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Hundreds Rally For Their Right To Not Vaccinate Their Children (msn.com)

CBS News reports that as Washington state confronts a measles outbreak which has sickened at least 56 people, "hundreds rallied to preserve their right not to vaccinate their children."

They packed a public hearing for a new bill making it harder for families to opt out of vaccination requirements, reports The Washington Post: An estimated 700 people, most of them opposed to stricter requirements, lined up before dawn in the cold, toting strollers and hand-lettered signs, to sit in the hearing.... The Pacific Northwest is home to some of the nation's most vocal and organized anti-vaccination activists. That movement has helped drive down child immunizations in Washington, as well as in neighboring Oregon and Idaho, to some of the lowest rates in the country, with as many as 10.5 percent of kindergartners statewide in Idaho unvaccinated for measles. That is almost double the median rate nationally....

One activist who spoke Friday, Mary Holland, who teaches at New York University law school and said her son has a vaccine-related injury, warned lawmakers that if the bill passes, many vaccine opponents will "move out of the state, or go underground, but they will not comply."

The sponsor of a similar bill in Oregon says that anti-vaxxers "have every right to make a bad decision in the health of their child, but that does not give them the right to send an unprotected kid to public school. So if they want to homeschool their kid and keep them out of other environments, that's their decision."

But there are still 17 U.S. states that allow "personal or philosophic exemptions to vaccination requirements," reports the Post, "meaning virtually anyone can opt out." (Though some states are now considering changes.) "The enablers are state legislators in those states, that have allowed themselves to be played," complains Dr. Peter Hotez, a co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

The World Health Organization estimates that measles vaccines have saved over 21 million lives since 2000. But last year in the European region's population of nearly 900 million people, at least 82,600 people contracted measles, reports Reuters. "Of those, 72 cases were fatal."

255 of 524 comments (clear)

  1. Understood by nospam007 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If they go live on a deserted island and never come back, I'm OK with it.
    If not, they are a danger to society and should not be allowed to mingle with normal people.

    1. Re: Understood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Vaccination doesn't give immunity, it gives increased resistance. So being exposed to lots of people with the diseases can still get you infected.

      On top of that herd immunity is an important factor and protecting people whose immune system is compromised at the moment, such as chemotherapy patients.

      Not sure why I feed the troll.

    2. Re:Understood by Dunbal · · Score: 1

      To be fair they are mostly a danger to their children and to other unvaccinated children. But yes, something like this could be interpreted (and is interpreted in some parts of the world) as child abuse.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    3. Re:Understood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Cancer is not contagious so why put them on that island? Hepatitis can be cured and for AIDS the modern drugs works wonders, and even if that fails they can still use condoms so only a small subset (aka the ones that refuse to treat their condition) would have to put on said island.

    4. Re: Understood by Dunbal · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Vaccination doesn't give immunity, it gives increased resistance.

      Increased to the point of functional immunity for all intents and purposes. There will be the odd case slipping through the cracks - someone with anergy or another other problem of the immune system. Of course you are right that repeated massive exposure heightens the risk of vaccine failure - but the reason these things are used in the first place is because they are highly effective.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    5. Re:Understood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Cancer isn't contagious. Unlike stupidity.

    6. Re:Understood by Dunbal · · Score: 2

      The ones that, knowing they have a contagious disease, take no measures to reduce their effect on the rest of society or even still intentionally try to spread it to others - sure, why not. Send them away too. You are seriously equating preventable (vaccines, condoms, etc) contagious illness with cancer - which may be preventable sometimes but certainly is not contagious? (Yes some viruses have been associated with increased risk of cancer - HPV, Hep C, etc but having the virus does not guarantee cancer and the cancer itself is not contagious).

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    7. Re:Understood by Dunbal · · Score: 1

      There are plenty of large islands. Britain... New Zealand, and worse comes to worse, Australia :)

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    8. Re:Understood by sg_oneill · · Score: 1

      While we are at it lets banish the folks with hepatitis and aids to an island as well.

      Perhaps we should also isolate the cancer folks since we really dont have a handle on that.

      Hep and HIV are not casually contageous. Isolation would achieve nothing

      But we can vaccinate against Hep, and HIV is not fatal anymore as long as the 3 drug regime is followed.

      Cancer is 100% non contagious

      However. a virus we regularly vaccinate against (HPV) can cause it.

      All the viruses we vaccinate against however ARE contagious and isolating the wilfully unvaccinated would provide demonstrable protection to those who are immunocompromised or unable to be vaccinated.

      Your post is absurd..

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    9. Re:Understood by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1, Insightful

      People who refuse to merge with nanobots will also be callled a burden on society. I hope you're ready to call for the forced mechanization of humans into cyborgs. Vaccines barely existed a century ago so be sure that new scientific opportunities become obligations under the State-as-religion philosophy.

      Social Darwinism is a more powerful force, btw. But gotta wear that Resistance is Futile Che shirt, I get it.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    10. Re: Understood by Rei · · Score: 4, Funny

      On the upside, if you're a kid being bulled by an anti-vax kid, you can always retaliate by sneezing in their lunchbox... ;)

      (Anti-vax kids are like dark humour - they never grow old)

      --
      Anchor: "We take you now to our Chief Meteorologist, Paris Hilton." Paris: "It's hot." Anchor: "Thank you."
    11. Re:Understood by nospam007 · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Cancer isn't contagious. Unlike stupidity."

      You've heard of oncoviruses, yes?
      An oncovirus is a virus that can cause cancer.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      But it's not as contagious as that stupidity virus you seem to suffer from.

    12. Re: Understood by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "I'm of mixed opinion. Measles is nasty as hell, I have no problem with requiring that vaccine. It's airborne and can linger for hours after an infected person leaves an area.
      But HPV is not in the same league,"

      You think that just because you don't have a cervix.

    13. Re: Understood by HiThere · · Score: 2

      No. You overestimate the effectiveness of the vaccine. If everyone is vaccinated, then the disease will die because it can't spread effectively, but if several vaccinated people are exposed it's reasonably likely that more than one will come down with the disease. OTOH, their bodies will (usually) mount a stronger and quicker defense, so they're less likely to end up with neurological damage.

      That said, measles isn't smallpox. Most people who catch it don't have any permanent aftereffects. (Do you feel lucky?)

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    14. Re: Understood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Nor is he likely to encounter one.

      OK, he might rent one.

    15. Re:Understood by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      While I despise social darwinism, I actually wouldn't mind to be turned into a cyborg.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    16. Re:Understood by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      ok, one "not" too many there...

    17. Re: Understood by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Well, and because the effects on males aren't as well known. I've read a study that there are deleterious effects, but I still don't remember what they were.

      Also: It's important with HPV that you get vaccinated well before any exposure. Again, I don't remember the details about why, but it should be done well before the child is sexually active. IIRC 8 years old was being recommended. Perhaps it takes the immunity awhile to develop.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    18. Re:Understood by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 1

      This is the dumbest shit I've heard all day

      --

      "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
    19. Re:Understood by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What about the child's right not to die of a curable disease? Society should protect their human right to life, no matter how stupid their parents are.

      Vaccines are proven, safe technology. There is no down side to having them.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    20. Re: Understood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Did you read it or just the headline? 90-97% of the population was vaccinated, only 20% of the infected people were vaccinated (who may not have had all the doses).

    21. Re: Understood by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Informative

      Increased to the point of functional immunity for all intents and purposes.

      This depends on both the disease and the patient.

      Some vaccines confer nearly 100% immunity. MMR is 97% effective against measles. The smallpox vaccine was also nearly 100% effective.

      Other vaccines are much less effective. Influenza vaccines are estimated to be about 40% effective, and its primary benefit is keeping R0 well below one, so that the disease does not spread through the herd.

    22. Re: Understood by mark_reh · · Score: 1

      Measles has long and short term effects. Some die in the short term. Others suffer the effects years later. Short term or long term, both have a negative effect on society/economy.

    23. Re:Understood by mark_reh · · Score: 4, Informative

      Vaccines are not 100% risk free. That said, the risk of injury from the vaccine is many orders of magnitude lower than the risk from the disease, so yes, vaccinate.

    24. Re:Understood by dgatwood · · Score: 2

      ... the cancer itself is not contagious.

      Actually, that's not true. People who have had cancer are prohibited from giving blood, because under the right circumstances, it *is* contagious. Metastasis is, by its very nature, exactly that — a tumor releasing cells into the bloodstream in such a way that they spread into other parts of the body. The only reason cancer is only slightly contagious is that we don't typically share blood.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    25. Re:Understood by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      Baffin Island would be a better choice. The climate promotes clean living, and the endangered polar bears get a steady supply of food.

