Are Mandatory School Vaccinations Constitutional?

[Obama 2012 1,714]

You know, when you look at the fact that the SCOTUS has ruled that children cannot be denied an education based on immigration status, etc. It brings up the good question of mandatory vaccinations as well.

If ever child is entitled to a public education, and equal protection under the law as ruled by the Supreme Court, then how can a school deny a child entry into that school if that child has not had their vaccinations? How is this any different?

Let's be honest, some parents worry about certain vaccinations and the side-effects they might have on their children.

The common excuse used by school districts is non-vaccinated children expose others to disease, etc. BUT if the other children are vaccinated, how is this so? Isn't a vaccination supposed to prevent said disease? If a child can still get sick from being exposed, isn't the vaccination then a failure? Which brings up a whole other argument of why to even vaccinate at all. That's not the point here though.

The point is, if ever child is entitled to a public education, and the Supreme has ruled as such that children are subject to the equal protection clause, then by that should schools be allowed to discriminate against non-vaccinated children?

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http://cbs11tv.com/education/Dallas.County.Immunizations.2.1873997.html

The first day of school has arrived for many children across North Texas. But thousands of students will not be allowed to attend class on Monday because they did not get the required immunizations. School district officials in Dallas are saying no shots, no classes… no exceptions.

Schools will not know exactly how many students are turned away until Monday afternoon. But the effort to avoid that situation has made the Dallas County Health and Human Services building a very popular place as of late.

On Friday afternoon, the Dallas office was filled wall-to-wall with parents and their kids, all trying to beat the clock. The overburdened staff was forced to turn away late-comers. "They're full," said Nikky Castellanos, with daughter Victoria in tow, "so we have to go somewhere else."

Castellanos will have to take another day off of work on Monday to ensure that Victoria gets all of her shots on time. So, why wait until this close to the new school year? "It was the only time I could actually get out of here for work and stuff," she said.

Jorge Cervantes had a different story. Someone broke into his mother's car last week and took everything, including his shot records. "They stole the papers from my car," said Yliana Balderrama. "They took all the papers and shot records, so I have nothing. So, they had to give him again, all the shots."

But schools had been warning parents for weeks about immunizations, trying to avoid this situation. While thousands of kids did come in early, thousands more did not. "We think there are at least 5,000 students, Dallas County-wide, whose immunizaton records are not up-to-date," explained DCHHS director Zachary Thompson.

Last year, students were still lined up for immunizations weeks after classes had already started. Vaccine shortages and new standards caught everyone off-guard. But that is not the case this year. School officials have said that there will not be a grace period.

"Today, we reached a max in what we could do in all our clinics," Thompson said on Friday. "Trying to do 500 to 700 kids in one day is not even humanly possible with our staff." So, with that in mind, large crowds are expected again on Monday morning.

[Danno 1,228]

I see your point and as a side note, we are seeing a surge in health related infections of things we have not seen in decades.

A child comes from some poor third world country with no health inspection (illegal)...... do you want your child exposed to this?

Now it seems more important than ever, to require all kids be up to date.

Hell We even go so far as to give free immunizations at the health dept.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

I see your point and as a side note, we are seeing a surge in health related infections of things we have not seen in decades.

A child comes from some poor third world country with no health inspection (illegal)...... do you want your child exposed to this?

Now it seems more important than ever, to require all kids be up to date.

Hell We even go so far as to give free immunizations at the health dept.

Not all states require vaccinations. They 'encourage' it which is fine, but the point is, is it legal/constitutional to require it.

When I was kid (which wasn't too long ago) we had maybe 7 vaccines total to get from birth-thru-7th grade. Kids today have around 20+ vaccines required...... Kind of crazy when you think about it.

[Heracles 417]

Not all states require vaccinations. They 'encourage' it which is fine, but the point is, is it legal/constitutional to require it.

When I was kid (which wasn't too long ago) we had maybe 7 vaccines total to get from birth-thru-7th grade. Kids today have around 20+ vaccines required...... Kind of crazy when you think about it.

I am guessing Texas is one of those states.

[Danno 1,228]

Not all states require vaccinations. They 'encourage' it which is fine, but the point is, is it legal/constitutional to require it.

When I was kid (which wasn't too long ago) we had maybe 7 vaccines total to get from birth-thru-7th grade. Kids today have around 20+ vaccines required...... Kind of crazy when you think about it.

One must keep in mind these Vaccines are a huge money maker for health providers and they Lobby states to require them for this very reason.

In fact the last time I went through this I looked on the bill and it was over $500

for just 2 or 3 vaccines and an office visit.

We had a case here a few years back where "eye examines" were being pushed to be mandatory as well.

It was discovered that they ones Pushing it were getting paid off by the optom. Lobby.

They were actually doing the money drop in the bathroom of IHOP... or was it Denny's?

Any way... last I heard the number one guy (democrat) was still doing time over it.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

I am guessing Texas is one of those states.

Read the article source. You'll see Texas is one of the states that it is "Mandatory."

Actually more 'conservative' areas are more likely to have mandatory vaccines than liberal area. Take Oregon as a prime example of a state that doesn't have mandatory vaccinations.

[Heracles 417]

I see your point and as a side note, we are seeing a surge in health related infections of things we have not seen in decades.

A child comes from some poor third world country with no health inspection (illegal)...... do you want your child exposed to this?

