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90 N.Y.U. L. Rev. Online 1 (2015)

handle is hein.journals/nyulro90 and id is 1 raw text is: 












             STRIVING FOR HERD IMMUNITY


                               ANDREW JANET*

    This Comment argues in favor of large-scale reform that would make it much more
    difficult to avoid immunizing children. Part I provides background on the sources of
    this problem and contends that there is an extremely strong state interest in eradicating
    diseases to which the countervailing individual interest in pursuing an adherence to
    junk science should pale in comparison. Part II argues that the state exemptions for
    religious and personal beliefs are both unnecessary and, again, misguided given the
    strong state interest in eradicating diseases. Part III explores the possibility of
    universal state-level or federal-level mandates for vaccination. The country has
    allowed the destructive impact of Jenny-McCarthyism to run rampantforfar too long.


INTRODUCTION........................................................... 1
    I. THE  PEOPLE'S   INTEREST  IN JUNK  SCIENCE   VERSUS   THE STATE
       INTEREST   IN UNIVERSAL   VACCINATION..............................3
       A.   Andrew   Wakefield's  Fraudulent   Study ......     ......................3
       B.   The  Continued  Influence  of Retracted  Research  ............4
       C.   The  State Interest in Widespread   Vaccinations           .............6
   II. THE  NEEDLESSNESS OF RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL
       OBJECTIONS            ................................         ...........7
       A.   Philosophical   Objections    ..................   ...............  8
       B.   Religious  Objections                         .................................9
       C.   A Military  Analogy                       ................1.................1
  III. THE  LEGITIMACY OF A UNIVERSAL MANDATE .............              ......... 11
       A.   State-Level  Mandates................................. 12
       B.   Federal-Level   Mandates   Under  the Commerce Clause ...... 13
       C.   Federal-Level   Mandates   Under  the Taxing  Power   ................ 15
CONCLUSION                             ..........................................................15


                                 INTRODUCTION

     Few   Playboy centerfolds have had so bizarre a legacy as Jenny


   *  Copyright 0 2014 by Andrew Janet, J.D., 2014, New York University School of Law;
B.S., 2008, University of Pennsylvania. I am thrilled to be the first person to publish a student
Note as New York University Law Review online-only content and am grateful that the Law
Review is leading the charge into an era where shorter, more informal, and more topical student
writing thrives on the Internet. I also want to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Sylvia
Law, whose wisdom inspired this paper and who strongly encouraged its publication; to Adrienne
Lee Benson and Mikayla Consalvo for making the magic happen; to Shayon Ghosh for his
invaluable feedback and for tolerating me once again; to Sarah Molinoff for her hard work
refining the Note in its later stages; to all other editors who contributed to the Note's progress;
and to my incredible family for loving me, supporting me, and vaccinating me.


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