What's the point of Michigan's vaccine waiver education requirement?

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Mark Navin, PhD
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Oakland University
Recorded February 14, 2018

Since 2015, Michigan parents have had to attend education sessions at public health offices if they want their unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children to attend school or daycare. This policy seems to have succeeded: the state’s nonmedical exemption rate declined by 35% from 2014 to 2015. But what explains this apparent success? Are parents changing their minds as a result of mandatory vaccine education, or are they choosing to vaccinate rather than be inconvenienced by education sessions? Also, does vaccine education promote additional public health goals, i.e. other than short-term vaccination compliance? This presentation attempts to answer these questions by drawing on immunization records, interviews with public health staff, and surveys of health department leaders, with the goal of informing arguments about the value of Michigan's vaccine waiver education policy.

This lecture was part of the 2017-2018 Bioethics Brownbag & Webinar Series, presented by the Center for Ethics.

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What's the point of Michigan's vaccine waiver education requirement?

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