Jacobson v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1905) is a classic case dealing with the public health and welfare, as one citizen unsuccessfully protested government-required vaccinations. Jacobson stands out as one of only two Supreme Court cases (the other reached a similar result in Zucht v. King, 1922) that allowed American public school systems to require incoming students to be inoculated against specified diseases prior to starting school.

The whole point is that, should a few students suffer from one of the maladies that had spread throughout vast numbers of children and adults, then they could potentially begin another epidemic, especially if classes were intermingled with those who received vaccinations and those whose parents opted not to do so. According to the Supreme Court's opinion in Jacobson, by ...