What’s the basic legal framework for mandatory vaccines?
The Supreme Court’s 1904 Jacobson v. Massachusetts decision created the basic framework. It allowed states to compel their residents to accept vaccines unless it would be “cruel and unusual to the last degree” to do so. (Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905)) It affirmed states’ rights under their police powers to put public health and welfare before an individual’s right to informed consent.
