Vacci-Nation: A Look At Federal Authority to Mandate Vaccines

Abstract

Vaccine mandates have historically been implemented and regulated by the states, not the federal government .Nevertheless, the federal government has “broad, flexible power” to prevent the spread of communicable disease among the states through Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act (Section 361). Although the federal government has never used Section 361 to mandate a vaccine to prevent the spread of disease and the authority to mandate a vaccine is not expressly provided in the statute, there is speculation that the federal government could use Section 361 to mandate a vaccine to prevent the spread of disease. However, there is no authoritative interpretation of the scope of the powers in Section 361, and the text remains ambiguous. This Comment sets aside the question of whether the federal government should mandate a vaccine and instead explores whether the federal government could mandate a vaccine through Section 361. Ultimately, this Comment concludes that Section 361 allows for a federal vaccine mandate and recommends a framework for determining when a federal vaccine mandate is a reasonable and necessary measure.