Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-45l2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T14:10:09.169Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Funding the Costs of Disease Outbreaks Caused by Non-Vaccination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Charlotte A. Moser ,
Dorit Reiss  and
Robert L. Schwartz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Preventable diseases not only cause suffering and physical harm, they also impose financial costs on private individuals and public authorities. By disregarding evidence of the safety and effectiveness of vaccines and choosing not to vaccinate their children, some parents are increasing the risk of outbreaks and their attendant costs. In a very real sense, since those families are not currently required to cover the full costs of outbreaks, they are externalizing those costs onto others – individuals affected and society at large. Since non-vaccinating can directly lead to costly outbreaks, this paper argues that it is both fair and desirable to impose those costs upon those making the choice not to vaccinate. There are, in fact, strong policy reasons to support doing so regardless of whether we use an approach based on fault or a no-fault framework. Not only can the decision not to vaccinate be seen as culpable, aside from the culpability consideration, it is appropriate to compel those deciding not to vaccinate to internalize the costs in order to prevent free riding and to mitigate harms to others.

Type
Independent
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , Autumn 2015 , pp. 633 - 647
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Chen, S. Y. et al. , “Health Care-associated Measles Outbreak in the United States after an Importation: Challenges and Economic Impact,” Journal of Infectious Disease 203, no. 11 (2011): 1517–1525; Sugerman, D. et al. , “Measles Outbreak in a Highly Vaccinated Population, San Diego, 2008: Role of the Intentionally Undervaccinated,” Pediatrics 125, no. 4 (2010): 747–755; Calugar, A. et al. , “Nosocomial Pertussis: Cost of an Outbreak and Benefits of Vaccinating Health Care Workers,” Clinical Infectious Diseases 42, no. 7 (2006): 981–988; Lee, L. H. Pichichero, M. E., “Cost of Illness Due to Bordatella Pertussis in Families,” Archives of Family Medicine 9, no. 10 (2000): 989–996.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Panhuis, W. G. et al. , “Contagious Diseases in the United States from 1988 to the Present,” New England Journal of Medicine 369, no. 22 (2013): 2152–2158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salmon, D. A. Moulton, L. H. Omer, S. B. deHart, M. P. Stokley, S. Halsey, N. A., “Factors Associated with Refusal of Childhood Vaccines among Parents of School-Aged Children,” Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 159 (2005): 470–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Omer, S. et al. , “Nonmedical Exemptions to School Immunization Requirements: Secular Trends and Association of State Policies with Pertussis Incidence,” JAMA 296 (2006): 1757–1763; Omer, S. et al. , “Geographic Clustering of Nonmedical Exemptions to School Immunization Requirements and Associations with Geographic Clustering of Pertussis,” American Journal of Epidemiology 168 (2008): 1389–1396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Update: Measles – United States, January – July 2008,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 57 (2008): 893–896; Ortega-Sanchez, I. R. et al. , “The Economic Burden of Sixteen Measles Outbreaks on United States Public Health Departments in 2011,” Vaccine 32 (2014): 1311–1317; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Pertussis Epidemic – Washington, 2012,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 61 (2012): 517–522.Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Measles Cases in the United States Reach 20-Year High,” May 29, 2014, available at <http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/p0529-measles.html> (last visited September 15, 2015).+(last+visited+September+15,+2015).>Google Scholar
Feikin, D. et al. , “Individual and Community Risks of Measles and Pertussis Associated with Personal Exemptions to Immunization,” JAMA 284 (2000): 3145–3150; Von den Hof, S. et al. , “Measles Epidemic in the Netherlands: 1999–2000,” Journal of Infectious Disease 186 (2002): 1483–1486.Google Scholar
Lee, Pichichero, , supra note 1.Google Scholar
