What Could Mandates in America Look Like

By Dani Lasher, Vaxxter contributor

Vaccination requirements to attend public schools have long been contentious. The first compulsory vaccination law was passed in the United Kingdom in 1853. After years of revolt and protest, the addition of a “conscientious objector” clause was added in 1898 and strengthened in the Vaccination Act of 1907. These provisions allowed parents to refuse to vaccinate their children using a wide range of objections and personal beliefs.

In the U.S., vaccination requirements for attending school were implemented in the early 1800s as a way to control the spread of smallpox. There were no provisions for exemptions. However, the concept of religious objection came to the forefront in 1918  through the legislative advocacy work of Christian Scientists. Their first success was in 1939 when a religious exemption was allowed in North Carolina for the mandatory diphtheria vaccine. A handful of followed suit and allowed religious exemptions: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, and Mississippi.

In the mid-1960s, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) initiated a nationwide overhaul of school vaccination policies. The Johnson Administration made federal funds available starting in 1965 for a measles eradication campaign. Christian Scientists immediately fought for the inclusion of religious exemptions in the state laws, which have been long available in all states except Mississippi and West Virginia.

The campaigns to advance school requirements were successful: In 1968, only half of the states had school vaccination requirements; by 1981, all states were aligned with vaccinating kids prior to attending school. Notably, all of these laws provided for nonmedical exemptions, either religious, philosophical, or both.

Schools have traditionally accepted these exemptions without question.Today, we’re seeing the tides change, with many bills being introduced to eliminate these freedoms and once again, imposing the “greater good” argument, claiming,

“…the right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community or the child to a communicable disease or the latter to ill health or death.”

First in Line: School Children

Mandatory vaccination laws leave parents with no option except to vaccinate or home school. Assuming all parents opt to vaccinate, would this eradicate infections like the measles? The answer is a resounding no.

Why not? Several reasons. First, while vaccine antigen shedding is a concern many people are quick to point out, other factors are also of concern. For example, measles infection is more likely to occur in individuals who are vitamin A deficient — an underlying issue for 43 percent of Americans.

Secondly, many children do not seroconvert (form antibodies) after vaccination. For example, 5 to 15% of those who are vaccinated with the hepatitis B vaccination do not seroconvert and therefore, have no antibodies deemed to be “protective.” Similarly, 10 to 21% of those who receive two doses of polio vaccine (IPV vaccine) will not seroconvert.

If we added together all the persons who are non-converters for each vaccine, the question becomes: Can we ever really reach the statistically adequate levels pharma and government claim we need to advance their concept of herd immunity? 

We don’t know…..and that seems to be the trend with the vaccine industry: “We don’t know”,  but we’re going to do it anyway.

Homeschoolers Soon Won’t Be Safe

Parents often question how the state would even know they aren’t vaccinating. Homeschooling — for those who aren’t familiar with it — doesn’t merely mean you keep your kids home and never talk to the government about them again.

An “intent to homeschool” must be filed with the Board of Education.  If you don’t send your child to school and you don’t file the appropriate documentation, you’re committing a crime known as educational neglect, which in some states is considered to be child abuse and neglect.

That said, many parents will still opt to homeschool instead of subjecting their children to vaccination. We saw this in California after SB 277 was signed into law.  Statistics gathered at the end of the 2018-2019 school year found that 6,741 kindergarteners were homeschooled and not vaccinated, compared to 1,880 at the end of the 2016-2017 school year. Many parents hope that fewer children enrolled in public schools will negatively impact school funding. But this may be a shortsighted expectation.

We are already seeing a push to vaccinate homeschooled children. Parents who homeschool in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Tenessee, and North Dakota must submit either proof of vaccination or a vaccination exemption as provided by their respective state law. Across the country, other states are considering bills that would address vaccinating homeschoolers.

Virginia is one of nearly a dozen states that have compulsory vaccination laws for homeschoolers but doesn’t require submission of proof of vaccination.  However, the superintendent can request such proof at any time, requiring parents to submit shot records or exemptions. In states that don’t have any law in place regarding vaccinations for homeschoolers, it seems it’s only a matter of time until they do. The Pennsylvania legal code § 23.83  clearly asserts that vaccination requirements pertain to public, private, vocational, special education students and homeschooled children.

Further changing the landscape for homeschoolers, a lack of vaccination compliance could lead to some counties prohibiting unvaccinated homeschoolers from participating in school extracurricular activities.

The Endless Pursuit

When the industry realizes that mandating vaccination schoolchildren doesn’t eradicate their targeted pathogens, they’ll claim that every child – from birth to age 18 and beyond – must receive every dose of every vaccine.

In short, when a health emergency is declared, based on only a few infected persons, health officers can take any action they deem necessary to control the spread of “communicable disease.” City and state officials can issue a ban on the non-vaccinated in public spaces and fine families who don’t vaccinate during emergency orders.

And what will happen when this doesn’t work?

Adults will be the next target for boosters and more. The CDC is already ramping up the need for adult boosters. Watch for this call to action that is beginning across all media outlets.

For example, reports recently surfaced that a 43-year old flight attendant had contracted measles and died. A TIME report scandalized the event, hammering home the Israeli woman’s age and lack of vaccine booster protection. However, the article failed to mention that she died from encephalitis, a complication from the infection, which can also be a complication from the vaccine. For those unfamiliar with the MMR vaccine insert may not know encephalitis is listed as an adverse event.

Do you see the slippery slope?

What would a world with mandated vaccines for all look like? It is foolish to assume that imposing vaccination requirements for adults are not next in line. Mandating a person to receive (purchase) a vaccine is the same as mandating everyone in America to purchase a particular brand of car or a lawnmower. With no liability, vaccine manufacturers are receiving a blank check to introduce as many vaccines as possible.

We’ve just scratched the surface of this issue. The pervasiveness of their plan is alarming. No one will be untouched by the decisions legislators are being pushed to make.

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Dani Lasher is a writer, motherhood coach, and health advocate living just outside of Washington, DC. While passionate about informed consent and women’s birthing choices, she’s also slightly obsessed with city living and cooking. You can catch up with Dani at her site, BumpMama.