Brief Historical Background of Vaccines

Jenner’s smallpox vaccine led to the development and research of vaccines for other widespread and epidemic diseases. The twentieth century saw the development of vaccines for such diseases such as polio, tetanus, measles, and others. Similarly, as with the smallpox vaccine, many of these vaccines soon found their way into vaccination programs mandated by the government.

Mandatory smallpox vaccination programs typically arose through state police power legislation authorizing municipalities to deal with outbreaks. If a local municipality decided that the threat of outbreak was sufficient, they would execute their authority to mandate vaccination of everyone in the community, with the exception of those that were medically not recommended to do so. Those that chose not to be vaccinated tended to be quarantined and isolated from the rest of the community.

After observing that diseases became preventable by vaccination, the idea of waiting for an outbreak to trigger for mandatory vaccination slowly became replaced by vaccination programs that focused on the prevention of this diseases.

Despite vaccination being widely considered one of the greatest medical achievements of modern civilization, there are still children that are not being vaccinated throughout the world.

Let’s take a look at the percent of children 19-35 months old receiving vaccinations in the U.S.

According to the CDC, The percent of children 19-35 months old receiving vaccinations for:

Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis (4+ doses DTP, DT, or DTaP): 84.2%

Polio (3+ doses): 93.3%

Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) (1+ doses): 91.5%

Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) (primary series + booster dose): 82.0%

Hepatitis B (Hep B) (3+ doses): 91.6%

Chickenpox (Varicella) (1+ doses): 91.0%

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) (4+ doses): 82.9%

Combined 7-vaccine series: 71.6%

Although the percentages are relatively high, they show that there are children that are not being vaccinated.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has attempted to care of the financial gap by making vaccinations available across socio-economic backgrounds. ACA mandates provision of ACIP-recommended vaccines at no cost-sharing. Health insurance are mandated by law to cover ACIP-recommended vaccines, as well preventive check-ups. However, The Affordable Care Act it’s not extended to undocumented immigrants. Very few states cover children under medicaid look alike programs, such as All-Kids in illinois. However, the majority of the country does not extend their programs to undocumented immigrants, including children.

Similarly, many states have different exceptions to the immunizations requirements. This exceptions include: medical, religious and philosophical reasons.

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For more information on the vaccines that are being covered :

http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts-and-features/fact-sheets/aca-and-immunization/index.html

Resources: 

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2015/02/map_of_vaccination_laws_by_state_personal_belief_exemptions_measles_and.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3216445/
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8852146/Balding06.html?sequence=2