Reiss — Volume 63, Issue 4

The 2015 Disneyland measles outbreak exposed a rising public health threat: increasing parental vaccine refusal driven by misinformation despite the CDC's declaration of measles elimination in 2000. Reiss and Weithorn examine how legal systems can strengthen childhood immunization rates amid expanding nonmedical exemptions to vaccination requirements. The article documents dramatic increases in measles cases following the Wakefield fraud and subsequent anti-vaccine advocacy, with particularly high infection risks in low-vaccination communities including the Amish. The legal framework governing vaccination involves state-mandated immunization requirements prior to school entry, balanced against medical, religious, and philosophical exemptions. The authors analyze the authority underlying these policies and catalog state-by-state exemption patterns, revealing correlations between nonmedical exemption availability and disease outbreak clusters. Part IV examines parental motivations for vaccine refusal, including articulated safety concerns, mistrust of government and medical professionals, preference for alternative medicine, and claims that mandatory vaccination policies violate individual liberty. The article contends that addressing this public health crisis requires understanding both the legal infrastructure and the psychology driving parental hesitancy. High immunization rates provide crucial population-level protection, safeguarding vulnerable unvaccinated individuals.

Topics: Administrative Law · Civil Rights · Constitutional Law

Keywords: vaccination · childhood immunization · Disneyland measles outbreak · nonmedical exemptions · school entry requirements · parental vaccine refusal · Bruseswitz v. Wyeth