ABSTRACT
Humans have been a communal species since inception and continue to be so to this day. Because of this, if even a small scale of a measured population becomes severely ill, the entire remaining population and surrounding area is thrown into absolute chaos. In fact, we have seen these circumstances throughout history and in the recent COVID-19 pandemic yet, some of us have forgotten that the only way this chaos can be curbed, is by enacting a mandatory vaccination policy. Since COVID-19 however, vaccination mandates have become an uneasy topic of conversation in the United States for essentially one main reason, some U.S citizens do not like to be told what to do with their body and what to place inside it, further believing their bodily autonomy to be absolute. Data shows that this ideology recently became more widespread from an increase of mistrust of government and pharmaceutical companies, and from political beliefs and affiliations. Nevertheless, what the data also shows is that these same individuals were asserting their right to bodily autonomy against a vaccination mandate in an unduly aggressive manner, and on a very erroneous understanding of the governing jurisprudence, policies and modern scientific data surrounding said vaccination mandates and large scale disease outbreaks. This article therefore aims to provide a clear and extensive understanding of the proposition that, while bodily autonomy is favored in other aspects of life, this right can fail with respect to deadly disease outbreaks and mandatory vaccinations as there is presently no other practical or feasible alternative. Specifically, this article introduces and/or reminds the U.S. public of well-established governing case law, relevant historical and scientific information and the pertinent legislative authority surrounding vaccines, bodily autonomy, and vaccination mandates.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Mandatory Programs , Personal Autonomy , Vaccination , Humans , Mandatory Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , COVID-19/prevention & control , COVID-19/epidemiology , United States , Vaccination/legislation & jurisprudence , COVID-19 Vaccines/administration & dosage , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
This contribution examines the compatibility of mandatory vaccination with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) through an analysis of the relevant ECHR rights and related case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). By focusing on Article 8 (Right to Private Life), Article 2 (Right to Life) and Article 9 (Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion) ECHR, we formulate conditions under which mandatory vaccination legislation is justified. With that, this analysis aims to provide national legislators with guidance on responsible legislative policy. Additionally, this article discusses the legal framework underlying the Dutch vaccination policy, including developments therein since COVID-19. Furthermore, the role of the European Union in the context of vaccination is briefly discussed. The importance of an extensive societal and parliamentary debate before implementing a mandatory vaccination policy is stressed, as is the need for proportionality in enforcement.
Subject(s)
European Union , Health Policy , Human Rights , Mandatory Programs , Vaccination , Humans , Human Rights/legislation & jurisprudence , Mandatory Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , Vaccination/legislation & jurisprudence , Health Policy/legislation & jurisprudence , COVID-19/prevention & control , Netherlands , Mandatory VaccinationABSTRACT
I investigate the causal effect of education on time preferences. To deal with the endogeneity of education, I exploit exogenous variation in education imposed by a Turkish school reform that raised compulsory education from five to eight years. I find that education causes individuals to make more patient inter-temporal choices but does not induce them to report being more patient. I also provide evidence that the effect of education on patient inter-temporal choices does not operate through changes in financial well-being.
Subject(s)
Educational Status , Humans , Turkey , Female , Male , Schools , Choice Behavior , Adult , Mandatory Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , Time Factors , Education/legislation & jurisprudence , Socioeconomic FactorsABSTRACT
This Viewpoint discusses how federal vaccine requirements have helped thwart vaccine-preventable diseases as well as how growing public resistance to vaccines and judicial and legislative limits to vaccination mandates may change that.
Subject(s)
Immunization Programs , Mandatory Programs , Public Health , Vaccination , Vaccines , Immunization Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , Immunization Programs/methods , Mandatory Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , Public Health/legislation & jurisprudence , Public Health/methods , Vaccination/legislation & jurisprudence , Vaccination/methods , Vaccines/therapeutic useABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: By the end of 2022, nearly 20 million workers in the United States have gained paid-sick-leave coverage from mandates that require employers to provide benefits to qualified workers, including paid time off for the use of preventive services. Although the lack of paid-sick-leave coverage may hinder access to preventive care, current evidence is insufficient to draw meaningful conclusions about its relationship to cancer screening. METHODS: We examined the association between paid-sick-leave mandates and screening for breast and colorectal cancers by comparing changes in 12- and 24-month rates of colorectal-cancer screening and mammography between workers residing in metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) that have been affected by paid-sick-leave mandates (exposed MSAs) and workers residing in unexposed MSAs. The comparisons were conducted with the use of administrative medical-claims data for approximately 2 million private-sector employees from 2012 through 2019. RESULTS: Paid-sick-leave mandates were present in 61 MSAs in our sample. Screening rates were similar in the exposed and unexposed MSAs before mandate adoption. In the adjusted analysis, cancer-screening rates were higher among workers residing in exposed MSAs than among those in unexposed MSAs by 1.31 percentage points (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.28 to 2.34) for 12-month colorectal cancer screening, 1.56 percentage points (95% CI, 0.33 to 2.79) for 24-month colorectal cancer screening, 1.22 percentage points (95% CI, -0.20 to 2.64) for 12-month mammography, and 2.07 percentage points (95% CI, 0.15 to 3.99) for 24-month mammography. CONCLUSIONS: In a sample of private-sector workers in the United States, cancer-screening rates were higher among those residing in MSAs exposed to paid-sick-leave mandates than among those residing in unexposed MSAs. Our results suggest that a lack of paid-sick-leave coverage presents a barrier to cancer screening. (Funded by the National Cancer Institute.).