    26. Re: Understood by mishehu · · Score: 1

      Ah no effects. Nothing like what's been observed here... Measles virus-induced suppression of immune responses - NCBI - NIH

    27. Re: Understood by ZipK · · Score: 1

      Of course you are right that repeated massive exposure heightens the risk of vaccine failure - but the reason these things are used in the first place is because they are highly effective.

      Vaccines reduce the likelihood of repeated massive exposure, as those you come in contact with are more likely to have increased resistance, and thus less likely to be carriers.

    28. Re: Understood by mamba-mamba · · Score: 2

      The measles vaccine is definitely not 100% effective. Whenever there are measles outbreaks, something like 20% of the cases are previously immunized people who should have had immunity if the vaccine were 100% effective. Please note that I am just providing this information for the sake of accuracy and perspective. It does not constitute an argument that vaccinations are not beneficial. You can have an over 90% vaccination rate, and then when you look at the vax status of the measles cases, the vaccination rate in that population is only 20%. That is pretty clear evidence that the vaccine works. But it is also proof that the vaccine is not 100% effective. So it is not "functional immunity for all intents and purposes."

      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m...

      --
      By including this sig, the copyright holders of this work or collection unreservedly place it in the public domain.
    29. Re: Understood by malkavian · · Score: 2

      Vaccination doesn't sicken you. Strike one. It just activates the immune system response.
      Medical need is that everyone be vaccinated for herd immunity, and aim at eradication of the diseases, so medical need is all (so by that argument, we're under-vaccinating by people being dicks).
      Stupid agenda? Oh, why can't we just go back to the days of polio and smallpox. They were so much better.

    30. Re: Understood by malkavian · · Score: 1

      Nope, it's nowhere near functional immunity. It's an increased resistance (and usually quite a fair distance from 100%), which helps reduce an effective virulence, so it doesn't transmit as effectively (this is generally how herd immunity works; it reduces the spread probability so that the disease peters out before it can gain a proper foothold, eventually becoming non-viable is it doesn't mutate a lot).
      Repeats are used to keep the immune system "remembering" it.
      Repeated massive exposure doesn't increase risk of failure, it generally does nothing. Unless your 'massive exposure' is a dose so high it becomes toxic (water is toxic at massive doses, so is everything else).

    31. Re: Understood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Use simple capatalistic economics.

      Insurance premiums should now take vaccination of the person and their dependents into consideration.

      If you are not vaccinated, your insurance is extortionate, or invalid. If your dependents are not vaccinated, the n you are still at high risk, hence a high premium or invalid policy.

      For those who actually have a real ethical/religious/medical reason, then they would have to seek specialist insurance, which is already in place.

    32. Re:Understood by blindseer · · Score: 1

      I'm going to be a pedantic ass and point out that there are cases of cancer being contagious.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      It's far from common in humans but other species it can be quite common and spread like a plague.

      Like I said, I'm picking nits here. Ignore me if you like.

      --
      I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
    33. Re: Understood by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Most people isn't all people. Several different groups of people have different bad effects ranging from mild to terminal. But for most people the only permanent (well, nearly permanent) effect is immunity to reinfection.

      Your link was TL;DR, but the part that I did read did not contradict my assertion. (If I thought there was a serious chance I was wrong, I'd have read more carefully. As it is I only scanned a few paragraphs.)

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    34. Re: Understood by HiThere · · Score: 1

      I agree with you, I just don't like the extremist arguments being floated around. They are false. While measles is sometimes severe, and sometimes dangerous, it usually isn't either. But it's bad enough to be considered a strong public health risk. Probably not as bad as reckless drivers, but bad.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    35. Re:Understood by Kohath · · Score: 1

      Yeah they live on Vashon ;)

      Sound very vashionable.

    36. Re:Understood by Z00L00K · · Score: 1

      If they are against vaccination and believe that it's better with the real disease - give them Polio.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    37. Re: Understood by mishehu · · Score: 1

      The tldr; version is that the measles seems to cause the immune system to forget other diseases that it has been subject to already. I think the estimate was that it takes about 2-3 years to return to the prior state before the measles infection occurred. Thus there is a correlation (though I don't think they've established firm causation yet) between measles and death by subsequent infections.

    38. Re:Understood by Dunbal · · Score: 1

      Agreed, that's why I said mostly to their children...

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    39. Re:Understood by Dunbal · · Score: 1

      I read of a case where a fetus received metastases from his mother's malignant melanoma. But you are talking about extreme, rare situations. My statement is valid so long as you don't actively try to undermine it (like intentionally giving blood contaminated with metastatic cells).

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    40. Re:Understood by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      While you can get cancer from oncoviruses AFAIK they are not spread from other diseases and not from cancer patients.

      Devil tumors

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    41. Re: Understood by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1
      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    42. Re:Understood by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      I suppose one set of robots, the human brain inside still had a skull and the other side didn't.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    43. Re: Understood by peragrin · · Score: 1

      Actually hpv can come from any fluid transfer. Not just sexual.

      Kissing the wrong person can be enough

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    44. Re: Understood by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      If you vaccinate, your find.. Don't worry bit it

      Correct. If you vaccinate the animal you found, and it bites you, you're less likely to get an infection.

      But are you sure that is what this story is about?

    45. Re:Understood by dgatwood · · Score: 1

      Actually, it's funny that your signature mentions puppies. Dogs are known to spread metastatic cancer through sex. In theory, there's no reason this couldn't also occur in humans. After all, HIV (another blood-borne illness) can spread in this way. Of course, the lack of actual incidences of this suggests that it is fairly unlikely, presumably because most healthy immune systems would destroy metastases from other people.

      Similarly, at least in theory, there's nothing preventing IV drug use with shared needles from spreading metastatic cancer, either. The number of IV drug users with cancer sharing needles with other IV drug users is, of course, fairly low, which makes this pretty unlikely, but not impossible.

      So I would prefer saying that cancer appears to be orders of magnitude less communicable than AIDS, but can theoretically spread through the same mechanisms, for the same reasons. But it is not communicable through anything remotely resembling casual contact.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    46. Re: Understood by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      > No. You overestimate the effectiveness of the vaccine.

      You'll note that nearly all the people (mostly children) who got sick in Clark County were unvaccinated. Of the 53 sickened, 1 was vaccinated, 5 are unknown. Seems pretty effective to me.

      Source: Clark County Gov Website:
      https://www.clark.wa.gov/publi...

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    47. Re: Understood by HiThere · · Score: 1

      OK, that sounds believable. I'll need to check that link more carefully. (I suspect it only lowers the immunity, but still....)

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    48. Re: Understood by HiThere · · Score: 1

      From the linked article:

      Infection with the vaccine virus isolate induces long-term protective immunity but is not associated with clinically significant immunosuppression. Therefore, virus strain is an essential determinant of in vivo immune suppression, but the specific properties of MV important for this characteristic have not been defined.

      Most of the article is WRT infection by the unweakened virus strain, not WRT the vaccine.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    49. Re:Understood by Dread_ed · · Score: 1

      Sure, once we have a vaccine for all forms of hepatitis, cancer, and HIV we can banish all of the people who won't take those vaccines to the same island as the people and their children who won't vaccinate their kids against polio, measles, rubella, etc.

      If only there was a vaccine for the kind of stupidity that makes people incapable of using analogies without completely mangling the issue into something completely unfettered from reality. Sadly, I fear the administration of such a vaccine would have to be required by law. It would be folly to leave that kind of decision up to someone who can't properly understand the difference between diseases and conditions that have a viable vaccine and those that don't.

      --
      When the only tool you have is a claw hammer every problem starts to look like the back of someone's skull.
    50. Re:Understood by harlequinn · · Score: 1

      One?

      Oncovirus is a class of viruses.

      For example, the human papilloma virus. The HPV vaccine immunises against 9 different strains of HPV.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    51. Re:Understood by harlequinn · · Score: 1

      So, with your superior knowledge of analogies, your suggestion is....?

      I'll give you mine. We give more targeted education about vaccines, we give more free vaccines, we give rewards for vaccines, etc.

      I don't support punitive measures that will get anti vaccine proponents hackles up and possibly doubly punish children.

    52. Re:Understood by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      yes one as in I wrote "While you can get cancer from oncoviruses AFAIK they are not spread from other diseases and not from cancer patients." but should have written "While you can get cancer from oncoviruses AFAIK they are spread from other diseases and not from cancer patients.

      I.e I wrote "not spread" one time too many. I was not referring to the amount of oncoviruses.

    53. Re:Understood by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      Well there your go. Somewhat happy that I'm not a Tasmanian devil.

    54. Re:Understood by harlequinn · · Score: 1

      Fair enough, makes more sense now. Rereading it I believe I read your comment incorrectly.

      I would argue that the vector in this case is other humans. I.e. oncoviruses use humans as their vector to spread.

      So you can come into contact with people who might have cancer caused by a virus, and these people may infect you with the same virus that may then give you cancer. The end scenario being that you developed cancer by coming into contact with another human being.

    55. Re:Understood by ayesnymous · · Score: 1

      But if YOU already got the vaccinations, then why does it matter if they don't?

    56. Re:Understood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      How about those not wanting to vaccinate their children be allowed, subject to the following conditions(or something like/combinations of):

      1) Increased insurance premiums, *and* a surcharge (1000's of $) due to the potential effect on society for refusing to vaccinate, yearly.
      2) Parents requiring to pass a course on the effects of not immunising their child and the effects on others.
      3) Non immunised children/adults not permitted to cross borders/travel out of country for reasons that should be obvious
      4) Assessment by social welfare/care of the childs parents, with the option to enforce immunisation for the benefit of the child

      Or any other restriction that does not impair the childs ability to learn and develop. Personally I would enforce immunisations, but that's very 1984.

    57. Re:Understood by Mike+Frett · · Score: 1

      Some cancers actually ARE contagious. We are finding out more and more that many cancers are caused by irritation and viruses.

    58. Re:Understood by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Vaccines are not 100% risk free.

      Neither is you sitting here posting this.

    59. Re: Understood by jcr · · Score: 1

      You're an idiot, and you need to get your meds adjusted.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    60. Re:Understood by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 1

      Vaccines barely existed a century ago

      And millions died as a result. Too bad your ancestors weren't among them.

    61. Re: Understood by houghi · · Score: 1

      Complications of measles may include:
      *Ear infection. One of the most common complications of measles is a bacterial ear infection.
      *Bronchitis, laryngitis or croup. Measles may lead to inflammation of your voice box (larynx) or inflammation of the inner walls that line the main air passageways of your lungs (bronchial tubes).
      *Pneumonia. Pneumonia is a common complication of measles. People with compromised immune systems can develop an especially dangerous variety of pneumonia that is sometimes fatal.
      *Encephalitis. About 1 in 1,000 people with measles develops a complication called encephalitis. Encephalitis may occur right after measles, or it might not occur until months later.
      *Pregnancy problems. If you're pregnant, you need to take special care to avoid measles because the disease can cause preterm labor, low birth weight and maternal death.

      Esepecially Encephalitis
      Encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) occurs in about 1 in 1,000 cases of measles. The risk increases with the age of the child.

      Because the encephalitis is believed to be an âoeallergicâ type of reaction to the virus in the brain, thereâ(TM)s no correlation between the severity of the measles and the risk of encephalitis. Encephalitis can be a complication of even the mildest case of measles.

      Encephalitis usually occurs 2-7 days after the start of the rash, when the child should be starting to recover. Symptoms are recurrence of fever, onset of headache, apathy, irritability and confusion. Some children may have seizures.

      Most children recover from measles encephalitis within 2-3 days, but about one third remain comatose for days to weeks. Some children who develop measles encephalitis are left with mental retardation, deafness, paralysis or epilepsy, and a few may die.

      So yeah, nicer going gabling the life (both quality and qualtity) of your child on a 1 in 1000 bet.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    62. Re: Understood by Agent0013 · · Score: 1

      Only the company's claims would ever amount to 97% effectiveness. In the real world, once the lies are accounted for, it is closer to 45% effective. And the number of vaccine induced injuries are under reported by an order of magnitude. Once the truth is talked about freely and the pressure to vaccinate using lies and made up statistics are stopped, then people might start to believe the "experts" again.

      --

      -- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
    63. Re: Understood by strikethree · · Score: 1

      I really wanted to get my daughter the HPV vaccine. My wife prevented it. Apparently, the HPV vaccine encourages or authorizes sexual activity. Who knew? *shrug*

      --
      "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
    64. Re:Understood by Mike+Van+Pelt · · Score: 1

      ... the cancer itself is not contagious.

      Actually, that's not true. People who have had cancer are prohibited from giving blood, because under the right circumstances, it *is* contagious.

      Not necessarily. I had kidney cancer back in 2002, and I've been giving blood regularly for years. Yes, I do put the kidney cancer history on the form. They ask about any chemo (none) and then approve me.

      (Currently blocked from giving blood until May because of a trip to Bangalore last May...)

      Now, having had a blood transfusion in Great Britain, that's a permanent disqualification.

    65. Re:Understood by abreauj · · Score: 1

      Kids should have the right to sue their parents for endangering their lives by denying them vaccines.

    66. Re: Understood by thejynxed · · Score: 1

      And not just that, but the way the actual vaccine works is that it doesn't prevent you from contracting measles (or becoming a carrier, and contracting it after vaccination is more akin to getting a cold than something that can kill you outright), it stimulates your immune system in such a fashion that measles can't wreck havoc on you in the way it would if you were without the vaccine. It's one of those diseases everyone should be vaccinated for just for that reason alone, let alone the fact that it kills more people than polio ever did and is even more highly contagious (it's on a similar rating to smallpox in regard to contagion factor).

      --
      @Mindless Drivel: 100% of Twitter posts ever Tweeted.
  2. Other Religious Exemptions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I want a religious exemption from speed limits.

    1. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by mark-t · · Score: 1

      What about a religious exemption against dying?

      I mean, if you're going to try for a religious exemption against a certain thing in life, then why not go for broke?

    2. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by Empiric · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I see in your sentence that somebody faked some studies. That doesn't connect it to religion anywhere but in Logical Fallacy Land.

      In the interest of the actual topic at hand, though, here's a comprehensive timeline.

      --
      ~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
    3. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by Dunbal · · Score: 2

      As a practicing Aztec I want a religious exemption for murder. It just doesn't feel right when I can't cut someone's heart out with an obsidian knife and throw their corpse down my pyramid.

      Freedom must have limits. One of them is public health.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    4. Re: Other Religious Exemptions by LaszloKerekes · · Score: 1

      I get that you were born in the 90s, polio?

    5. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      I want a religious exemption from speed limits.

      Does anyone know of a religion that forbids paying taxes . . . ? I'd like to become a believer.

      There are so many wacky religions out there . . . there's probably ones that forbid driving on the right side of the road or brushing your teeth.

      And I don't get how Christian folks say Jesus was against vaccinations. He trotted around healing lepers with his touch, which is kinda sorta like giving folks vaccinations.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    6. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      The varicella vaccine is derived from cloned cells from an aborted fetus, fyi.

      Make accurate arguments in favor of vaccines or you appear to be the religious kook to the antivaxxers.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    7. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      Well Scientology was founded just so Hubbard wouldn't have to pay any taxes. I do however gladly pay way more taxes before ever contemplating going down that rabbit hole.

    8. Re: Other Religious Exemptions by Empiric · · Score: 1

      What is the religious issue? How do vaccines relate to anything in the Bible? What is immoral about them?

      a) there isn't one
      b) they don't
      c) nothing

      With the overwhelming amount of evidence for their benefit, the Bible would advocate for them--under the basic directive to "love your neighbor as yourself", including not spreading diseases to them.

      The secular direction on this would be, naturally, a pointless projection of erroneous guilt toward religion, and having -absolutely no- basis for this or any other moral direction. What right do you have to kill viruses? Are you saying people are somehow "special" as DNA permutations? On what basis would you make such a claim, other than by stealing -our- justification? Evolution certainly won't provide you with one.

      --
      ~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
    9. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I didn't connect Wakefields faked study with religion. Seriously how badly do you read other peoples posts? I put forward the idea that the wide spread antivaxx movement _outside_ the relegious context took off after those faked studies. Before that it was mostly religious even though you also have a small non-religious groups that where antivaxx.

    10. Re: Other Religious Exemptions by mark-t · · Score: 1

      Well yeah... but the point was about trying to get a religious exemption to things that are certain in *LIFE*... when one is in heaven, they have, typically speaking, almost certainly already died.

    11. Re: Other Religious Exemptions by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      There are various religious sects/cults that believe that any form of disease is gods punishment for not being devout. One in particular is the "Church of Christ, Scientist". Other known groups are "Church of the First Born, End Time Ministries, Faith Assembly, Faith Tabernacle and First Century Gospel Church", they all practice healing over medical care so practice anti-vaccinations as part of their anti-medicine doctrine. There are also some Amish, and some Muslim fundamentalists that are anti-vaccination.

    12. Re: Other Religious Exemptions by HiThere · · Score: 1

      For some people there is a religious issue due to the Bible saying something like blood is sacred, and only God can be a blood sucking monster. And so some people read that as saying anything built from blood is taboo, i.e. religiously forbidden. And there are those who honestly believe that and take it seriously. But I don't think you can count anyone who doesn't at minimum keep kosher, and probably insists on vegetarian cuisine. (Not vegan, that's a more extreme form whose roots I've never looked into.)

