July 22, 2019 – Vaccine Required

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Anchor lead: California laws prove that vaccine rates in kids can be boosted, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Removing personal belief exemptions and tightening the required vaccines for school entry have resulted in a substantial increase in the number of kindergartners in California who come to school up to date on immunizations, a recent study reported. Amber D’Souza, an epidemiology and immunization expert at Johns Hopkins, comments.

D’Souza: The reason to mandate a vaccine is for communicable diseases where the risk is not just to your self but you get an infection, you can spread to others, it’s really important that we act as a society and say, this goes beyond free will and personal protection. These are diseases we want to protect our society from, so mandating these school-based vaccines, which means making sure that all kids get them before they enter school, we know that’s a great way to protect the kids and protect everybody.  :30

California has had a number of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases in recent years, and these often impact people who can’t get vaccinated or are immunocompromised. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.