Abstract
Background
In a recent report from the World Health Organization, Vaccine Hesitancy, “the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines,” was listed as one of the top ten threats to global health in 2019 (World Health Organisation 2019). This article will examine this issue primarily in the context of religious vaccine exemptions in the USA.
Methods
The article assesses available research on the use of religious vaccine exemptions and the public health effects these exemptions have in relation to preventable contagious diseases.
Results
Religious vaccine exemptions are available in the vast majority of American states. However, there is very little religious justification for refusing current vaccine protocols recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As a result, these exemptions are frequently used ostensibly for religious reasons by those supporting the current anti-vaccination movement that has emerged over approximately the last 20 years in the United States and abroad, posing a serious risk to public health.
Conclusions
The American constitutional freedom of religion does not guarantee the protection of religious practices that are a direct threat to public health. Therefore, I will argue that religious leaders have an obligation to join with the public health community in order to promote public policy that will contribute to ending nonmedical (including religious) vaccinations.
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David C. McDuffie is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies and a member of the Environment and Sustainability Program Advisory Council in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Sustainability at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is also a Fellow at The Center for Religion and Environment at Sewanee: The University of the South and Chair of the Diocesan Committee on Environmental Ministry for the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. His work revolves around the interdisciplinary conversations between religion and the natural sciences, and the ways in which these conversations contribute to ecological conservation and public health.
The author has read and adhered to the Authorship Principles of The Journal of Public Health.
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McDuffie, D.C. Sacred immunity: religion, vaccines, and the protection of public health in America. J Public Health (Berl.) 29, 1365–1371 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-020-01254-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-020-01254-7