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    13. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Most honest anti-vax people were opposed to vaccination before that ever came up due to many vaccines requiring blood as a culture medium. I'll agree that there may be a few honest anti-vax people for whom the cell culture was the deciding factor. (Apparently that argument gave the Pope trouble, even though he decided that vaccination was good.)

      And that argument would, in any case, only apply to one (or a few?) vaccines, not all of them. IIUC the blood argument could honestly be applied to all of them. But those who do so are either kosher, vegetarians, or hypocrites.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    14. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Scientology was originally sold as a science of the mind. It became a religion to avoid taxes, to claim immunity from prosecution as a religion, and to avoid prosecution for fraudulent claims of curing physical illnesses, insanity, and providing superpowers. They use the "religion" status as an excuse for not having to testify about criminal activity of members revealed in their hypnotic "auditing" sessions, where the low-quality lie detector called the "E-meter" is used to explore and record any criminal history or sexual activity of its members. That history is sent to their main offices and used against anyone who displeases the cult leaders.

      Any attempt to subpoena those records is met by delays at the door while the records are destroyed. That is *precisely* what happened when the FBI raided them and successfully prosecuted their leadership in 1977. They still play that game for any subpoenas.

    15. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by HiThere · · Score: 1

      IIRC exemptions against paying taxes have been tried in the past. For awhile they were allowed if you didn't own any taxable property or have any monetary income, but that was eventually thrown out.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    16. Re: Other Religious Exemptions by Empiric · · Score: 1

      I'm not going to address such people who understand neither science nor their own religion.

      A starting point for them.

      --
      ~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
    17. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

      You are illiterate and a moron. Seriously, the AC wasn't that difficult to follow, and what he said accords with my understanding as well. Most exemptions in law are based on religious freedom, and that implies that some people consider it a religious issue.

    18. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I want a religious exemption from speed limits.

      And I demand that if I choose to set my apartment on fire, the fire department is not allowed the fire to be put out without my consent. #FreedomOfChoice

    19. Re: Other Religious Exemptions by Empiric · · Score: 1

      Nobody needs to prove it, good, because it's directly false per the timeline I just posted from the quite-objective Measles and Rubella initiative.

      Here it is again for you.

      https://measlesrubellainitiati...

      Hope it having pictures helps you. And don't get defensive about my "real life" because you demand yours end.

      --
      ~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
    20. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The Anti-Vax Movement is not a left/right issue. Instead, it is correlated with extremism in either direction. Right-wing nutjobs see vaccines as a government conspiracy. Left-wing nutjobs see vaccines as a corporate conspiracy. Moderates on both sides vaccinate their kids.

      Anti-Vax beliefs don't follow the usual political polariization

    21. Re: Other Religious Exemptions by Empiric · · Score: 1

      For, "Not all true things are to be said to all men".

      --Clement of Alexandria

      --
      ~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
    22. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by malkavian · · Score: 2

      I believe that the Pope has a religious exemption from paying taxes as head of the Catholic Church. That's why the Discordians had a time when anyone could be a Pope of the Discordians.

    23. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 1
      AFAIK vaccines are normally cultivated in extracts of (hens') eggs or in an entirely artificial medium (for reasons of cost and quality control). The genetic origins of the the vaccine may have included blood or stem cells, but then again, that is similar to arguing that most people are descended from Gengis Khan. (And also, probably several kinds of dinosaur).

      Unless you have definite information that I am incorrect, you are indirectly supporting anti-vax lies.

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    24. Re: Other Religious Exemptions by terrycarlino · · Score: 1

      It's a religious issue because Christian Scientists beliefs prohibit vaccinations.

      In more modern times some, not all, Catholics believe it is immoral to receive vaccinations which are grown on media developed on fetal lies from aborted babies. Which is also a belief based religion.

      Confession doesn't work like that. It is ineffective to say "I'm going to kill you but it will be alright because I'm going to confession tomorrow."

      The other poster has it right. For most anti-vaxers it is not a religious issue. It's a trust issue. They don't trust a government who is known in the past to have given African Americans a placebo rather than antibiotics to treat their VD. Or they don't trust corporation who we know have sold many types of drugs or food knowing it was unsafe.

      I'm on the vaccine people side. But I can understand why some people have problems with vaccines and realize that calling them stupid is not likely to convince them of anything. Want to fix the problem? Figure out how to gain their trust.

    25. Re: Other Religious Exemptions by Empiric · · Score: 1

      Nobody needs to prove that antivax started way before people thought they caused autism and that they did so claiming religious freedom.

      No, it isn't me that requires reading comprehension skills. You can't even read your own sentence. Per the standard practice of stringing together multiple dependent points of inappropriate generalization, irrelevant aspects to the question, and dropping historical context, so long as they make one specific unsupportable conclusion against the "target", you do the predictable. The history here is a clear case of anti-vaxxers all being theists, claiming a historically inapplicable "religious freedom", and on the other side, the non-religious who were clear on the science, universally on the "right side" despite the fact 99.9% of them didn't know what a virus even was?

      You string vagaries and fallacious reasoning together to make a predetermined "point", which you consider fine as long as the conclusion is something you like. This is the essence of intellectual dishonesty. That is all you are proving. The realities of differing opinions within an overall context of limited scientific knowledge, by the population in general, is the actual characterizing situation. That is what the timeline shows.

      --
      ~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
    26. Re: Other Religious Exemptions by Empiric · · Score: 1

      "Their use of religious exemptions aren't subject to any sort of empirical validation."

      They are subject to a level of empirical validation of referencing the religion's defining documents. If someone was a Marxist, and they claimed "Marxism says X is true", I would expect them to show me where Marx actually said that. Or, at minimum, a direct logical inference to the claim from something else that was said by him, or by someone else making a similarly strict logical connection to his words or actions.

      No such presentation can be made against vaccination, by reference to anything in scripture. If someone is claiming a vague association to something else entirely within scripture, they should be called on it. The rules of inferential logic don't change for theists or atheists.

      --
      ~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
    27. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      Mrs. Garrett: "Whhh...whhh...whhhaaaaat?"

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    28. Re: Other Religious Exemptions by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      Where did I or any one else apply the antivaxx movement to "all Christians"? Especially since every one so far have only written "religious" and not even "Christians" you are making quite the leap in logic there mate.

    29. Re: Other Religious Exemptions by mark-t · · Score: 1

      Since we were discussing a religious exemption to dying, and the above poster suggested that heaven might qualify, I assumed he was referring to the afterlife one, since that is the only one that appeared remotely relevant to me (since you supposedly don't die there). The caveat, as I pointed out, is that one ordinarily has to already have died to get there to get there in the first place.

      I'm not sure how the London nightclub you referred to, or places like Swede Heaven or Little Heaven, for example, would be relevant to something like not dying..

    30. Re:Other Religious Exemptions by houghi · · Score: 1

      Claim that you are a Darwinist. That means that you believe that if there are no speed limits, in only a few hundred generations, we, as humans will either be able to evade accidents.
      We will have super fast reaction time.

      An other option would be that we will have more sex to fill up the gaps of the people that get killed in accidents. And who would be against that, right?

      I see only advantages and will cry foul at anybody who tries to stop me from driving as fast as possible. I do it for humanity!

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    31. Re: Other Religious Exemptions by psyclone · · Score: 1

      There are a lot of those groups in Idaho. When someone contracts a disease like measles, the family invites all the extended family and friends over to "say goodbye" because they won't perform any medical treatment.

      So sad this happens to kids that have no choice. I've met teenagers that "sneak away" to get medical help and medicine just to survive.

    32. Re: Other Religious Exemptions by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      Yeah they probable also distribute and read this book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... . I Love how Miles bunks that damn book but was flabbergasted that such a book even exists.

  3. Re:vaccines are compromised, now by F.Ultra · · Score: 5, Funny

    Totally with you, I mean which sane person would want their enemies to live a longer healthier life?

  4. Call CPS by brickhouse98 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Call CPS, have them come get the kids. It's a danger to themselves and to the public safety. Enough with these loony tunes who think it's their right to endanger their offspring and the general population.

    1. Re:Call CPS by brickhouse98 · · Score: 2

      How about worrying about the kids who never had a choice who get one of these terrible diseases? Not to mention the ones who are unable to get a vaccine for a multitude of reasons- "Some individuals either cannot develop immunity after vaccination or for medical reasons cannot be vaccinated.[14][15][4][14] Newborn infants are too young to receive many vaccines, either for safety reasons or because passive immunity renders the vaccine ineffective.[16] Individuals who are immunodeficient due to HIV/AIDS, lymphoma, leukemia, bone marrow cancer, an impaired spleen, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy may have lost any immunity that they previously had and vaccines may not be of any use for them because of their immunodeficiency.[4][14][16][17] Vaccines are typically imperfect as some individuals' immune systems may not generate an adequate immune response to vaccines to confer long-term immunity, so a portion of those who are vaccinated may lack immunity.[1][18][19] Lastly, vaccine contraindications may prevent certain individuals from becoming immune.[14] In addition to not being immune, individuals in one of these groups may be at a greater risk of developing complications from infection because of their medical status, but they may still be protected if a large enough percentage of the population is immune.[4][14][19][20]"

    2. Re:Call CPS by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Well, yes, now that you mention it. I should have my stats checked. But I had measles (two kinds) in the 1950's before there was a vaccine. OTOH, immunity does fade over time, and I don't really know the drop-off curve.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    3. Re:Call CPS by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

      I'm not worried. Just bummed that I can't blow your face off with a shotgun for being a fucking moron.

