This article was originally published at https://www.npr.org on November 5, 2021. Written by Anya Kamenetz & LA Johnson.
For the past four decades, all 50 U.S. states have required that parents, if they want to enroll their children in any school, public or private, must vaccinate them against contagious diseases like polio and measles. The reason is simple: High rates of vaccination dramatically cut deaths and have all but eliminated some diseases.
But as long as there have been vaccines, there have been people who oppose them, formerly known as "anti-vaccinationists."
