--- title: Mandatory Flu Shot Vaccine: Why Some Experts Want The Mandate description: Herd immunity is part of the logic supporting the mandatory vaccination of young school children. canonical: https://time.com/3657461/mandatory-flu-shots/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-07T22:11:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:21:48.003Z article:section: Health og:title: Why Some Experts Want Mandatory Flu Shots For School Kids og:description: Herd immunity is part of the logic supporting the mandatory vaccination of young school children. og:url: https://time.com/3657461/mandatory-flu-shots/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd67ffddfabf8ac96/698777c32dce016afe9dcb97/462668573.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Flu Outbreak Continues In Bay Area og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Some Experts Want Mandatory Flu Shots For School Kids twitter:description: Herd immunity is part of the logic supporting the mandatory vaccination of young school children. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd67ffddfabf8ac96/698777c32dce016afe9dcb97/462668573.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Some Experts Want Mandatory Flu Shots For School Kids > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=0001e5b4-7bb0-4523-a65a-b24f3c01fca3&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Science Cop: How Anti-Vaxxers Put Everyone at Risk [Watch (HLS stream): Science Cop: How Anti-Vaxxers Put Everyone at Risk](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ai82XWJ8.m3u8) (2:06)  _Published 2014-09-24. TIME's Science Cop Jeffrey Kulger takes on the misinformation coming from opponents of childhood vaccinations_  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jan 7, 2015 10:11 PM UTC  A syringe filled with influenza vaccination is seen at a Walgreens Pharmacy on January 14, 2014 in Concord, California. A syringe filled with influenza vaccination is seen at a Walgreens Pharmacy on January 14, 2014 in Concord, California. Justin Sullivan—Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jan 7, 2015 10:11 PM UTC How do you prevent elderly people from dying from the flu? Immunize preschoolers, infectious disease experts say. A new policy mandating that preschool children receive flu vaccination went into effect in New York City earlier this month with exactly that goal in mind. Young children respond particularly well to the flu vaccine, and giving it to preschoolers creates a ripple effect that diminishes the flu in the population as a whole. Even though preschoolers are just a fraction of the population, immunizing a critical percentage of the population from the flu could significantly diminish the chance of a widespread outbreak, a phenomenon known as herd immunity. “This is just part of being a good citizen and not hurting your neighbor,” says Jon C. Tilburt, a medical professor at the Mayo Clinic. “It’s good for your neighbor’s kids and it’s good for grandma.” Jane Zucker, an assistant commissioner at New York City’s Department of Health, says herd immunity “absolutely” shaped her department’s new policy, which mirrors similar rules that have been followed in Connecticut and New Jersey followed for years. “There’s a good evidence base about the importance of vaccinating young children on community transmission, and \[herd immunity\] was really a strong influence on the decision to move forward,” she says. Mandatory vaccination is nothing new in the United States. School children across the country have been required receive immunization for diseases like measles and mumps for years. But mandatory influenza vaccination hasn’t caught on as fast, even though vaccination for young children is strongly recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The constantly evolving nature of the flu and its less-than-perfect effectiveness are among the reasons why the requirement hasn’t taken root, says University of California San Francisco medical professor Barbara Koenig. The warnings of dangerous side effects propagated by the attention-grabbing anti-vaccination movement do nothing to further the cause of mandatory vaccines. **MORE:** [Why the Anti-Vaccine Crowd Won’t Fade Away](http://time.com/3429650/why-the-anti-vaccine-crowd-wont-fade-away/) Health officials have begun to latch onto the idea, says Zucker. She says she’s been in touch with policy makers from other jurisdictions who say they are considering a similar measure, and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases sponsored a webinar on the topic last year, Zucker says. Health experts say there is little risk of side effects, and they stress that in New York parents can obtain a religious or medical exemption. But parents should want to protect their own children with immunization, experts say. In Connecticut, the number of hospitalizations in the impacted age group fell by 12% following the implementation of a mandatory vaccination. “There needs to be some individual direct benefit to the individual,” says Richard Malley, a doctor at Boston Children’s Hospital. “What we have here are vaccines that are recommended for children. They are disease sparing and, in some cases, they are life saving. They have a phenomenal effect on individual.” ## Transcript So, our recent report claimed that a 2004 study withheld a link between vaccines and autism in African American boys. No surprise, the anti- vaccine crowd considered this a big win. But again and always, they're wrong. Here's why. [ MUSIC ] First, the subjects excluded from the study had no birth certificates available. Meaning data on their mother's age, race and more could not be confirmed. And that information was vital for the work the investigators were doing, More important, the people criticizing the research make the familiar mistake of confusing associated with causation. While it's true that the study did find a slightly higher rate of autism among some kids vaccinated between 24 and 36 months of age, it's almost certain that those children were already autistic and were vaccinated later as part of a basic health requirement for attending special education program [ MUSIC ] programs. If you join the Army and get a mandatory crewcut before basic training, you don't then conclude that military service causes baldness. Finally, the narrator of a disgraceful web video spreading the rumors about the study is Andrew Wakefield. The British researcher whose fraudulent 1998 paper falsely linking vaccines to autism got the entire got the entire anti- vaccine mess started. Wakefield has had his license to practice medicine revoked in the UK. And is hardly in a position to be offering opinions on anything at all. So for the billionth time, vaccines are safe, effective and vitally important. Rumor mongering, on the other hand, can kill. 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