Since 1905, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has ruled that state vaccine mandates are legal & constitutional. In this case, it was to control smallpox, which vaccines have now eliminated. They worked.
If you are pro-life, you must be pro-vaccine.
SCOTUS: Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905)
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/197/11/
Some quotes from that decision:
“The police power of a State embraces such reasonable regulations … established directly by legislative enactment, as will protect the public health and safety.”
“It is within the police power of a State to enact a compulsory vaccination law, and it is for the legislature, and not for the courts, to determine in the first instance whether vaccination is or is not the best mode for the prevention of smallpox and the protection of the public health.”
“… the liberty secured by the Constitution … does not import an absolute right in each person to be, at all times and in all circumstances, wholly freed from restraint. There are manifold restraints to which every person is necessarily subject for the common good. On any other basis, organized society could not exist with safety to its members.”
“The possession and enjoyment of all rights are subject to such reasonable conditions as may be deemed by the governing authority of the country essential to the safety, health, peace, good order and morals of the community. Even liberty itself, the greatest of all rights, is not unrestricted license to act according to one’s own will. It is only freedom from restraint under conditions essential to the equal enjoyment of the same right by others. It is then liberty regulated by law.”
“Upon the principle of self-defense, of paramount necessity, a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease which threatens the safety of its members.”
“it was the duty of the constituted authorities primarily to keep in view the welfare, comfort and safety of the many, and not permit the interests of the many to be subordinated to the wishes or convenience of the few.”
Mass. Law (c. 75, § 137): “the board of health of a city or town if, in its opinion, it is necessary for the public health or safety shall require and enforce the vaccination and revaccination of all the inhabitants thereof and shall provide them with the means of free vaccination. Whoever, being over twenty-one years of age and not under guardianship, refuses or neglects to comply with such requirement shall forfeit five dollars.”
SCOTUS: Zucht v. King
“… it is within the police power of a state to provide for compulsory vaccination.” — Zucht v. King, 260 U.S. 174 (1922) https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/260/174/
SCOTUS: 2021, Application Denied
“Ryan Klaassen, et al. v Indiana University:
Application (21A15) denied by Justice Barrett.” https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/21a15.html
“Barrett leaves Indiana University’s vaccine mandate in place” https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/08/barrett-leaves-indiana-universitys-vaccine-mandate-in-place/
What science shows us:
Do NOT tell us this isn’t real. 8(
Background Info
There are numerous vaccine mandates in ALL 50 states.
https://www.immunize.org/laws/polio.asp
Here are some helpful articles:
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobson_v._Massachusetts
- “Jacobson v Massachusetts at 100 years: police power and civil liberties in tension” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1449223/
- “Manifold Restraints: Liberty, Public Health, and the Legacy of Jacobson v Massachusetts” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1449222/, https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2004.055145
- “Jacobson v Massachusetts: it’s not your great-great-grandfather’s public health law” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1449224/
- “The continuing tensions between individual rights and public health. Talking Point on public health versus civil liberties” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2267241/
- “The Legal Case for Compulsory Vaccinations” https://bradblog.com/?p=13940
A Footnote
