Eliminating nonmedical exemptions: a radical shift in how childhood vaccine mandates govern

References

• Funk C, Tyson A, Kennedy B, et al. Americans’ largely positive views of childhood vaccines hold steady. Pew Research Center. 2023 May 16 [cited 2023 May 23] Available from: https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2023/05/16/americans-largely-positive-views-of-childhood-vaccines-hold-steady/
   Google Scholar
• Orenstein WA, Hinmanb AR. The immunization system in the United States - the role of school immunization laws. Vaccine. 1999;17:19–24. doi: 10.1016/S0264-410X(99)00290-X
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Mello MM, Studdert DM, Parmet WE. Shifting vaccination politics – the end of personal-belief exemptions in California. N Engl J Med. 2015;373(9):785–787. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1508701
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Attwell K, Hannah A. Convergence on coercion: functional and political pressures as drivers of global childhood vaccine mandates. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2022;11(11):2660–2671. doi: 10.34172/ijhpm.2022.6518
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• McDonald P, Limaye RJ, Omer SB, et al. Exploring California’s new law eliminating personal belief exemptions to childhood vaccines and vaccine decision-making among homeschooling mothers in California. Vaccine. 2019;37(5):742–750. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.12.018
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Patel KM, McFadden SM, Mohanty S, et al. Evaluation of trends in homeschooling rates after elimination of nonmedical exemptions to childhood immunizations in California, 2012-2020. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(2):1–10. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.46467
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Buttenheim AM, Jones M, McKown C, et al. Conditional admission, religious exemption type, and nonmedical vaccine exemptions in California before and after a state policy change. Vaccine. 2018;36(26):3789–3793. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.05.050
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Mohanty S, Buttenheim AM, Joyce CM, et al. Experiences with medical exemptions after a change in vaccine exemption policy in California. Pediatrics. 2018;142(5):e20181051. doi: 10.1542/peds.2018-1051
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Mohanty S, Buttenheim AM, Joyce CM, et al. California’s senate bill 277: local health jurisdictions’ experiences with the elimination of nonmedical vaccine exemptions. Am J Public Health. 2019;109(1):96–101. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304768
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• AAP Committee on Practice and Ambulatory Medicine ACoID, AAP Committee on State Government Affairs, AAP Council on School Health, AAP Section on Administration and Practice Management Medical Versus Nonmedical Immunization Exemptions For Child Care And School Attendance. Pediatrics. 2016;138(3):1–5. doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-2145
   Google Scholar
• Conis E. The history of the personal belief exemption. Pediatrics. 2020;145(4):1–3. doi: 10.1542/peds.2019-2551.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Rosen G. A history of public health. 2nd ed ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press; 2015.
   Google Scholar
• Colgrove J. The ethics and politics of compulsory HPV vaccination. N Engl J Med. 2006;355(23):2389–2391. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp068248
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Snowden FM. Epidemics and society: from the black death to the present. New Haven: Yale University Press; 2019.
   Google Scholar
• Conis E. Vaccine nation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 2015.
   Google Scholar
• Altenbaugh RJ. Vaccination in America. Medical science and children’s welfare. London: Palgrave Macmillan; 2018. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-96349-5
   Google Scholar
• Salmon DA, Teret SP, MacIntyre CR, et al. Compulsory vaccination and conscientious or philosophical exemptions: past, present, and future. Lancet. 2006;367(9508):436–442. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68144-0
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Colgrove J Parents were fine with sweeping school vaccination mandates five decades ago - but COVID-19 may be a different story. The Conversation. 2021 Oct 22 [cited 2023 Feb 14]. Available from:https://theconversation.com/parents-were-fine-with-sweeping-school-vaccination-mandates-five-decades-ago-but-covid-19-may-be-a-different-story-168899
   Google Scholar
• Colgrove J, Lowin A. A tale of two states: Mississippi, west virginia, and exemptions to compulsory school vaccination laws. Health Affairs. 2016;35(2):348–355. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2015.1172
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• McCoy CA. Adapting coercion: how three industrialized nations manufacture vaccination compliance. J Health Polit Policy Law. 2019;44(6):823–854. doi: 10.1215/03616878-7785775
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hinman A. Position paper. Pediatr Res. 1979;13:689–696. doi: 10.1203/00006450-197905001-00007
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Colgrove JK. State of immunity: the politics of vaccination in twentieth-century America. Berkeley: University of California Press; 2006.