    4. Re:Call CPS by baegucb · · Score: 1

      Same here. I was born before most of these vaccines were developed. I know I got some shots as a kid, but heck if I know what they were. Maybe I'll ask my doctor next time I see her. I get flu and pneumonia shots on a regular basis. Maybe time for some more shots.

    5. Re:Call CPS by gravewax · · Score: 1

      No unlike the unthoughtful pricks doing this he probably has some empathy for those that can't be vaccinated and for the poor innocent children of these neglectful parents. Really it is child abuse and should be treated as such.

  5. If they don't want to vax their kids... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ... then they should pay for the public health costs that arise because of their decision. It is a welfare of the community issue. Laws are often made to protect the community from the bad decisions of individuals.

    1. Re:If they don't want to vax their kids... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      VAXING THE KID

      Parent: Doctor, Doctor!, Little Jimmy is behaving strangely after the vaccination last week, his ribs look bruised, and he is speaking strangely, what's wrong with him?
      Doctor: Everything will be fine. Now Jimmy, you feel fine don't you, let's examine you?
      Jimmy: SHOW PROCESS/ALL

      Parent: See he keeps talking like that?
      Doctor: Nothing, it's perfectly normal
      Jimmy: PURGE /KEEP=N PARENTS.TXT
      Doctor: Now, Jimmy, be nice!

    2. Re:If they don't want to vax their kids... by burtosis · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This sounds good on the outside but fails upon examination. Young children can't be vaccinated, the age they can depends on the specific vaccine, but as a general rule infants are unprotected. The elderly are also at increased risk even if vaccinated. Then there are some few people with whom a particular vaccination isn't particularly effective. Those may be a small minority of the vaccinated population but they often don't even know who they are. There are also a small minority of people with whom there is a legitimate medical reason they can't be vaccinated. Those people depend on a healthy "herd" of people. So when a child contracts a preventable illness through negligence like not vaccinating, then spreads it to the above vulnerable groups, it should be a criminal act because it is clearly morally wrong and injures or kills innocent people. But plenty of poor people choose not to vaccinate, how do you get blood from a stone? How do you compensate for the loss of an infant, elderly person, or loved one who can't be protected? Money dosent fix the emotional loss, nor can properly compensate for the disfigurement or life long health effects if they live.

      It should absolutely be a crime against the parents/guardians, yes, but at the same time it can be hard to prove exactly who actually infected the victim and there is no possible way to compensate the damages or in some cases to even get any compensation. That's why I'm in favor of isolating them from society if we cannot make it mandatory (excusing legitimate medical reasons only).

    3. Re:If they don't want to vax their kids... by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ... then they should pay for the public health costs that arise because of their decision. It is a welfare of the community issue. Laws are often made to protect the community from the bad decisions of individuals.

      Exactly. Non vacinators should pay for increased risk they self select, unless there is a real medical reason not to. They also should not be allowed to send kids to public schools where they endanger kids who can’t be vacinated for valid reasons. They are entitled to be stupid but not endanger others.

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
    4. Re:If they don't want to vax their kids... by kiviQr · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you do start with that - then tax sugar, fast food, tabaco, vap, alcohol, gasoline, coal, plastic, and everything else to support wealth of the community.

    5. Re:If they don't want to vax their kids... by LiquidAvatar · · Score: 1

      It's not just public schools, but also hospitals. Having a measles carrier in a public school would be terrible. Having that same carrier enter a hospital would be catastrophic.

      --
      It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.
      -Voltaire
    6. Re:If they don't want to vax their kids... by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 1

      It's not just public schools, but also hospitals. Having a measles carrier in a public school would be terrible. Having that same carrier enter a hospital would be catastrophic.

      Good point. Perhaps they should be required to wear a medic alert bracelet so they can be quarantined as a safeguard.

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
    7. Re:If they don't want to vax their kids... by rnturn · · Score: 1

      Uh... that would be VMSING THE KID.

      --
      CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
    8. Re:If they don't want to vax their kids... by hraponssi · · Score: 1

      I see. Then by the same token, those who smoke or drink alcohol should be paying for public health costs of their associated problems, right?

      If you tax tobacco and alcohol to suitable amount, that is what they do. Not sure how to tax the non-vaccinated.

    9. Re:If they don't want to vax their kids... by gtall · · Score: 1

      How do you tax the fact that some kid died because the anti-vaxxers got a burr up their butt over vaccines?

    10. Re:If they don't want to vax their kids... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That is already done... :-)

    11. Re:If they don't want to vax their kids... by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      If you do start with that - then tax sugar, fast food, tabaco, vap, alcohol, gasoline, coal, plastic, and everything else to support wealth of the community.

      None of which are going to potentially going to make your neighbor's kids deaf, dumb, or blind after a single exposure. Thus making those comparisons nonsensical and stupid.

    12. Re:If they don't want to vax their kids... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I'm confused. I live somewhere where all of those are taxed, those which have a more negative impact are taxed harder than others.

      Are you saying your government is not controlling the handles it has on policy?

    13. Re:If they don't want to vax their kids... by houghi · · Score: 1

      So they have to pay for all people who get measels, even if they are not their children?

      People can't pay their bills as we speak even if they are willing to vaccinate. Remember that you vaccinate because of others, not because of yourself. I do not care if non-vaxers die. I do not even care if Darwin takes care of their ofspring.

      I do care if my little brother or sister dies. This is not about the anti-vaxers. This is about the people who can not be vaxed due to real reason, not due to unwillingness.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    14. Re:If they don't want to vax their kids... by houghi · · Score: 1

      Tabacco is already highly taxed. The rest does not even sound like a bad idea, to be honest.

      But then, we already do mst of that here in Communist Europe.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    15. Re:If they don't want to vax their kids... by Agent0013 · · Score: 1

      It should also be a crime to state falsified hypothesis as a fact to force other people to risk their lives. The Herd Hypothesis is an untested hypothesis that has been shown in studies to not, in all actual reality, be a fact. So you want to use a false assumption as the basis for forcing others to possibly die or suffer harm. Lets kill the Jews and gays next, there are false reasons I'm sure you can come up with that it is better for society if we do that!

      --

      -- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
  6. Their health insurance should cover the risks... by ffkom · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... of those who contract measles, and their insurance fees should reflect that added risk.

    Only by making the costs or either decision transparent, you can address both the unfounded and the founded fears of vaccinations risks versus non-vaccinations risks.

    While the benefit of the measles vaccination seems obvious to most, actual scandals surrounding other vaccinations have cast shadows of doubt on just every vaccination, especially for those who do not differentiate.

    One tragic contemporary example:

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world... /
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  7. Entitled to Opinions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You are entitled to your opinions. But you are not entitled to your own facts. Herd immunity is a real thing with real evidence behind it. If you don’t like it, tough.

    Anti-vaxxers should be tied down and vaccinated like every other farm animal that doesn’t know what’s best for it.

    1. Re:Entitled to Opinions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Anti-vaxxers should be tied down and vaccinated like every other farm animal that doesn’t know what’s best for it.

      That should be sig or bumper sticker even.

    2. Re:Entitled to Opinions by Talderas · · Score: 1

      The anti-vaxxers are probably vaccinated. Giving them injections won't do much and tying them down won't help unless you're doing that to keep them from interfering with you vaccinating their children.

      --
      "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
  8. Re:Their health insurance should cover the risks.. by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

    And what price are you going to put on the price of a death caused by them not vaccinating their child(ren)?

  9. Good. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    We need more of these rallies. Include a couple of people in them that have the measles or something else that they chose not to vaccinate against.

    When a few of them get sick and see how their kids are suffering, and that it was spread by their rally, maybe they'll wise up and get their kids vaccinated.

  10. "have every right to make a bad decision" by ZombieCatInABox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "have every right to make a bad decision in the health of their child"

    No they fucking don't. Whenever someone causes harm to their children, either by a deliberate act or neglect, we call it child abuse. Why would this be any different ?

    I'm appaled by the number of people who still see their children as we did in barbaric times; as their personal property, to do with them as they please, with the right of life and death over them.

