Kent Heckenlively, New York Times bestselling author of Plague of Corruption, calls upon both common sense and legal precedence to fight against vaccine mandates around the country. "My body, my choice!" used to be the rallying cry of the left in the abortion fight. But now this same principle of bodily autonomy is the central argument of conservatives, such as that of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in fierce opposition to so-called "vaccine passports," which would limit whether an individual could attend movies or other public events, work, or even go to school, if they chose to decline a COVID-19 vaccine. While cities like New York close their doors to unvaccinated people, the fight against vaccine mandates is cobbling together an unexpected alliance across the political spectrum, such as the Black mayor of Boston, Kim Janey, who recently claimed, "there's a long history" in this country of people "needing to show their papers" and declaring any such passport as akin to slavery. The starting point agreed upon by all parties as to whether the government can bring such pressure to bear upon individuals is the 1905 US Supreme Court of Jacobson v. Massachusetts. In that case, a Lutheran pastor declined a smallpox vaccination and was fined $5, the equivalent of a little more than $150 in today's currency, or less than many traffic tickets. The Jacobson case sparked a shameful legacy in American jurisprudence, being used as the sole reasoning by the US Supreme Court to allow the forced sterilization of a female psychiatric patient in 1927. This ruling paved the way for the involuntary sterilization of more than sixty thousand mental patients and gave legal justification to the eugenics movement, one of the darkest chapters in American medicine. In The Case Against Vaccine Mandates, New York Times bestselling author Kent Heckenlively, whose books have courageously taken on Big Pharma, Google, and Facebook, now points his razor sharp legal and literary skills against vaccine passports and mandates, which he believes to be the defining issue as to whether we continue to exist as a free and independent people.

This open access book discusses individual, collective, and institutional responsibilities with regard to vaccination from the perspective of philosophy and public health ethics. It addresses the issue of what it means for a collective to be morally responsible for the realisation of herd immunity and what the implications of collective responsibility are for individual and institutional responsibilities. The first chapter introduces some key concepts in the vaccination debate, such as ‘herd immunity’, ‘public goods’, and ‘vaccine refusal’; and explains why failure to vaccinate raises certain ethical issues. The second chapter analyses, from a philosophical perspective, the relationship between individual, collective, and institutional responsibilities with regard to the realisation of herd immunity. The third chapter is about the principle of least restrictive alternative in public health ethics and its implications for vaccination policies. Finally, the fourth chapter presents an ethical argument for unqualified compulsory vaccination, i.e. for compulsory vaccination that does not allow for any conscientious objection. The book will appeal to philosophers interested in public health ethics and the general public interested in the philosophical underpinning of different arguments about our moral obligations with regard to vaccination.

In The Case for Vaccine Mandates, Alan Dershowitz—New York Times bestselling author and one of America’s most respected legal scholars—makes an argument, against the backdrop of ideologically driven and politicized objections, for mandating (with medical exceptions) vaccinations as a last resort, if proved necessary to prevent the spread of COVID. Alan Dershowitz has been called “one of the most prominent and consistent defenders of civil liberties in America” by Politico and “the nation’s most peripatetic civil liberties lawyer and one of its most distinguished defenders of individual rights” by Newsweek. He is also a fair-minded and even-handed expert on civil liberties and constitutional rights, and in this book offers his knowledge and insight to help readers understand how mandated vaccination and compulsion to wearing masks should and would be upheld in the courts. The Case for Vaccine Mandates offers a straightforward analytical perspective: If a vaccine significantly reduces the threat of spreading a serious and potentially deadly disease without significant risks to those taking the vaccine, the case for governmental compulsion grows stronger. If a vaccine only reduces the risk and seriousness of COVID to the vaccinated person but does little to prevent the spread or seriousness to others, the case is weaker. Dershowitz addresses these and the issue of masking through a libertarian approach derived from John Stuart Mill, the English philosopher and political economist whose doctrine he summarizes as, “your right to swing your fist ends at the tip of my nose.” Dershowitz further explores the subject of mandates by looking to what he describes as the only Supreme Court decision that is directly on point to this issue; decided in 1905, Jacobson v. Massachusetts involved a Cambridge ordinance mandating vaccination against smallpox and a fine for anyone who refused. In the end, The Case for Vaccine Mandates represents an icon in American law and due process reckoning with what unfortunately has become a reflection of our dangerously divisive age, where even a pandemic and the responses to it, divide us along partisan and ideological lines. It is essential reading for anyone interested in a non-partisan, civil liberties, and constitutional analysis.

A “clear and insightful” takedown of the anti-vaccination movement, from its 19th-century antecedents to modern-day Facebook activists—with strategies for refuting false claims of friends and family (Financial Times) Vaccines are a documented success story, one of the most successful public health interventions in history. Yet there is a vocal anti-vaccination movement, featuring celebrity activists (including Kennedy scion Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and actress Jenny McCarthy) and the propagation of anti-vax claims through books, documentaries, and social media. In Anti-Vaxxers, Jonathan Berman explores the phenomenon of the anti-vaccination movement, recounting its history from its nineteenth-century antecedents to today’s activism, examining its claims, and suggesting a strategy for countering them. After providing background information on vaccines and how they work, Berman describes resistance to Britain’s Vaccination Act of 1853, showing that the arguments anticipate those made by today’s anti-vaxxers. He discusses the development of new vaccines in the twentieth century, including those protecting against polio and MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), and the debunked paper that linked the MMR vaccine to autism; the CDC conspiracy theory promoted in the documentary Vaxxed; recommendations for an alternative vaccination schedule; Kennedy’s misinformed campaign against thimerosal; and the much-abused religious exemption to vaccination. Anti-vaxxers have changed their minds, but rarely because someone has given them a list of facts. Berman argues that anti-vaccination activism is tied closely to how people see themselves as parents and community members. Effective pro-vaccination efforts should emphasize these cultural aspects rather than battling social media posts.

The Vaccine Book, Second Edition provides comprehensive information on the current and future state of vaccines. It reveals the scientific opportunities and potential impact of vaccines, including economic and ethical challenges, problems encountered when producing vaccines, how clinical vaccine trials are designed, and how to introduce vaccines into widespread use. Although vaccines are now available for many diseases, there are still challenges ahead for major diseases, such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. This book is designed for students, researchers, public health officials, and all others interested in increasing their understanding of vaccines. It answers common questions regarding the use of vaccines in the context of a rapidly expanding anti-vaccine environment. This new edition is completely updated and revised with new and unique topics, including new vaccines, problems of declining immunization rates, trust in vaccines, the vaccine hesitancy, and the social value of vaccines for the community vs. the individual child's risk. - Provides insights into diseases that could be prevented, along with the challenges facing research scientists in the world of vaccines - Gives new ideas about future vaccines and concepts - Introduces new vaccines and concepts - Gives ideas about challenges facing public and private industrial investors in the vaccine area - Discusses the problem of declining immunization rates and vaccine hesitancy

A renowned researcher vigorously challenges the anti-vaccine movement in this powerful defense of science in the face of fear.