Babigumira, J. B. et al. , “Health Economics of Rubella: A Systematic Review to Assess the Value of Rubella Vaccination,” BMC Public Health 13 (2013): 406–418 (represented in 2014 U.S. dollars).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shepard, C. W. et al. , “Cost-Effectiveness of Conjugate Meningococcal Vaccination Strategies in the United States,” Pediatrics 115 (2005): 1220–1232 (represented in 2014 U.S. dollars).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ortega-Sanchez, , supra note 5.Google Scholar
Parker, A. et al. , “Implications of a 2005 Measles Outbreak in Indiana for Sustained Elimination of Measles in the United States,” New England Journal of Medicine 355 (2006): 447–455.Google Scholar
See Table 1. For additional examples of exposures in a variety of contexts see also: Lasher, L. et al. , “Contacting Passengers After Exposure to Measles on an International Flight: Implications for Responding to New Disease Threats and Bioterrorism,” Public Health Reports 119 (2004): 458–463; Chen, T. et al. , “Measles Outbreak Associated with an International Youth Sporting Event in the United States, 2007,” Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal 29 (2010): 794–800.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, , supra note 1.Google Scholar
Coleman, M. S. et al. , “Direct Costs of a Single Case of Refugee-Imported Measles in Kentucky,” Vaccine 30 (2012): 317–321. These numbers are available at: <http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2014USbt_15bs2n_10#usgs302> (last visited September 15, 2015).Google Scholar
U.S. Government Spending. 2014, available at <http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2014USbt_15bs2n_10#usgs302> (last visited September 15, 2015).+(last+visited+September+15,+2015).>Google Scholar
Trust for America's Health, Investing in America's Health: A State-by-State Look at Public Health Funding and Key Health Facts (April 2013), available at <http://healthyamericans.org/assets/files/TFAH2013InvstgAmrcsHlth05%20FINAL.pdf> (last visited September 15, 2015). (last visited September 15, 2015).' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Trust+for+America's+Health,+Investing+in+America's+Health:+A+State-by-State+Look+at+Public+Health+Funding+and+Key+Health+Facts+(April+2013),+available+at++(last+visited+September+15,+2015).>Google Scholar
Ortega-Sanchez, , supra note 5.Google Scholar
Osterholm, M. et al. , “Efficacy and Effectiveness of Influenza Vaccines: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” The Lancet Infectious Diseases 12 (2001): 36–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, F. et al. , “Economic Evaluation of the Routine Childhood Immunization Program in the United States, 2009,” Pediatrics 133 (2014): 1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pennsylvania v. Gen. Pub. Utils. Corp., 710 F.2d 117, 122–23 (3d Cir. 1983).Google Scholar
Caplan, A. L. et al. , “Free to Choose But Liable for the Consequences: Should Non-Vaccinators Be Penalized for the Harm They Do?” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 40, no. 3 (2012): 606–611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, A. M. et al. , “Vaccine Beliefs of Parents Who Oppose Compulsory Vaccination,” Public Health Reports 120 (2005): 252–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maglione, M. A. et al. , “Safety of Vaccines Used for Routine Immunization of US Children: A Systematic Review,” Pediatrics (2014), available at <http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/06/26/peds.2014–1079.abstract> (last visited September 15, 2015).+(last+visited+September+15,+2015).>Google Scholar
Offit, P. Moser, C., Vaccines and Your Child: Separating Fact from Fiction (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011); Kata, A., “A Postmodern Pandora's Box: Anti-vaccination Misinformation on the Internet,” Vaccine 28(2010): 1709; Iannelli, V., “Anti Vaccine Myths and Misinformation,” Pediatrics.About.Com, January 17, 2015, available at <http://pediatrics.about.com/od/immunizations/tp/Anti-Vaccine-Myths-and-Misinformation.htm> (last visited September 15, 2015); Calandrillo, S., “Vanishing Vaccinations: Why Are So Many Americans Opting Out of Vaccinating Their Children,” University Michigan Journal of Law Reform 37 (2004): 353–440.Google Scholar
Offit, P., Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All (New York: Basic Books, 2010): At 111–123.Google Scholar