    We are not fucking barbarians anymore. This is the 21st century. We live in a civilized society now, or at least we should be. And in civilized societies, human beings don't own other human beings. Your children are not your children, no matter what your fucking animal instincts tell you. Your children, are citizens, just like you are, with the whole gammut of basic human rights every evolved and civilized culture agrees on. They are under your care until they reach the legal age of independance. And until then, your are required, by law, and by basic human decency to provide them with the best possible care. And so is society as a whole. That's why every civilized nation has mandatory education. And also why every such nation has, or should have nationalized health care for all children.

    Grow the fuck up, people. Barbarism, tribalism, social Darwinism are over. Join the civilized world.

    1. Re:"have every right to make a bad decision" by HiThere · · Score: 1

      You need a different name for that. When I heard "Elsagate" I though of the lioness from "Born Free", and how and why she died.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    2. Re:"have every right to make a bad decision" by fafalone · · Score: 1

      That's not how it works. What if a parent feels that severely beating their child is an effective way to modify troublesome (also defined by them) behavior, and therefore worth the physical discomfort? We've decided based on the evidence of the harm inflicted and its value in preventing other harm, that's bullshit and they can't do it because they disagree. What about parents who want to claim they disagree that molestation is harmful, and is instead beneficial sexual education? Yeah, not all kids who are molested suffer lasting trauma, so I guess they've got their fact-backed value-based dispute right? Back on the medical side, parents who refuse treatment for a fatal but curable disease because it offends their religion? Bullshit that's freedom. Same deal for vaccines. Parents don't get to just decide they disagree with the value of abusing their child and therefore are allowed to. Their freedom ends where their childs individual rights begin.

    3. Re:"have every right to make a bad decision" by malkavian · · Score: 1

      Wow, that's a lot of logical fallacies in one tirade.
      Not vaccinating a child that doesn't have a medical reason not to vaccinate increases risk of permanent damage or death to that child. If they contract a disease that vaccines cover, that becomes actual harm caused (hey, it's fine for me to dangle my child out of a 10 story building because it doesn't harm them).

      Oh, we see the difference very clearly. But they are both wrong (c.f. the dangling child out of a window above). Can you clarify the reasons for that decision that actually make sense? No anti-vaxxer I've encountered ever has.

      Science is not "forced" on people at all. This is where you're absolutely losing the plot in its entirity. Science does not say that boys are girls and vice versa. It actually says there's a variety of chromosomal arrangements that give varying phenotypes. Which is entirely correct. And there are cases where people subjectively feel that they are in the wrong body. If they want to do something that makes their life subjectively better, I'm all for that, as long as they're not tyrannical enough to force me to call them something special, or give them special treatment.
      Granted, there are outliers that allow gender reassignment to minors, but this is generally though of as unethical until they reach majority and have a firm grasp on what sexuality is, and stabilise on it. This link explains it fairly well (and it's science!): https://www.joshuakennon.com/t...

      Unborn fetusus have cognition well below later gestation. If you believe that it's never ok to terminate for the 'people' rationale at this level, then you need to stop killing things from bacteria through to insects (and definitely animals bred for food, or fished). Strict veganism with no cleaning products for you.

      Yes, there are links between single parent families and children underperforming quite significantly. What does this have as an argument against vaccination?

      I'm all for people having different views, but there are definite limits on that. If you're increasing risk of serious harm to the child, and many people around you, then that's where I draw the line. That's the old "If your sober driving works so well for you, why should my drunk driving scare you?".
      Basically, you're choosing to increase risk of harm (up to and including permanent physical damage and death) for arbitrary groups of people, and the child that remains unvaccinated, in exactly the same fashion as a drunk driver does with the car. There's a reason that people get pulled for DUI, and that's it.

      I am in agreement that two parent families produce superior results in general to single. But that has nothing to do with vaccination status, so is completely irrelevant to this discussion.

    4. Re:"have every right to make a bad decision" by psycho12345 · · Score: 1

      Then since that child is your responsibility, you bear ALL liability for the child's actions. So should that child contract a disease that can be vaccinated against and spread it to others, and they die, you get to be on the hook for homicide and all medical costs. Enjoy jail and bankruptcy, and your kid gets to see you behind a window during visiting hours.

    5. Re:"have every right to make a bad decision" by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      t's all very well to rail on anti-vaxer now. Maybe less so when mega-corps start pumping mandatory treatments in future.

      No connection between those dots. Measles vaccine is proven, safe, cheap, and prevents hundreds of deaths and thousands of permanent injuries. And of course a highly infectious disease, making it absurd compare it to designer gene therapy or whatever BS analogy you were going for there.

      Nose cut. Face Spitten. Congratulations you just became a morality lesson.

      Your projetion is noted.

    6. Re:"have every right to make a bad decision" by ayesnymous · · Score: 1

      "We are not fucking barbarians anymore. This is the 21st century. We live in a civilized society now, or at least we should be. And in civilized societies, human beings don't own other human beings. Your children are not your children, no matter what your fucking animal instincts tell you."

      We still are barbarians, considering maybe a million babies each year have the circumcision procedure imposed on them by their parents.

    7. Re:"have every right to make a bad decision" by houghi · · Score: 1

      I wonder how they feel if I drive over their child and say that that happend due to the bad desicion of driving drunk and I have every right to make a bad decicion.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    8. Re:"have every right to make a bad decision" by Agent0013 · · Score: 1

      And yet, you want to tell other people what they are and are not allowed to do to their own bodies. I think you do not understand what owning someone means, since it seems you want to own everybody else.

      --

      -- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
    9. Re:"have every right to make a bad decision" by Magius_AR · · Score: 1

      And yet, you want to tell other people what they are and are not allowed to do to their own bodies. I think you do not understand what owning someone means, since it seems you want to own everybody else.

      Ain't it though? When it comes to abortion, it's all "My body, my choice." But with vaccinations, it's all "Your bodies, my choice." Hypocrites, the lot of them.

  11. Aren't they concerned that being together... by MobyDisk · · Score: 1

    By coming together in one place like this, all it takes is one person with measles to decimate them. I would expect them to be concerned about this, even if they do not wish to be vaccinated. I wonder if the adults are vaccinated? Like, were they vaccinated as children, yet they don't want their children vaccinated?

    1. Re:Aren't they concerned that being together... by ffkom · · Score: 1

      By coming together in one place like this, all it takes is one person with measles to decimate them.

      While deaths or severe complications from measles are easily avoidable by vaccination, most people contracting measles do not suffer any severe complications. So no, they are most probably not concerned of being decimated when they come together.

      Apart from that, there are even lots of anti-vaxxers that practice the dangerous habit of "voluntarily" exposing their children to certain infections, because they are under the believe that this somehow helps their immune system to develop. (The weird misconception of them being that a vaccination would "train" the immune system just as well, with lower risk of complications.)

    2. Re:Aren't they concerned that being together... by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 1

      There is precedent. It worked with cowpox. The cross-immunity for smallpox was documented by Edward Jenner in 1796.

    3. Re:Aren't they concerned that being together... by sjames · · Score: 1

      There's no question that it works. The vaccine itself operates under the same principle. However, the vaccine carries less risk than the disease itself while providing the immune system with the same training.

      OP is questioning the wisdom of providing a much riskier form of vaccine in order to avoid a vaccine. It might make sense if the parents were seeking out cowpox, but that's not what they do. They seek out actual measles.

      It even made sense for chickenpox where most of the risks only happen if you get it as an adult. It made sense to make sure you got it as a child when the risks were low.

    4. Re:Aren't they concerned that being together... by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 1

      > However, the vaccine carries less risk than the disease itself

      This is part of the key. The vaccine is normally _vastly_ safer than direct exposure, especially because it's killed or weakened enough not to spread to other, unsuspecting people.

  12. Idiots by PaoloAgati · · Score: 1

    And I really meant idiots... Hope they won't cry because of a measles epidemic, like the recent in NY State

  13. Re:Their health insurance should cover the risks.. by ffkom · · Score: 1

    This has been subject to lots of prior considerations - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  14. Measles outbreak in Washington State... by BeCre8iv · · Score: 1

    Incubating now.

    --
    This perpetual motion machine Lisa made is a joke, it just keeps getting faster and faster. - Homer
  15. Re:Don't wanna Vaccinate? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    No one probably mentions it due to countries like Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador all having a higher vaccination rate than the US.

  16. Difficult by theendlessnow · · Score: 1

    You don't want to "mandate", but at the same time you don't want to create a disease problem (especially one that could escalate).

    I don't think the "homeschool" safety option is necessarily "safe".

    We're probably going to have to mandate vaccinations and live with the small amount of "collateral damage" (autonomous vehicles will rack up more collateral damage that this).