Subject(s)
Breast Neoplasms , Colorectal Neoplasms , Early Detection of Cancer , Sick Leave , Humans , Breast Neoplasms/diagnosis , Breast Neoplasms/economics , Colorectal Neoplasms/diagnosis , Colorectal Neoplasms/economics , Early Detection of Cancer/economics , Early Detection of Cancer/statistics & numerical data , Mammography/statistics & numerical data , Mandatory Programs/economics , Mandatory Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , Mandatory Programs/statistics & numerical data , Salaries and Fringe Benefits/economics , Salaries and Fringe Benefits/legislation & jurisprudence , Salaries and Fringe Benefits/statistics & numerical data , Sick Leave/economics , Sick Leave/legislation & jurisprudence , Sick Leave/statistics & numerical data , United States/epidemiology , Urban Population/statistics & numerical data , Health Services Accessibility/economics , Health Services Accessibility/legislation & jurisprudence , Health Services Accessibility/statistics & numerical dataSubject(s)
Civil Rights/legislation & jurisprudence , Health Policy/legislation & jurisprudence , Public Health/legislation & jurisprudence , COVID-19/prevention & control , Constitution and Bylaws , Federal Government , Humans , Mandatory Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , State Government , United StatesSubject(s)
COVID-19 Vaccines/administration & dosage , COVID-19/prevention & control , Mandatory Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , State Medicine/legislation & jurisprudence , Vaccination/legislation & jurisprudence , COVID-19/economics , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19 Vaccines/economics , England/epidemiology , Government Employees/legislation & jurisprudence , Health Policy/economics , Health Policy/legislation & jurisprudence , Humans , Mandatory Programs/economics , Mandatory Programs/standards , State Medicine/standards , Vaccination/economics , Vaccination/standardsSubject(s)
COVID-19 Vaccines , COVID-19 , Commerce/legislation & jurisprudence , Health Personnel/legislation & jurisprudence , Mandatory Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , Public Health/legislation & jurisprudence , Supreme Court Decisions , United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration/legislation & jurisprudence , COVID-19/diagnosis , Humans , Mandatory Programs/trends , Mandatory Testing/legislation & jurisprudence , United StatesSubject(s)
COVID-19 Vaccines , COVID-19 , Commerce/legislation & jurisprudence , Mandatory Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , Supreme Court Decisions , United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration/legislation & jurisprudence , COVID-19/diagnosis , Forecasting , Humans , Mandatory Testing/legislation & jurisprudence , United StatesSubject(s)
COVID-19/prevention & control , Health Personnel/legislation & jurisprudence , Mandatory Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , State Medicine/legislation & jurisprudence , Vaccination/legislation & jurisprudence , Attitude of Health Personnel , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/virology , England/epidemiology , Health Personnel/standards , Humans , Immunization, Secondary/standards , Infectious Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient/prevention & control , Mandatory Programs/standards , Pandemics/prevention & control , SARS-CoV-2/pathogenicity , State Medicine/standards , Vaccination/standardsSubject(s)
COVID-19/transmission , Cross Infection/prevention & control , Disease Transmission, Infectious/prevention & control , SARS-CoV-2 , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19 Vaccines , Cross Infection/epidemiology , Government Regulation , Health Personnel , Hospitals , Humans , Immunization, Secondary , Infectious Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient/prevention & control , Mandatory Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , SARS-CoV-2/pathogenicity , United StatesABSTRACT
We analyzed how activists opposed to vaccination have used arguments related to freedom, liberty, and individual rights in US history. We focused on the period from the 1880s through the 1920s, when the first wave of widespread and sustained antivaccination activism in this country occurred. During this era, activists used the language of liberty and freedom most prominently in opposition to compulsory vaccination laws, which the activists alleged violated their constitutionally protected rights. Critics attacked vaccination with liberty-based arguments even when it was not mandatory, and they used the language of freedom expansively to encompass individuals' freedom to choose their health and medical practices, freedom to raise their children as they saw fit, and freedom from the quasicoercive influence of scientific and medical experts and elite institutions. Evidence suggests that in recent years, vaccine refusal has increasingly been framed as a civil right. We argue that this framing has always lain at the heart of resistance to vaccination and that it may prove consequential for the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(2):234-241. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306504).
Subject(s)
Anti-Vaccination Movement/history , Vaccination Refusal , Vaccination/legislation & jurisprudence , Civil Rights , Dissent and Disputes , Freedom , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , Humans , Mandatory Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , Political Activism , Public Health , United StatesSubject(s)
COVID-19 Vaccines/administration & dosage , COVID-19/prevention & control , Human Rights/legislation & jurisprudence , Mandatory Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , Vaccination/legislation & jurisprudence , COVID-19/epidemiology , Global Health , Humans , Mandatory Programs/organization & administration , Pandemics/legislation & jurisprudence , Pandemics/prevention & controlSubject(s)
COVID-19/prevention & control , Communicable Disease Control/legislation & jurisprudence , Mandatory Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , Private Sector/legislation & jurisprudence , Public Health/legislation & jurisprudence , Quarantine/legislation & jurisprudence , Vaccination/legislation & jurisprudence , COVID-19/transmission , COVID-19 Vaccines , Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S./legislation & jurisprudence , Civil Rights/legislation & jurisprudence , Federal Government , Health Education , Humans , Occupational Health/legislation & jurisprudence , Religion , State Government , United StatesABSTRACT
Vaccine safety is their main concern.