Constitutionality of Compulsory Childhood Vaccination

Abstract

Vaccination is the main health intervention to reduce child mortality. Despite the success of vaccination, there has been an increase in the number of vaccine hesitancy, especially among parents. Hesitation towards vaccination especially among parents has resorted to certain countries enforcing compulsory childhood vaccination laws. The same scenario happened in Malaysia, which may necessitate the Ministry of Health to make vaccination compulsory for children as to protect them against vaccine preventable diseases and for the benefit of the society as a whole. This article discusses the imposition of compulsory vaccination under the purview of constitutional rights of the state. The main discussion will revolve around the requirement of compulsory vaccination of children and the constitutional justifications for the state in imposing such compulsory requirements under the law. This paper seeks to examine the constitutionality of enforcing compulsory vaccination for children in Malaysia. Therefore for the purpose of this article, the vaccination law as implemented in the United States will be referred. At the end of this article, some recommendations are proposed in relation to the drafting of a legal framework on compulsory childhood vaccination in Malaysia. This article employs a doctrinal analysis and secondary data from academic journals and online databases.