This year, three families brought suit against the city of New York, claiming that their religious freedoms were violated due to the city's school vaccination policies. Their unvaccinated children had been banned from school, sometimes for a month at a time, when vaccine-preventable diseases were suspected on campus. In June, Judge William Kuntz II ruled that families could not claim violation of religious freedom due to the city’s health requirements.
While the case remains unsettled—the families are requesting a retrial—the judgment reopens the debate on religious exemptions from vaccinations and the low rate of vaccination in some of our nation’s private schools. Where should schools draw the line between overall student safety and a family’s right to decide?
This lawsuit is the latest in a rash of media coverage about the anti-vaccine movement, particularly with the outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases across the country. From Idaho to Ohio to Minnesota, people have fallen sick to diseases thought eradicated 50 years ago thanks to medical breakthroughs and preventative shots.
According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the reason for this apparent “failure” of vaccinations lies not in the vaccines, but the dissolution of something called “herd immunity.” When a critical percentage of a population of individuals is immunized, most unvaccinated members of the population are protected from the disease, as there is little chance that unvaccinated people could encounter an infected individual.
For example, if 80%-86% of a population is immune to smallpox, the CDC says that herd immunity would be achieved for the entire population. (If you're interested, check out this graphic by Harvard Health Publications for a more dynamic explanation of herd immunity.)
However, as fewer people are vaccinated, the likelihood of infected individuals transmitting the sickness to unvaccinated people increases. People forget to take booster shots for vaccines which lose effectiveness over time. Sometimes, a patient’s body doesn’t react to the dead viruses or proteins in the vaccine, which means the appropriate antibodies aren’t created. Others can't receive certain vaccines due to allergies and other medical complications. Herd immunity, then, protects those who can’t protect themselves.
But herd immunity has been fading, thanks in part to an antivaccination movement that started in the late 1990s with Andrew Wakefield’s paper on the MMR vaccine causing autism. While the study has since been retracted due to conflicts of interest and manipulated data, many still believe that vaccines and early onset autism are linked.
Some families have religious objections to giving their children and families vaccinations, which brings us back to New York City and the religious exemptions from child vaccination. One of the parents, Ms. Dina Check, told the New York Times that “Disease is pestilence, and pestilence is from the devil. The devil is germs and disease, which is cancer and any of those things that can take you down. But if you trust in the Lord, these things cannot come near you”—which justified her refusal to vaccinate her daughter, even after the school barred her from attendance for her own health and safety.
Ms. Check has enrolled her daughter at a private school that allows her religious abstention from the vaccination requirements, but that may have placed her daughter in even greater danger. According to data from the New York State Department of Health, 245 New York City private schools had vaccination rates less than the critical percentage required for herd immunity. In fact, 37 schools had rates lower than 70%, and nine schools had rates ranging between 41.5% and 18.4%.
While decreased oversight by federal, state, and local governments is a blessing to many private schools, the safety and well-being of students should always come first. Ask yourself and your peers: “What would we do if a vaccine-preventable outbreak occurred on our campus?” From there, find ways to best protect your students from these and other foreseeable tragedies.
Additional ISM resources:
ISM Monthly Update for Admission Officers Vol. 8 No. 2 Swine Flu Vaccine: Balancing the Possible Side Effects Versus the Rewards
ISM Monthly Update for Admission Officers Vol. 7 No. 7 The Ongoing Gardasil Controversy
ISM Monthly Update for Business Officers Vol. 10 No. 2 Reducing Student Risk With Up-to-Date Medical Records
Private School News Vol. 8 No. 2 Top Ten Vaccines for Teenagers
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 29 No. 6 Random Drug Testing Policies for Students
I&P Vol. 30 No. 12 Disaster Planning: What Are Your Insurance Options?
