government sentiment and misguided notions of freedom, could undermine support for time-tested school requirements that have protected communities for decades. Although v******ting school-aged children will be critical to controlling C****-**, lawmakers will need to proceed with caution.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/parents-were-fine-sweeping-school-123913283.html

Cuda2020

The US is doing the worst world wide in controlling c***d, all due from what the right pushes out there, unbelievable.

microphor Loc: Home is TN

There is a big difference between a proven v*****e and a experimental v*****e. Anybody with a half of brain would know that.

Wonttakeitanymore

That was when v*****es were vaciines and actually prevented disease! Not fda bought approved!

Wonttakeitanymore

Downgraded to a cold also how many kids died? Real numbers!!

Wonttakeitanymore

That splains it!

Cuda2020

Its been EPA approved, no more excuses needed, but hey don't.

Liberty Tree

What is unbelievable are the lies and hypocrisy the left expects people to blindly accept.

Cuda2020

OO OW, I am so wounded...ugh more righty dull repertoire.

Cuda2020

Pure ignorance.

Cuda2020

The numbers are the proof, wake up and smell the coffee.

WinkyTink Loc: Hill Country, TX

Oh crap, I can’t smell anything. Guess I have the C***D. I’m running to my vet immediately. Do some Kung flu fighting!

Carol Kelly

The p******c from C***d is over.

Carol Kelly

I approve this message! Lol

Carol Kelly

You judge yourself correctly.