   Google Scholar
• Conis E, Kuo J. Historical origins of the personal belief exemption to vaccination mandates: the view from California. J Hist Med Allied Sci. 2021;76(2):167–190. doi: 10.1093/jhmas/jrab003
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Attwell K, Navin MC. Childhood vaccination mandates: scope, sanctions, severity, selectivity, and salience. Milbank Q. 2019;97(4):978–1014. doi: 10.1111/1468-0009.12417
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Summerhays A, Ulmer S Federal judge issues ruling requiring state to offer religious exemption for vaccines. Magnolia Tribune. 2023 Apr 17 [cited 2023 May 23]. Available from: https://magnoliatribune.com/2023/04/17/federal-judge-issues-ruling-requiring-state-to-offer-religious-exemption-for-vaccines/
   Google Scholar
• Leask J. Target the fence-sitters. Nature. 2011;473(7348):443–445. doi: 10.1038/473443a
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kennedy A, LaVail K, Nowak G, et al. Confidence About Vaccines in the United States: understanding Parents. Perceptions Health Affairs. 2011;30(6):1151–1159. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0396
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Brennan JM, Bednarczyk RA, Richards JL, et al. Trends in personal belief exemption rates among alternative private schools: Waldorf, Montessori, and holistic Kindergartens in California, 2000-2014. Am J Public Health. 2017;107(1):108–112. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2016.303498
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gaudino JA, Robison S. Risk factors associated with parents claiming personal-belief exemptions to school immunization requirements: community and other influences on more skeptical parents in Oregon, 2006. Vaccine. 2012;30(6):1132–1142. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2011.12.006
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Omer SB, Peterson D, Curran EA, et al. Legislative challenges to school immunization mandates, 2009-2012. J Am Med Assoc. 2014;311(6):620–621. doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.282869
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Goldstein ND, Suder JS, Purtle J. Trends and characteristics of proposed and enacted state legislation on childhood vaccination exemption, 2011–2017. Am J Public Health. 2019;109(1):102. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304765
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Thakar E. God bless texas: should texas eliminate the vaccine exemption for reasons of conscience? J Biosecur, Biosaf, And Biodefense Law. 2018;9(1):1–12. doi: 10.1515/jbbbl-2018-0008
   Google Scholar
• Blank NR, Caplan AL, Constable C. Exempting schoolchildren from immunizations: states with few barriers had highest rates of nonmedical exemptions. Health Affairs. 2013;32(7):1282–1290. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2013.0239
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Lillvis DF, Kirkland A, Frick A. Power and persuasion in the vaccine debates: an analysis of political efforts and outcomes in the United States, 1998-2012. Milbank Q. 2014;92(3):475–508. doi: 10.1111/1468-0009.12075
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Omer SB, Richards J, Ward MAB, et al. Vaccination policies and rates of exemption from immunization, 2005-2011. N Engl J Med. 2012;367(12):1170–1171. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc1209037
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Omer SB, Pan WK, Halsey NA, et al. Nonmedical exemptions to school immunization requirements: secular trends and association of state policies with pertussis incidence. J Am Med Assoc. 2006 Oct 11;296(14):1757–1763. doi: 10.1001/jama.296.14.1757
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bradford WD, Mandich A. Some state vaccination laws contribute to greater exemption rates and disease outbreaks in the United States. Health Affairs. 2015;34(8):1383–1390. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2014.1428
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Thaler RH, Sunstein CR. Nudge: improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. United States: Yale University Press; 2008.
