Making salient ethics arguments about vaccine mandates: A California case study.

Vaccine mandates can take many forms, and different kinds of mandates can implicate an array of values in diverse ways. It follows that good ethics arguments about particular vaccine mandates will attend to the details of individual policies. Furthermore, attention to particular mandate policies-and to attributes of the communities they aim to govern-can also illuminate which ethics arguments may be more salient in particular contexts. If ethicists want their arguments to make a difference in policy, they should attend to these kinds of empirical considerations. This paper focuses on the most common and contentious vaccine mandate reform in the contemporary United States: the elimination of nonmedical exemptions (NMEs) to school and daycare vaccine mandates. It highlights, in particular, debates about California's Senate Bill 277 (SB277), which was the first successful recent effort to eliminate NMEs in that country. We use media, secondary sources, and original interviews with policymakers and activists to identify and evaluate three ethics arguments offered by critics of SB277: parental freedom, informed consent, and children's rights to care and education. We then turn to one ethics argument often offered by advocates of SB277: harm prevention. We note, however, that three arguments for mandates that are common in the immunization ethics literature-fairness/free-riding, children's rights to vaccination, and utilitarianism-did not play a role in debates about SB277.

Measuring Multiple Dimensions and Indices of Nonvaccination Clustering in Michigan, 2008-2018.

Michigan experienced a significant measles outbreak in 2019 amidst rising rates of nonmedical vaccine exemptions (NMEs) and low vaccination coverage compared with the rest of the United States. There is a critical need to better understand the landscape of nonvaccination in Michigan to assess the risk of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks in the state, yet there is no agreed-upon best practice for characterizing spatial clustering of nonvaccination, and numerous clustering metrics are available in the statistical, geographical, and epidemiologic literature. We used school-level data to characterize the spatiotemporal landscape of vaccine exemptions in Michigan for the period 2008-2018 using Moran's I, the isolation index, the modified aggregation index, and the Theil index at 4 spatial scales. We also used nonvaccination thresholds of 5%, 10%, and 20% to assess the bias incurred when aggregating vaccination data. We found that aggregating school-level data to levels commonly used for public reporting can lead to large biases in identifying the number and location of at-risk students and that different clustering metrics yielded variable interpretations of the nonvaccination landscape in Michigan. This study shows the importance of choosing clustering metrics with their mechanistic interpretations in mind, be it large- or fine-scale heterogeneity or between- and within-group contributions to spatial variation.

The Impact of Michigan's Nonmedical Vaccine Exemption Rule Change on Philosophical Exemption Rates.

To examine school factors associated with philosophical exemption rates among kindergarteners in Michigan from 2014, before Michigan's implementation of administrative rule 325.176 (12), to 2015, after the rule change revising the process for receiving nonmedical exemptions from school entry vaccines. The study explored the extent to which the factors-school type, geographical location, and socioeconomics-were associated with philosophical exemptions among kindergarteners before and after the rule change, using negative binomial regression and Spearman's Rho correlation. Philosophical exemptions decreased from 2014 to 2015 for all school types but remained highest among rural private schools. Urban private schools had the second highest exemptions with rates 2.22 times higher than those of urban public schools. Exemption rates among rural charter schools were double those of urban public schools, while rural public schools' rates were 1.22 times higher than those of urban public schools. Free and reduced school lunch eligibility had a strong inverse association with philosophical exemptions for both 2014 and 2015, with higher philosophical exemptions being associated with higher socioeconomic schools. Philosophical exemption rates decreased in the wake of the rule change; however, high philosophical exemptions, post rule change, were still associated with private schools, rural locations, and high socioeconomic status schools.

Perspectives of public health nurses on the ethics of mandated vaccine education.

BACKGROUND: Since 2015, Michigan has required parents who request nonmedical exemptions (NMEs) from school or daycare immunization mandates to receive education from local public health staff (usually nurses). This is unlike most other US states that have implemented mandatory immunization counseling, which require physicians to document immunization education, or which provide online instruction. PURPOSE: To attend to the activity and dispositions of the public health staff who provide "waiver education". METHOD: This study reports results of focus group interviews with 39 of Michigan's vaccine waiver educators (37 nurses), conducted during 2016 and 2017, and analyzed in 2018. FINDINGS: Four themes emerged from analysis of the transcripts of these interviews: Participants had (1) complex and nuanced observations and evaluations of parents' judgments and feelings about vaccines and vaccine education; (2) sympathetic attitudes about alternative vaccine schedules; (3) critical and supportive evaluations of institutional policies and the background political context of immunization education; and (4) consistent commitments to respect parents, affirm their values, and protect their rights. DISCUSSION: These results show that public health nurses are sensitive to the burdens mandatory immunization education places on families, the motivations for parents' requests for nonmedical exemptions, and the values implicated by personal immunization decisions and government immunization policies. In light of the unique training, experiences, and public reputation of nurses, there is good reason for additional investigation into the roles that nurses can play in immunization education and in vaccine mandate policies, more generally.

