Over the past decade, rising attention to vaccine hesitancy and NMEs has prompted several state legislatures to introduce, consider, and in some cases enact new exemption laws. Understanding the spatial and social patterning of NMEs is therefore critical to infectious disease prevention and control efforts. Where NME rates are high enough to compromise herd immunity at the local level, the risk of vaccine-preventable disease outbreak increases. Furthermore, NMEs from school-entry immunization mandates are receiving increased policy and public health scrutiny because exemption rates within and across schools have significant epidemiological implications. 3,7 This increase in vaccine hesitancy can be seen at the point of school entry in the rising rates of NMEs. 4,5 Although some have argued that NMEs should not be allowed because parents who choose not to immunize their children put their own children and others at risk, 6 others believe that the negative consequences of exemption are not sufficient to justify violating parental autonomy.Īs concerns about vaccine safety have increased over the past 15 years, more parents are choosing to refuse or delay vaccines. NMEs are considered an important mechanism to balance child welfare and the protection of public health with parental rights. 3 Exemption laws in all but 2 states (Mississippi and West Virginia) also provide for nonmedical exemptions (NMEs) on the basis of parents’ religious, philosophical, or personal beliefs. 1,2 However, all states also allow medical exemptions for those children unable to receive vaccines for medically contraindicated reasons. 1,2 Recognizing the public health importance of the childhood immunization schedule, all 50 US states require parents to provide documentation of immunization for admission to school and day care, a mandate that has been crucial for achieving widespread vaccination. They reduce the risk of contracting dangerous vaccine-preventable childhood diseases on the individual level and, when immunization coverage is high enough, confer herd immunity at the population level for those diseases that are contagious. Childhood vaccinations are one of the most significant public health interventions of all time.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |