The issue focused on a federal law that adds to the cost of vaccines by using multiple vaccine ingredients. That law was first enacted in 1986, and now it requires more than 18 vaccines, including the measles vaccine, for children from low-income families, even though the law requires no such substances be used in higher-income settings.


The debate centered on the basis that the requirement was not designed to make the vaccine more expensive for the poor because the vaccine has similar costs in high-income settings as in