Shorter v. Drury, 695 P.2d 116 (1985), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 827 (1985)).Google Scholar
Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158, 166–67 (1944).Google Scholar
Commonwealth v. Twitchell, 617 N.E.2d 609 (Mass. 1993); State v. Norman, 808 P.2d 1159 (Wash. App. 1991).Google Scholar
Vaughan v. Menlove, 132 Eng. Rep. 490 (C.P.) (1837) (“[W] hether the Defendant had acted honestly and bona fide to the best of his own judgment…would leave so vague a line as to afford no rule at all…[Because the judgments of individuals are…] as variable as the length of the foot of each…we ought rather to adhere to the rule which requires in all cases a regard to caution such as a man of ordinary prudence would observe”).Google Scholar
Reed v. Tacoma Ry. & Power Comp., 188 P. 409 (Wash. 1921).Google Scholar
Wolfe, R. Sharp, L., “Vaccination or Immunization? The Impact of Search Terms on the Internet,” Journal of Health Communication 10 (2005): 537–551.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fine, P. et al. , “Herd Immunity: A Rough Guide,” Vaccines 52 (2011): 911–916.Google Scholar
Conis, E., “How the Poor Get Blamed for Disease,” The Atlantic, November 9, 2014, available at <http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/11/how-the-poor-get-blamed-for-disease/382338> (last visited September 15, 2015).+(last+visited+September+15,+2015).>Google Scholar
Reiss, D. R., “Compensating the Victims of Failure to Vaccinate: What Are the Options?” Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy 23 (2014): 595–633.Google Scholar
Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11, 25–27 (1905).Google Scholar
Caplan, , supra note 22; Reiss, , supra note 35.Google Scholar
Parkins, C., “Protecting the Herd: A Public Health, Economics and Legal Argument for Taxing Parents Who Opt-Out of Mandatory Childhood Vaccinations,” Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal 21 (2012): 437–490.Google Scholar
Lobel, O. Amir, O., “Healthy Choices: Regulatory Design and Processing Modes of Health Decisions,” Social Science Research Network (2011), available at <http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1876734> (last visited September 15, 2015).CrossRef+(last+visited+September+15,+2015).>Google Scholar
Zucht v. King, 260 U.S. 174 (1922).Google Scholar
Krauss, M. I., “Public Services Meet Private Law,” San Diego Law Review 44 (2005): 1–53; Lytton, T., “Should Government Be Allowed to Recover the Costs of Public Services from Tortfeasors?: Tort Subsidies, the Limits of Loss Spreading, and the Free Public Services Doctrine,” Tulane Law Review 76 (2002): 727–781.Google Scholar
Lytton, , supra note 41.Google Scholar
32 American Law Reports 261 (6th ed.); Krauss, , supra note 41.Google Scholar
See, e.g., Cincinnati v. Beretta U.S. A. Corp., 768 N.E.2d 1136 (Ohio 2002) (holding that a city's allegation that the negligent conduct of the handgun manufacturers, trade associations, and handgun distributor, relating to the manufacture and distribution of firearms, involved continuing misconduct and stated a claim for recoupment of costs of government services, such as police, emergency, health, corrections, and prosecution services under a public nuisance theory); California v. Atl. Richfield Co., 2014 WL 280526 (Cal. Super. 2014) (awarding damages in a lead paint case on a public nuisance theory).Google Scholar
E.g. Cal. Health & Saf. Code §13009 et seq., NRS 459.537 (2), (3) (Nevada), Alaska Stat. § 46.03.822.Google Scholar
Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 76.04.495 (West 2014); Cal. Health & Saf. Code §13009 et seq. (West 2014); N.C. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 106–947 (West 2014).Google Scholar
Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 459.537 (2), (3) (West 2014); Alaska Stat. Ann. § 46.03.822 (West 2014); N.C. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 166A-27 (West 2014).Google Scholar
Cal. Civ. Code § 3479 (West 2014).Google Scholar
See, e.g., Sacramento, Cal., Health & Safety Code § 8.04.100 (2014), available at <http://qcode.us/codes/sacramento/> (last visited September 15, 2015).+(last+visited+September+15,+2015).>Google Scholar
Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 28–910 (West 2014).Google Scholar
N.C. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 166A-19.62 (West 2014).Google Scholar
Caplan, et al. , supra note 22 and Reiss, , supra note 35.Google Scholar