Opinion: A judge’s infuriating ruling on vaccination puts Mississippi’s children at risk
Mississippi consistently ranks last or near-last in the United States on measures of health. But for decades, it ranked highest in vaccination rates, because of its strong vaccination law. Now, that singular achievement may change, thanks to a case brought by an anti-vaccine group. This not only puts Mississippi’s children at risk of disease, but threatens to undermine protection for other children in other states.
In 1979, Mississippi’s Supreme Court struck down the religious exemption to its school vaccination requirement. Since then, Mississippi’s only exemption has been for medical reasons. As a result, traditionally last-place Mississippi led the nation in a key health care metric: childhood vaccination rates for kids entering kindergarten. This helped Mississippi keep its rate of preventable diseases low.