Now it seems more important than ever, to require all kids be up to date.

Hell We even go so far as to give free immunizations at the health dept.

It's why when migrating to a country legally you undergo health checks. Country like AUS are extremely strict with things like that, also why they are totally rabies free and so forth. Over here this is racist, everything is racist really or some agenda against someone.

You have people from first world countries undertaking medical checks and vaccinations, which is the right thing to do. Then you have illegals from third world countries walking in willy-nilly.

[Heracles 417]

Read the article source. You'll see Texas is one of the states that it is "Mandatory."

Actually more 'conservative' areas are more likely to have mandatory vaccines than liberal area. Take Oregon as a prime example of a state that doesn't have mandatory vaccinations.

Being that your border a third world country, I would definitely mandate.

This lack of quarantine is why the US now has a problem with Asian tiger mosquito, which are bloody annoying bastards might I add.

[The_Dude 1,142]

You know, when you look at the fact that the SCOTUS has ruled that children cannot be denied an education based on immigration status, etc. It brings up the good question of mandatory vaccinations as well.

If ever child is entitled to a public education, and equal protection under the law as ruled by the Supreme Court, then how can a school deny a child entry into that school if that child has not had their vaccinations? How is this any different?

Let's be honest, some parents worry about certain vaccinations and the side-effects they might have on their children.

Paul, are you just trying to see how absurd you can get? Seriously, trying to compare illegal immigrants and a public safety scenario?

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Being that your border a third world country, I would definitely mandate.

This lack of quarantine is why the US now has a problem with Asian tiger mosquito, which are bloody annoying bastards might I add.

That's not my point though.

Children are denied an education if they are not vaccinated.

The supreme court has already ruled that all children are entitled to an education under the guise of the 14th amendment. Granted that was an illegal immigrant child case, but it holds the same idea behind it. If Child A gets an education then Child B gets an education regardless of status/socioeconomics, etc.

So under the equal protection clause, and the already previous ruling of the SCOTUS on children in school, how can vaccines be mandatory & constitutional.

[Peikko 1,575]

The requirement for all children to be vaccinated is designed to ensure that children are vaccinated - if it was not required then more children might go unvaccinated which would lead to epidemics of childhood diseases which is something every parent should want to avoid - so Paul, the common excuse is not that the vaccinated are at risk from un-vaccinated children and that the vaccines fail that is most definitely not the the reason behind the policy.

As to whether public schools should 'discriminate' against un-vaccinated children - absolutely, for the reasons outlined, a school no more needs an epidemic of polio than the parents or children need it - it is a pointless risk to run for the dubious benefit of coddling the few parents who believe that vaccinations cause autism.

It is a public safety issue - and the government has the right to impose whatever regulations it deems necessary to ensure public safety - not unconstitutional at all.

[Peikko 1,575]

Parents who are afraid of vaccinations have the right not to send their children to public schools - as it should be - they are not forced to have their children undergo the vaccination - but if they do not have vaccinations they become a health risk - the more of these non-vaccinated children there are, the bigger the problem is - requiring vaccinations ensures that the number of non-vaccinated remains low and consequently the number of deaths and problems related to child hood diseases is miniscule - even for those who do not vaccinate.

Edited August 23, 2010 by Madame Cleo

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Paul, are you just trying to see how absurd you can get? Seriously, trying to compare illegal immigrants and a public safety scenario?

That's not the point.

If you want to make an argument then illegal immigrants are also a hinderance to public safety as well. So don't even try that one.

The point is though, with equal protection under the law, how can one child be denied an education. It's not a matter of what's 'the law' or not 'the law.' It's a matter of what's constitutional. You can make all the laws you want, but those laws are moot if they are unconstitutional. It's the same situation as denying someone who's an illegal. They are 'unlawfully' in this country and were tried to be denied education, now someone is 'unlawfully' not vaccinated by standards, so they are being denied an education.

[The_Dude 1,142]

That's not the point.

If you want to make an argument then illegal immigrants are also a hinderance to public safety as well. So don't even try that one.

The point is though, with equal protection under the law, how can one child be denied an education. It's not a matter of what's 'the law' or not 'the law.' It's a matter of what's constitutional. You can make all the laws you want, but those laws are moot if they are unconstitutional. It's the same situation as denying someone who's an illegal. They are 'unlawfully' in this country and were tried to be denied education, now someone is 'unlawfully' not vaccinated by standards, so they are being denied an education.

The only public safety issue that illegal immigrants pose is..... vaccinations, or lack thereof. Nice red herring though.

[Peikko 1,575]

That's not the point.

If you want to make an argument then illegal immigrants are also a hinderance to public safety as well. So don't even try that one.

The point is though, with equal protection under the law, how can one child be denied an education. It's not a matter of what's 'the law' or not 'the law.' It's a matter of what's constitutional. You can make all the laws you want, but those laws are moot if they are unconstitutional. It's the same situation as denying someone who's an illegal. They are 'unlawfully' in this country and were tried to be denied education, now someone is 'unlawfully' not vaccinated by standards, so they are being denied an education.

They are not denied an education - they are denied an education at a public school (or any school presumably private schools have the same requirements, but I don't know) because they are a public safety risk, not because they can cause an epidemic on their own, but because their is an exponential risk on the un-vaccinated the more of them that there are.