   Google Scholar
• Oliver A. From nudging to budging: using behavioural economics to inform public sector policy. J Soc Policy. 2013;42(4):685. doi: 10.1017/S0047279413000299
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bednarczyk RA, King AR, Lahijani A, et al. Current landscape of nonmedical vaccination exemptions in the United States: impact of policy changes. Expert Rev Vaccines. 2019;18(2):175–190. doi: 10.1080/14760584.2019.1562344
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Navin MC, Largent MA. Improving nonmedical vaccine exemption policies: three case studies. Public Health Ethics. 2017;10(3):225–234. doi: 10.1093/phe/phx015
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Navin MC, Wasserman JA. Reasons to amplify the role of parental permission in pediatric treatment. Am J Bioeth. 2017;17(11):6–14. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2017.1378752
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Navin MC, Largent MA, McCright AM. Efficient burdens decrease nonmedical exemption rates: a cross-county comparison of michigan’s vaccination waiver education efforts. Prev Med Rep. 2020;17:101049. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2020.101049
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Omer SB, Allen K, Chang DH, et al. Exemptions from mandatory immunization after legally mandated parental counseling. Pediatrics. 2018;141(1):e20172364. doi: 10.1542/peds.2017-2364
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• White J From death threats to holocaust warning, California vaccine bill an extraordinary fight, 30 June 2015. The Sacramento Bee. 2015 Jul 1 [cited 2020 Aug 5]. Available from: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article25909216.html
   Google Scholar
• Omer SB, Betsch C, Leask J. Mandate vaccination with care. Nature. 2019;571(7766):469–472. doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-02232-0
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Attwell K, Smith DT. Hearts, minds, nudges and shoves: (How) can we mobilise communities for vaccination in a marketised society? Vaccine. 2018;36(44):6506–6508. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2017.08.005
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Attwell K, Harper T, Rizzi M, et al. Inaction, under-reaction action and incapacity: communication breakdown in Italy’s vaccination governance. Policy Sciences. 2021;54(3):457–445. doi: 10.1007/s11077-021-09427-1
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Denemark D, Harper T, Attwell K. Vaccine hesitancy and trust in government: a cross-national analysis. Aust J Political Sci. 2022;57(2):145–163. doi: 10.1080/10361146.2022.2037511
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Porter D. Health, civilization and the state: a history of public health from ancient to modern times. (NY): Routledge; 1999.
   Google Scholar
• Attwell K, Navin MC, Lopalco P, et al. Recent vaccine mandates in the United States, Europe and Australia: a comparative study. Vaccine. 2018;19(36):7377–7384. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.10.019
   Google Scholar
• Attwell K, Ward JK, Tomkinson S. Manufacturing consent for vaccine mandates: a comparative case study of communication campaigns in France and Australia. Front Commun. 2020;6(598602):1–17. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2021.598602
   Google Scholar
• MacDonald NE, Harmon S, Dube E, et al. Mandatory infant & childhood immunization: rationales, issues and knowledge gaps. Vaccine. 2018;36(9):5811–5818. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.08.042
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Opel D, Schwartz J, Omer SB, et al. Achieving an optimal childhood vaccine policy. JAMA Pediatr. 2017;171(9):893–896. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2017.1868
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Mello MM. Narrowing vaccination exemption laws: lessons from California and beyond. Ann internal med. 2020;172(5):358. doi: 10.7326/M19-3111
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Leask J, Danchin M. Imposing penalties for vaccine rejection requires strong scrutiny. J Paediatr Child Health. 2017 May;53(5):439–444. doi: 10.1111/jpc.13472
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Williams JTB, Rice J, Cox-Martin M, et al. Religious Vaccine Exemptions in Kindergartners: 2011-2018. Pediatrics. 2019 Dec;144(6). doi: 10.1542/peds.2019-2710
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Moore TP, Bennett JC, Graff K, et al. State Policy removing the personal belief exemption for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) school immunization requirement, Washington State, 2014-2022. Am J Public Health. 2023 May;18:e1–e10.