School staff as vaccine advocates: Perspectives on vaccine mandates and the student registration process.

Recently, several states in the US have made it more difficult to receive nonmedical exemptions to school vaccine mandates in the hope of better orienting parents towards vaccination. However, little is known about how public-facing school staff implement and enforce mandate policies, including why or how often they steer parents towards nonmedical exemptions. This study focused on Michigan, which has recently added an additional burden for families seeking nonmedical exemptions. We used an anonymous online survey to assess Michigan public-school employees (n = 157) about their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding Michigan's school enrollment vaccine mandate policy. Our main conclusions are that frontline school staff are generally knowledgeable about vaccines and immunization policy, but are at best ambivalent about their role in immunization governance, believing that other agents should be responsible for ensuring that children are vaccinated. Furthermore, some respondents indicated low vaccine confidence, which was associated with increased ambivalence about, or opposition to, their role in immunization governance. As more jurisdictions within and beyond the US consider introducing or tightening childhood vaccine mandates, it is increasingly important to understand how these policies can be improved by attending to the attitudes and roles of relevant frontline actors.

Eliminating nonmedical exemptions: a radical shift in how childhood vaccine mandates govern.

INTRODUCTION: Every state in the US has had school vaccine mandates for decades, and all except West Virginia and Mississippi offered nonmedical exemptions (NMEs) in addition to medical exemptions. Several states recently eliminated NMEs, and others have attempted to do so. These efforts are transforming America's immunization governance. AREAS COVERED: What we call the 'mandates & exemptions' regime of vaccination policy from the 1960s and 1970s functioned to orient parents toward vaccination, but did not coerce or punish them for not vaccinating. The article identifies how policy tweaks in the 2000s - including education requirements and other bureaucratic burdens - delivered enhancements to the 'mandates & exemptions' regime. Finally, the paper illustrates how the recent elimination of NMEs, first in California and then in other states, represents a radical transformation of America's vaccine mandates. EXPERT OPINION: Today's 'unencumbered vaccine mandates' (mandates without exemptions) directly govern and punish non-vaccination, unlike the 'mandates & exemption' regime that aimed to make it harder for parents to avoid vaccination. This kind of policy change introduces new problems for implementation and enforcement, especially within America's underfunded public health system, and in the context of post-COVID public health political conflicts.

Personal belief exemptions for school-entry vaccinations, vaccination rates, and academic achievement.

Nonmedical exemptions from school-entry vaccine mandates are receiving increased policy and public health scrutiny. This paper examines how expanding the availability of exemptions influences vaccination rates in early childhood and academic achievement in middle school. We leverage 2003 legislation that granted personal belief exemptions (PBE) in Texas and Arkansas, two states that previously allowed exemptions only for medical or religious regions. We find that PBE decreased vaccination coverage among Black and low-income preschoolers by 16.1% and 8.3%, respectively. Furthermore, we find that those cohorts affected by the policy change in early childhood performed less well on standardized tests of academic achievement in middle school. Estimated effects on test scores were largest for Black students and economically disadvantaged students.

Immunization Noncompliance: Gauging the Cause, Effect, and Management in the School Setting.

Immunization noncompliance is a public health issue. Vaccines have been noted as one of the most effective public health interventions against the spread of infectious disease. However, there is an increase in the number of nonmedical exemptions and vaccine hesitancy. This has been linked to a decrease in the fear of contracting vaccine preventable diseases to public concerns regarding vaccine safety. Research has shown that decreased vaccine coverage lessens the effect of herd immunity placing those who are unvaccinated or unable to be vaccinated at increased risk of contracting vaccine preventable diseases. These factors have led to legislative action with some states implementing stricter exemption laws and stronger enforcement of vaccine mandates. Within the school setting, the school nurse is in a unique position working within both the educational and healthcare domains. The monitoring of immunizations is a key and vital factor in ensuring the health and safety of the school community.

Rising rates of vaccine exemptions: problems with current policy and more promising remedies.

Parents of school-age children are increasingly claiming nonmedical exemptions to refuse vaccinations required for school entry. The resultant unvaccinated pockets in many areas of the country have been linked with outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. Many states are now focused on reducing rates of nonmedical exemptions by making exemption processes more restrictive or burdensome for the exemptor. These strategies, however, pose ethical problems and may ultimately be inadequate. A shift to strategies that raise the financial liabilities of exemptors may lead to better success and prove ethically more sound. Potential areas of reform include tax law, health insurance, and private school funding programs. We advocate an approach that combines this type of incentive with more effective vaccination education.