Davis / 4 Senator Roscoe

S.S.S.S ._____

A BILL
To make vaccinations mandatory for all children attending schools in the United States school system.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This act may be cited as the School Vaccination Act of 2015.
SECTION 2. FINDINGS
Congress hereby finds and declares that,
1)Vaccinations have eradicated numerous previously dangerous diseases.
2) Schools with mandated school vaccinations had significantly lower incidence rates for diseases
3) Creating exceptions for vaccinations puts the whole population at potential risk.
4) Lack of mandated vaccinations ruins the herd immunity concept.
5) Vaccinations protect future generations.
6) Vaccinations save lives, especially those of children.
7) When countries remove vaccinations, epidemics can occur.
8) Vaccinations have a safe amount of chemicals.
9) Numerous reputable medical organizations state that vaccinations are safe for children.
10) Vaccinations benefit the economy.
11.)Pneumococcal and rotavirus diseases in the worlds 73 poorest countries over the next decade would result in an
estimated $63 billion in treatment and productivity savings.
12.) Diseases] come at a tremendous cost to society, for vaccine-preventable diseases impose $10 billion worth of
healthcare costs and over 30,000 otherwise avoidable deaths in America each year.
13.) In some areas, nearly one out of five children have not received their recommended vaccines. The consequences
are serious not only for those unprotected children, but for the rest of society as well.
14.) Since 2010, there have been between 10,000 and 50,000 cases of whooping cough each year in the United States
and about 10 to 20 babies, many of which were too young to be fully vaccinated, died each year.
15.)Vaccines given in early childhood are 85 percent to 95 percent effective, according to the Centers for Disease
Control.
16.) Averting short-term costs of disease treatment saves $1.4 billion and avoiding the lost wages of caretakers saves
$313 million, while averting the long term economic costs of lost productivity due to disability and death may add
savings of $61 billion to these economies in the long term.
17.)Beyond preventing more than 100 million cases of illness and averting 3.7 million deaths in young children over
the next ten years, immunizing children with three crucial vaccines against pneumonia, diarrhea and meningitis
would hold major economic benefits for both families and governments
SECTION 3. STATUTORY LANGUAGE
A) To persuade state legislators to revoke religious or philosophical exemptions for minors attending public schools
from mandatory vaccinations through a decrease in federal funding
B) Any state that does not revoke mandatory vaccination waivers for minors attending public school by June 1, 2016
shall undergo a 5% decrease in federal funding for the states public education system. This reduction of funding
shall be overseen by the Department of Education.
C) The School Vaccination Act of 2015 shall go into effect January 1st, 2016.

Some individuals in todays society choose not to vaccinate their children due to religious or philosophical reasons,
putting everyone at risk. The School Vaccination Act of 2015 should be passed because the lack of mandated
vaccinations ruins the herd immunity concept of vaccinations, school- aged children are more susceptible to have and
spread diseases, and vaccinations are very cost effective and beneficial to the economy.
One of the most important aspects of vaccination and its effects is herd immunity. Herd immunity is the
protection against many diseases because there is little opportunity for an outbreak (Community Immunity). When
the majority of the population is vaccinated, there is little to no opportunity for diseases to have outbreaks, however,
when people take advantage of the government regulated exceptions, the whole concept of herd immunity loses its
strength. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, The percentages of vaccination coverage
registered in the United States and Europe are not sufficient to establish herd immunity. This means that at the
moment, we are currently putting our population at risk due to the low percentage of vaccinated individuals in the
United States. In some areas, nearly one out of five children has not received their recommended vaccines
(Calandrillo). The consequences of not being vaccinated are serious not only for those unprotected children, but for
the rest of society as well because everyone is reliant on each other. There have been several different diseases
eradicated by the use of vaccinations and herd immunity, such as polio and small pox. Smallpox eradication
eliminated the suffering of an estimated 10-15 million people a year and saved the lives of 1.5 million people per
year (Eradication of Infectious Diseases). Without the use of vaccinations, millions of individuals would have to
face the burden, disability and death resulting from polio. These types of diseases are extremely contagious and the
lack of vaccinations would be the demise to todays society. An example of an attempted eradication of a disease that
failed due to individuals not vaccinations is the measles. In the Americas, spurred on by the success of regional
cessation of transmission of wild poliovirusAs a consequence, transmission of measles virus was temporarily
interrupted in the Americas on several occasions but reestablished again by importation (Jamison 351). Just a few
unvaccinated individuals can wreck havoc on a nation-wide push to eradicate a highly infectious disease that has
affected millions throughout history.
Children spend the majority of their time together at school, touching and breathing the same air and
surroundings. Because of this, schools are breeding grounds of diseases due to their close physical contact for
extended periods of time, inadequate hygiene habits, and underdeveloped immune systems place children attending
childcare and special needs settings at increased risk of infection (Control of Communicable). Due to this, there
needs to be an extra effort of caution towards protecting said children. Another study claims that, Children are
immunized early because they are susceptible to diseases at a young age, and the consequences of these diseases can
be very serious, and even life-threatening, for infants and young children (Vaccines). When there are a few
individuals who are not vaccinated and they contract a disease, they put those most susceptible, children, at higher
risks. With this said, an epidemic of mumps once arose involving about 3,000 people and mostly affected high
school-aged students who were part of a close-knit religious community in New York City and attended schools in
which they had very close contact(Mumps Cases and). Everyone, including teenagers are susceptible to infectious
diseases when put close to each other. When the disease contractor is a child as well, there are now two lives at stake,
simply due to misinformation or refusal to understand vaccinations.
The cost of treating the diseased rather than vaccinating individuals is substantially higher. When there is
someone who has a highly contagious disease, the cost for hospitalizing, treatment and medication overthrows the
cost of creating and testing vaccinations by a landslide. [Diseases] come at a tremendous cost to society, for
vaccine-preventable diseases impose $10 billion worth of healthcare costs and over 30,000 otherwise avoidable
deaths in America each year (Ciolli). Many parents are cost conscious-- having a child can be very costly, and
additional hospital bills are definitely not their first choice to where they were to empty their wallets. Vaccinations
serve as a quick and easy way to avoid high hospital bills due to their effectiveness and cost efficiency. In addition to
cost efficiency, vaccinations benefit the economy. Pneumococcal and rotavirus diseases in the worlds 73 poorest
countries over the next decade would result in an estimated $63 billion in treatment and productivity savings
(Value in Inventing). By investing in the treatment of vaccinations throughout the world, the economy of not only
the United States but also the globe overall would benefit.
Though it may be a painful initial prick, in the long run, vaccinations serve to benefit all. By revoking
religious and philosophical exceptions, the entire population would benefit. This is no longer an issue of the
individual but rather an issue of the whole. Through the actions of a few, millions of people are negatively affected,
whether it be directly as in contracting the illness or indirectly by watching their loved ones suffer. To pass the School
Vaccination Act 2015, tell your loved ones how much they take their health for grated, as it is not guaranteed.