MANDATORY IMMUNIZATIONS FOR CHILDREN IN CALIFORNIA: A POLICY ANALYSIS
This study examine the policy issue of mandatory immunization for all children in the State of California. The study found that the existing law mandating that children be immunized before being allowed to enter public school is too weakened by permitted exemptions from the law to serve as an effective instrument to achieve maximum child immunization in the state. The study found further that maximum child immunization is necessary for the state to be able to adequately protect public health in the state. The study found that it is necessary, therefore, for the state to strengthen the child immunization policy if the objective of maximum child immunization is to be attained. The policy recommendation was that the State of California should exercise its police power and make the immunization of all children mandatory with the single exception of an exemption for medical necessity for the health of the child, an exemption that would be determined only by competent physicians designated by the state to make such a determination.
This study examines the issue of mandatory immunization for children in the State of California. The findings of this examination are presented in the form of a policy analysis within the contexts of the (1) social problem and its context, (2) current policies, practices, and outcomes, (3) and policy recommendation.
Immunization against preventable disease is one of the older social movements for children in the United States. The objective of the California School Immunization Law was to attain a 100 percent vaccination against preventable diseases for all children in the state's population. The objective was to be enforced through a denial of entry into public school of children were not immunized. In an effort to protect constitutional rights of citizens, however, the drafters of the law allowed children to be exempt from en...