The Long-Term Success of Mandatory Vaccination Laws After Implementing the First Vaccination Campaign in 19th Century Rural Finland.

ABSTRACT: In high-income countries, childhood infections are on the rise, a phenomenon attributed in part to persistent hesitancy toward vaccines. To combat vaccine hesitancy, several countries recently made vaccinating children mandatory, but the effect of such vaccination laws on vaccination coverage remains debated, and the long-term consequences are unknown. Here we quantified the consequences of vaccination laws on vaccination coverage, monitoring for a period of 63 years (1837-1899) rural Finland's first vaccination campaign against the highly lethal childhood infection smallpox. We found that annual vaccination campaigns were focused on children up to 1 year old and that their vaccination coverage was low and declined over time until the implementation of the vaccination law, which stopped th

SUBMITTER: Ukonaho S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9440364 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature