logo czasopisma

Articles

No. 3 (41) (2022)

Non-Medical Exemptions From Obligatory Vaccination in the United States. : Conscience Clause for Anti-Vaxxers?

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36128/priw.vi41.411
Submitted
3 April 2022
Published
20 October 2022

Abstract

The author aims at presenting and analysing the legal status of conscientious exemptions from mandatory vaccination in the United States. He applies formal-dogmatic approach, as well as a historical-legal method in the paper. The author places the issue in the context of demands for conscientious exemptions from laws of general applicability that increasingly occur in various spheres of social life. The author outlines the historical
background of vaccination hesitancy, the first regulations concerning mandatory vaccination, and exemptions from it. Arguments raised by proponents of the anti-vaccine move-
ment are presented, equally with sociological studies on them. As far as American regulations are concerned, the author comments on the historical development of the mandatory vaccination laws in the USA, their underpinning in the Supreme Court case law, and the first legal disputes that arose around the issue under study. The author examines current legal status of the problem with references to the recent case law of state courts, and possible development trends. The author convinces that exemptions under study should be recognised as an example of the conscientious clause; they rely on states’ lawmakers’ decisions and their application is restricted to persons recalling conscientious reasons, inlay or religious form.

References

  1. Angeley Elisabeth, „Anti-Vaccination: A Growing Epidemic?” Journal of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, vol. 32 (2020): 271-303.
  2. Can One Refuse Compulsory Vaccination? The European Court will soon rule.
  3. https://eclj.org/conscientious-objection/echr/refus-de-la-vaccination-obligatoire--la-cour-europenne-tranchera-bientt.
  4. Chemerinsky Erwin, Michele Goodwin, „Compulsory Vaccination Laws are Constitutional” Northwestern University Law Review, nr 3 (2016): 589-616.
  5. Chirico Francesco, „The New Italian Mandatory Vaccine Law as a Healt Policy Instrument Against the Anti-Vaccination movement” Annali di Igiene: Medicina Preventiva e di Comunità, vol. 30 (2018): 251-256.
  6. Ciszewski Wojciech, „Wyłączenia światopoglądowe jako przedmiot dyskusji teoretycznoprawnej – próba systematyzacji” Forum Prawnicze, nr 2 (2016): 59-73.
  7. Clarke Steve, Alberto Giubilini, Mary J. Walker, „Conscientious Objection to Vaccination” Bioethics, nr 3 (2017): 155-161.
  8. Diekema Douglas S., „Personal Belief Exemptions From School Vaccination Requirements” Annual Review of Public Health, vol. 35 (2014): 275-279.
  9. Edelstein Michael, Martin Müller, Shamez Ladhani, Joanne Yarwood, Marcel Salathé, Mary Ramsay, „Keep Calm and Carry on Vaccinating: Is Anti-Vaccination Sentiment Contributing to Declining Vaccine Coverage in England?” Vaccine, vol. 38 (2020).
  10. Fara Patricia, „The Original Anti-Vaxxers” History Today, nr 1 (2021): 5297-5304.
  11. Froc Kerri, What Gets Lost in Using the Notwithstanding Clause.
  12. https://www.nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/articles/law/opinion/2019/what-gets-lost-in-using-the-override-clause.
  13. Goldberg Zachary J., Sean Richey, „Anti-Vaccination Beliefs and Unrelated Conspiracy Theories” World Affairs, nr 2 (2020): 105-124.
  14. Guttinger Stephan, „The Anti-Vaccination Debate and the Microbiome: How Paradigm Shifts in the Life Sciences Create New Challenges for the Vaccination Debate” EMBO Reports, nr 3 (2019).
  15. Kershner Stacie, Salmon Daniel, Levin Hillel Y., Lytton Timothy D., „A Proposal to Reduce Vaccine Exemptions While Respecting Rights of Conscience” The Conversation, 28 stycznia 2019.
  16. https://theconversation.com/a-proposal-to-reduce-vaccine-exemptions-while-respecting-rights-of-conscience-110467.
  17. Megget Katrina, „Even covid-19 can’t kill the anti-vaccination movement” BMJ, 4 czerwca 2020.
  18. Mirocha Łukasz, „Odmowa wykonania usług weselnych dla par jednopłciowych w Stanach Zjednoczonych” Państwo i Prawo, nr 4 (2019): 20-34.
  19. Mirocha Łukasz, „Religion-Based Refusal to Perform Services for Homosexuals in Poland” Italian Journal of Public Law, vol. 12.2 (2020):
  20. -399.
  21. Potz Maciej, Granice wolności religijnej: kwestie wolności sumienia i wyznania oraz stosunku państwa do religii w Stanach Zjednoczonych Ameryki. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, Wrocław 2008.
  22. Reuben Rebekah, Devon Aitken, Jonathan L. Freedman, Gillian Einstein, „Mistrust of the Medical Profession and Higher Disgust Sensitivity Predict Parental Vaccine Hesitancy” PLoS ONE, vol. 15 (2020).
  23. Rousseau Jean-Jacques, Emil, czyli o wychowaniu, t. I, przeł. Wacław Husarski. Wrocław: Ossolineum, 1955.
  24. Tolley Kim, „School Vaccination Wars: The Rise of Anti-Science in the American Anti-Vaccination Societies, 1879–1929” History of Education Quarterly, nr 2 (2019): 161-194.
  25. Tomsick Emma, „The Public Health Demand for Revoking Non-Medical Exemptions to Compulsory Vaccination Statutes” Journal of Law & Health, nr 1 (2020): 131-156.
  26. Trucas Marcello, „The Falconi’s needle against anti-vaccination: A minimally invasive tool in the nineteenth century” Vaccine, vol. 38 (2020): 2266-2272.
  27. „The Vaccination Act, 1898. A Legal View Of Its Effect” The British Medical Journal, nr 1966 (1898): 637-639.
  28. Vanderpool Robin C., Anna Gaysynsky, Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou, „Using a Global Pandemic as a Teachable Moment to Promote Vaccine Li-
  29. teracy and Build Resilience to Misinformation” AJPH Supplement, nr S3 (2020): 284-285.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Most read articles by the same author(s)