    1. Re:Difficult by mamba-mamba · · Score: 1

      Can you explain a little bit about how the mandate would be enforced, in your opinion? I notice that you compare collateral damage between autonomous vehicles and mandated vaccines. Does that mean that you believe mandating vaccines will lead to deaths? How would those deaths occur, in your scenario? Would you be willing to help restrain a parent or screaming kid while a health worker administers a vaccine involuntarily? Just a few questions for you to ponder.

      --
      By including this sig, the copyright holders of this work or collection unreservedly place it in the public domain.
  17. Hurry up and colonize mars by belthize · · Score: 1

    So we have somewhere to put these idgits.

  18. Desert island - exactly right... by bradley13 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Vaccinations are part of your public responsibility, like following traffic laws. If you don't want to obey traffic laws, that's easy: don't have a vehicle. If you don't want to vaccinate your kids, that's fine, don't have kids.

    I'm not hugely worried about compliance. An idiot can speed through town a time or three, but eventually they'll get caught. Children's immunizations should be signed off by a pediatrician, and verified at the beginning of every school year, when buying that summer pass to the swimming pool, and other occasions.

    --
    Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
    1. Re:Desert island - exactly right... by strikethree · · Score: 1

      If men weren't such irresponsible assholes, this wouldn't occur.

      Every school year, every school that my children went to (past tense) asked for proof of immunization and were quite militant about it. It was quite ... disconcerting. Made me feel like fighting back.

      Maybe that is where some of this anti-vaxx movement is coming from?

      Myself, I just ignored the militant attitudes because I wanted my kids to NOT get polio or other infectious diseases. Others might just choose that to be the hill they die on. Is it stupid? Yes. Could it have been prevented? Again, yes.

      I honestly don't think a full-on assault against the anti-vaxx people will yield good results. Better to take sense of urgency out of the whole thing so everyone has the space to think clearly. There will still be a few die-hard anti-vaxxers left, but like a disease, without the appropriate number of hosts, it too will mostly die off.

      --
      "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
  19. Just needed someone with measles to come... by tempo36 · · Score: 1

    They're all so anti-vaccine and pro-disease, I'm sure they would have been just fine with a couple of the active measles patients coming to the hearing.

    That'd help things along.

  20. Re:No thank you by Dunbal · · Score: 4, Informative

    Debunked, debunked and debunked. There are quite a few studies that show there's no link between mercury compounds in vaccines and autism. And believe it or not scientists and health care professionals are not "out to get you" with some giant conspiracy to give your kid autism.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  21. Re:This is what happens when you cut fed funding by Dunbal · · Score: 3

    Working through your post it seems you are suggesting that more funding would solve this issue. I don't think throwing more money at schools would fix anything, apart from them building more and bigger gyms, having nicer vacations and buying more iPads (nominally for the kids but actually for the staff). Mismanagement of funding is also a thing.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  22. Very good brain by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Funny

    The smartest man in the world believes vaccines are a danger.

    http://fortune.com/2017/02/16/...

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  23. Re:informed consent by tempo36 · · Score: 2

    Mortality improved for lots of reasons, "Total Food" likely not being any one of them. Things like ventilators, dialysis, antibiotics, and recognition of quarantine practices all improved mortality in the early 1900s. But just because you can save a person by spending huge amounts of money and ventilating them in the ICU doesn't mean that's the best way to manage an illness. Pretty sure those kids would prefer to have never gotten sick in the first place.

  24. Re:Easy solution to the problem: end public educat by Dunbal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm all for vaccinating children, but forcing it on parents is wrong.

    Public safety has to be forced on people for their own good. Things like speed limits and lane markings actually work to cut down traffic accidents. Just letting people drive however the hell they want is dangerous. Things like how to wire your house and building codes actually work to reduce avoidable fires, building collapses, health problems, etc. Just letting people build a house however the hell they want is dangerous. Likewise vaccines. No, it's NOT up to the parents. It's public health policy. You don't like it - tough. It's not all "my rights". It's rights AND RESPONSIBILITIES.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  25. Why not? by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    If ever there was a legitimate time for Trump to order a drone strike on a location it was then and there.

  26. Re:Illegal Immigrants not anti-vaxxers by Dunbal · · Score: 1

    Following your own logic - if every American born citizen is vaccinated then it doesn't matter if illegals come with disease as it would strictly affect illegals...

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  27. Re: No thank you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No point in trying to educate people who have been told by authorities they trust that education is dangerous.

  28. Some of this is the medical industry's fault by joe_frisch · · Score: 1

    The great majority of vaccines are extremely valuable. Unfortunately the same can't be said in general for everything provided by the medical industry, and uninformed / uneducated people may not understand the fundamental difference between say vaccines and over-prescribed pain killers.

    Its easy to think that everyone should be informed, but despite our best efforts one out of ten of the population is in the bottom 10% in terms of understanding things. That is still a lot of people and we need to help them know how to decide.

    I ran into a social media post recently where a mother was saying that she didn't trust doctors do inject "chemicals" into her children, and showed a (true) story about a child who died of a flu vaccine.

    The people opposing vaccination are not evil, they just have not be taught statistics and rational thought. They have no idea how vaccines work. They don't know what sources of information to trust.

    1. Re:Some of this is the medical industry's fault by mamba-mamba · · Score: 1

      A family I know had a daughter who was perfectly normal and healthy and fine become kind of totally mentally disabled within weeks after a vaccine. She now requires 100% constant supervision, and likely will for the rest of her life. I know that doesn't prove anything. But if you were those parents, your perspective would be different. Thanks for your thoughtful post on the matter. Not sure if you were trying to make a joke when you said "one out of ten... is in the bottom 10%." LOL. Even more shocking, only 1 out of 100 is in the top 1%!

      --
      By including this sig, the copyright holders of this work or collection unreservedly place it in the public domain.
    2. Re:Some of this is the medical industry's fault by joe_frisch · · Score: 1

      My comment on the 1 in 10 was to head off possible responses that people need to be better informed, smarter, whatever. (typical on slashdot).

      I'm sorry to hear about you friends daughter - that is terrible.

      Its tricky. Vaccines are in general clearly a huge win. I think people have forgotten the horrors of diseases like measles, polio and the like. Vaccines have almost entirely fixed that. They are not perfect, there is some risk, but I believe that risk is small compared to the disease risk. The problem is that the medical industry has not shown itself to be trustworthy.

      This is really a deeper problem - in the current US there is no "root source of trust". No organization that is sufficiently trusted that the public will believe it on important issues that they cannot themselves understand. The government is not trusted, and there was never any particular reason to believe one could trust industry. Universities are somewhat trusted, but they are also influenced by money. News media is also not trustworthy. What source of information should the public believe, and why should they believe it.

      I trust the CDC which recommends vaccines, but I understand if other people don't trust them.

    3. Re:Some of this is the medical industry's fault by mamba-mamba · · Score: 1

      100% agree. Generally kids should be vaccinated. But I think people should have the right to refuse a vaccine if they are not satisfied that it is sufficiently safe or well-tested or whatever. I do have concern that a situation COULD arise that vaccine makers would essentially corrupt the decision making process to have the AMA or CDC or whatever recommend a vaccine more out of a profit motive than anything else. I mean, look at Ajit Pai. The guy is just a lobbyist for the big telecoms, and he is in charge of the FCC. He could not care less about the rights of the people of America.

      --
      By including this sig, the copyright holders of this work or collection unreservedly place it in the public domain.
    4. Re:Some of this is the medical industry's fault by malkavian · · Score: 1

      It's horrible when a child has problems like that.
      However, there are an endless amount of things that can cause that to happen, and the vast majority have nothing to do with a vaccine being given, and is a classic example of the post hoc logical fallacy.
      If there had been a diagnosis that supported the vaccine being responsible, I'm fairly sure you'd have remembered the syndrome that would be associated with it, and the abreaction that led to the neurological decline (as would they, as in the linked cases where a vaccine has been shown to cause harm, then there are fairly hefty sums paid out by medical insurance). The statistics and possible reactions are well known, and balanced on risk (for example, the risk of vaccinating is a very small chance of small harm, and a vanishingly small chance of major harm. The risk of not vaccinating is no risk of the immediate small or major harms, with several orders of magnitude higher risk of experiencing small, major and catastrophic harm).
      That's why medicine carries insurance. The option is for everyone to cease vaccination, then know the joys of polio, smallpox and the like.

    5. Re:Some of this is the medical industry's fault by joe_frisch · · Score: 1

      Its not clear how to fix regulatory capture here (eg when an industry is so large that the government regulators are likely to be involved in the industry in some way during their careers, and will naturally be biased toward it).

      At the same time, there is really information here, its not just opinions. I think trusting the CDC is the best option, and its not a bad option at the moment. In the great majority of cases I think vaccinations are a good idea.

