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The first time kids had to get a vaccine to go to school was more than 200 years ago. The disease? 

, 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 

 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 

, formerly known as "anti-vaccinationists." They have brought many legal challenges over the years, but the U.S. Supreme Court 

 the constitutionality of school vaccine mandates nearly a century ago, and that has pretty much been upheld to this day.

That said, there's also a strong tradition of granting exemptions to vaccine requirements based on religious and philosophical beliefs. There has also, at times, been lax enforcement and an unwillingness to punish students by keeping them out of school. 

But when diseases break out or come back, so do vaccine campaigns and the really strong stuff: mandates. 

Scroll on to take a look at a historical timeline of vaccines in schools: 

Education News

Health

COVID-19

Anya Kamenetz

Author

LA Johnson

The first vaccine required for school was for smallpox, over 200 years ago. And for decades, all states have required that kids be vaccinated against contagious diseases like polio to attend school. 

Comic: If history is a guide, schools will start requiring COVID vaccines

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