With the expansion of state governments’ crackdown on vaccination exemptions facing significant obstacles after, in 2015, California eliminated nearly all vaccination exemptions for children in government schools, private schools, and day care, Alex Newman writes at The New American that Scott Gottlieb, the head of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has been publicly suggesting the US government mandate that states restrict or eliminate vaccination exemptions for children.
Is this mere bluster as we saw with former Attorney General Jeff Sessions suggesting the US should prosecute people complying with liberalized state marijuana laws? Donald Trump had during the 2016 presidential campaign supported letting states go their own way on marijuana. Similarly, Newman writes that Trump, as a candidate, expressed concern about vaccine dangers and supported parents’ right to choice in the matter.
Further, in January of 2017, Robert Kennedy, Jr, who has written much concerning potential vaccine dangers and has challenged pharmaceutical companies and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in regard to vaccines, announced then-President-elect Trump had requested Kennedy chair a US government commission on vaccination safety and scientific integrity, though that chairmanship and commission have not materialized.
It is unclear what, if anything, will come from Gottlieb’s threats. Still, it is important to keep watch on the potential for the US government expanding its power in this area. Libertarian communicator and former presidential candidate Ron Paul stressed the importance of the vaccinations mandate issue when he asked in a February of 2015 editorial regarding the issue, “if government can override parental or personal health care decisions, then what area of our lives is off-limits to government interference?”