   Google Scholar
• Navin MC, Kozak AT, Attwell K. School staff and immunization governance: missed opportunities for public health promotion. Vaccine. 2021;40(51):7433–7439. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.07.061
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Opel DJ, Kronman MP, Diekema DS, et al. Childhood vaccine exemption policy: the case for a less restrictive alternative.(Report). Pediatrics. 2016;137(4):1–4. doi: 10.1542/peds.2015-4230
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Washington State Legislature. Legislative summary HB 1638 - 2019-20, Promoting immunity against vaccine preventable diseases. Washington 2019 [2022 Mar 16]. Available from: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1638&Initiative=false&Year=2019#rollCallPopup
   Google Scholar
• Harvey J, Attwell K. Children, COVID, and confusion: how frontline workers cope with the challenges of vaccine mandates. Australian J Public Administration. 2022;1–22. doi: 10.1111/1467-8500.12567
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Delamater PL, Pingali SC, Buttenheim AM, et al. Elimination of nonmedical immunization exemptions in California and school-entry vaccine status. Pediatrics. 2019;143(6):1–9. doi: 10.1542/peds.2018-3301
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Attwell K, Seth R, Beard F, et al. Financial Interventions to Increase Vaccine Coverage. Pediatrics. 2020;146(6):e20200724. doi: 10.1542/peds.2020-0724
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Attwell K, Navin M. How policymakers employ ethical frames to design and introduce new policies: the case of childhood vaccine mandates in Australia. Policy & Politics. 2022;50(4):526–547. doi: 10.1332/030557321X16476002878591
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Breslow JM, Amico C What are the vaccine exemption laws in your state? Frontline. 2015 Mar 24 [cited 2022 Dec 7]. Available from: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/what-are-the-vaccine-exemption-laws-in-your-state/
   Google Scholar
• Smith DT, Attwell K, Evers U. Majority acceptance of vaccination and mandates across the political spectrum in Australia. Politics. 2019;40(2):189–206. doi: 10.1177/0263395719859457
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Horton S. Updated: Kansas lawmakers advance bill making it easier to get a religious vaccine exemption kansas city public radio. 2023 Mar 23 [cited 2023 May 23]. Available from: https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-03-23/kansas-lawmakers-reject-bill-that-would-have-made-it-easier-to-get-a-religious-vaccine-exemption
   Google Scholar
• Fisher C Schmidt to Kansas employers: questioning religious exemption now illegal. WIBW. 2021 Nov 24 [cited 2023 May 23]. Available from: https://www.wibw.com/2021/11/24/schmidt-kansas-employers-questioning-religious-exemption-now-illegal/
   Google Scholar
• Fernandes B, Navin MC, Reiss DR, et al. US state-level legal interventions related to COVID-19 vaccine mandates. J Am Med Assoc. 2021;327(2):178–179. doi: 10.1001/jama.2021.22122
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Delamater PL, Buttenheim AM, Klein NP, et al. Assessment of exemptions from vaccination in California, 2015 to 2027. Ann internal med. 2020;1742(5):362–363. doi: 10.7326/M19-1933
   Google Scholar
• Attwell K, Rizzi M, Paul KT. Consolidating a research agenda for vaccine mandates. Vaccine. 2022;40(51):7353–7359. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.11.008
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Opel DJ, Brewer NT, Buttenheim AM, et al. The legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic for childhood vaccination in the USA. Lancet. 2023;401(10370):75–78. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(22)01693-2
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Blake A The GOP’s anti-vaccine mandate push is seeping into other vaccines — and schools. The Washington Post. 2022 25 Jan [cited 2023 Feb 21]. Available from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/25/gops-anti-vaccine-mandate-push-is-seeping-into-other-vaccines-schools/
   Google Scholar