The frequency of vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) outbreaks is increasing in the United States. A principal factor in disease transmission has been susceptible, nonimmune children whose parents have opted to exempt them from school-entry vaccination requirements.
A new study reveals an association between reported vaccine-preventable diseases and an increase in bills that would restrict vaccine exemptions.
“We saw a clear signal where more disease outbreaks prompted legislators to propose bills that would limit the ability to exempt,” says Neal Goldstein, an assistant research professor of epidemiology at Drexel University and author of the study published in JAMA Pediatrics.
A potential explanation of this association is that an uptick in preventable outbreaks prompts media coverage, raises public awareness, and increases advocacy and subsequent legislative response.
Read the full story by Nicole Wetsman at Popular Science