    6. Re:Some of this is the medical industry's fault by mamba-mamba · · Score: 1

      I am only trying to encourage people to have some compassion and empathy for those who, for whatever reason, have developed strong anti-vaccine viewpoints. Truth is nobody will probably ever know exactly why she developed the problem. They are not close friends of mine. It is just a well known family at this one school. The vaccine COULD have caused it. What is that family supposed to do with their other kids (it is a big family)? People advocating for having CPS take unvaccinated children, and all kinds of varying punishments for anti-vaccine families ultimately have lost sight of simple compassion and are falling back to authoritarian impulses. "I don't have time to educate you so I am going to have medical police come in and force-vaccinate all your kids." Or whatever. To me this is a problem you fix with education (which should be scientifically designed to reach the target audience... which most campaigns so far have not been).

      --
      By including this sig, the copyright holders of this work or collection unreservedly place it in the public domain.
    7. Re:Some of this is the medical industry's fault by fropenn · · Score: 1

      Vaccines are not very profitable in comparison to many other pharmaceuticals. I'm not saying pharmaceutical companies are not corrupt, just that they would tend to target other areas (such as diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure) where the profits are enormous.

    8. Re:Some of this is the medical industry's fault by fropenn · · Score: 1

      If the family wants to protect their daughter from communicable diseases, then yes, they will have their other children vaccinated. I can understand how they would have the viewpoint. But it is a fallacy. Why not blame the restaurants where they ate the day before she had the issue? Or the weather? Or the drinking water? Or a communicable disease? Or air pollution? The vaccine is an easy target because it is memorable, not because there is any evidence it caused this in the child. Saying vaccines COULD have caused this will cause others to skip vaccination, which leads to more injury and death. How is that beneficial for society?

      I would add there are ways to enforce vaccination without becoming authoritarian - how about removing the child tax credit for un-vaccinated children? Enforcement is challenging, but it shouldn't be the determining factor about how exemptions are allowed.

  29. Re:Easy solution to the problem: end public educat by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

    Children are not property. Parents a guardians, not owners.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  30. You can't buy back child lives! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    Dear Americans,

    not everything can be reduced to a sum of money.

    What cost exactly do you plan to tell parents you assigned to the death of their child?
    And how will some material trinkets bring back that specific life?

    No, the right choice is that they don't get to mingle with us at all, if they made decisions that make them a danger to us.
    Originally, that's what prisons were created for. But to be fair to everyone, I'd tell them they can make their own country, with Jesus and measles. And we’ll put an embargo on their asses. If their country succeeds more than ours, we bow and tip our hats to them for having been stupid. But if they start dying, they'll better be prepared to come begging on their knees and promise to play along from now on.

  31. Game Theory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You really need to look at this as a game theory decision. They are not as crazy as they sound (well, some of them are). Even if they don't know it, they are making the following calculation.

    The probability of a negative vaccine reaction is finite, somewhere between 1/50,000 to 1/1,000,000 depending on the vaccine, maybe higher when you throw in human error. The odds of bad outcome from not being vaccinated = the probability of contracting the disease multiplied by the probability of a severe negative reaction. So if I figure 90%+ of the general population is vaccinated, the odds of my kid actually contracting the disease AND having a negative reaction is probably much smaller than the odds of a negative reaction from the vaccine. The "cost" of being vaccinated is higher than the "cost" of not being vaccinated.

    This creates a strong incentive to "cheat" and not get vaccinated. Obviously this only works if the number of non-vax remains small, and endangers those who can't get the vaccine for some reason. You can call them names all you want, but they are ultimately making a rational (if selfish) decision. It's important to understand this if hoping to tackle the problem. Hoping and screaming at people to become altruistic is not helpful. A more reasonable approach is to raise the cost of not being vaccinated. This could be done literally with a fine, or by barring them from public school, raising health care premiums etc.

    1. Re:Game Theory by Comrade+Ogilvy · · Score: 1

      If all you care about is the health of one single individual as some kind of purely isolated mathematical fact, then what you are saying makes some degree of sense. But those of us who have families, which presumably includes, in some fashion, every single school aged child, then your reasoning is woefully incomplete.

      In fact, the biggest beneficiaries of school aged kids getting vaccinated would be younger siblings who have suffer significantly less mortality for it. Yes, that 7 year old being vaccinated from measles greatly reduces the risk of the 3 year old sister dying from measles. That makes a huge amount of sense, if we think about. It also saves grandma and dad, etc., whose immunities might have faded over the decades for all kinds of reasons.

  32. Re:Their health insurance should cover the risks.. by burtosis · · Score: 1

    As with any actual medical analysis, the details are important, often difficult to understand for people who aren't medical professionals, and sadly often give rise to irrational fears among the population. If you look at the WHO analysis there is a group of people who are at risk for a slightly negative outcome over those in that same subset of people who went unvaccinated. This can be in principle reduced to a positive for society and individuals with a screening test, even if there is a slight false negative result. If you have sources showing this company acted in bad faith, or suppressed research results for profit, I would be interested to hear it. From everything I've seen the pushback is mostly emotional and unfounded.

  33. Re:Easy solution to the problem: end public educat by mark-t · · Score: 1

    It stands to reason that a parent, rightfully, has a right to determine the environment in which their child is raised, but in a civilized society, that right should exist only to the extent that the there is some empirical evidence that how they are raising the child is not objectively harmful to the child nor objectively potentially harmful to that society.

    There are two general classifications for objecting to vaccinations: one is for medical reasons, and the other is on philosophical grounds. Vaccinating children who for established medical reasons should not be vaccinated would clearly cause objectively measurable harm to those children, so it fails on that metric. Fortunately, the percentage of people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons has a clear upper bound, and as a result the increased risk it poses to society is negligible on account of herd immunity, which actually helps to protect the unvaccinated children. Thus, not vaccinating children that cannot be safely vaccinated on account of medical reasons appears to be okay.

    However, on the subject of philosophical grounds, there is no upper limit on the number of people who could potentially adopt such a view, and so the principle of herd immunity can start to break down. Those who willfully choose to be unvaccinated start to pose a significant measurable threat to the welfare and safety of the previously mentioned class of people who have no real choice in the matter, and because vaccinations are not foolproof, they even pose an modestly increased threat to those who are vaccinated as well (where the latter group would have otherwise been protected by the principle of herd immunity, just as those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons would be, because they are such a small percentage of the population).

    And it is to that extent that I would disagree with your assessment that vaccinations should not be forced on children in society who cannot show that there are clear and objectively verifiable medical reasons that the child should not be. The threat to the child and to others around them is simply too great. The only option for parents who wish to do this, in my view, is to retreat from society entirely, and raise their children in an isolated community where they cannot pose a risk to the remainder of society.

    Death by illness is always regrettable, but death by illness for which vaccinations exist is doubly so simply because it is entirely preventable with the technology that we have achieved today. It is the height of selfishness and inconsideration for anyone's welfare but one's own to refuse to vaccinate one's child simply because of some philosophy about them they have adopted when that belief has not been sufficiently peer reviewed to become accepted as scientific and objective fact.

  34. Outrage. Punishment by mamba-mamba · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The reactions to this news piece, and to some extent even the way it is written perfectly demonstrate the dysfunctional dynamic gripping America right now. Everything is an OUTRAGE, and the solution that is immediately proposed is a PUNISHMENT. It is an OUTRAGE that these parents should not want to vaccinate their children. The parents should be PUNISHED by being exiled to a desert island or by having their children removed by CPS.

    I would like to challenge you all to find some empathy in your heart and focus on ways to improve voluntary compliance with all the wonderful things you think everyone else should do. I mean, I am sure you are right, because you are smart and you have all the answers. But please focus on gently and kindly educating others instead of sending police of some sort around to force them to do whatever you think is in their best interest.

    --
    By including this sig, the copyright holders of this work or collection unreservedly place it in the public domain.
    1. Re:Outrage. Punishment by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      But please focus on gently and kindly educating others instead of sending police of some sort around to force them to do whatever you think is in their best interest.

      That's been tried, and it's not working. You can give them the facts calmly and reasonably, and they will dismiss you as part of some kind of conspiracy, or as an unwitting tool. Then their precious little snowflakes carry some disease to others, who suffer. Is it kind to permit that to happen to them? Is that gentility?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Outrage. Punishment by joe_frisch · · Score: 1

      What is missing is convincing people who they should belive when they are told *facts*.

    3. Re:Outrage. Punishment by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The point is, you have to make your case to convince others to believe as you do. Sending cops around to arrest them instead is a well-worn path to dystopia.

      So is letting willfully ignorant tools spread disease. What's the lesser of evils, here?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:Outrage. Punishment by Livius · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I would like to challenge you all to find some empathy in your heart

      It is not a virtue to have more empathy for parents who experience modest intellectual discomfort because of their own wilful ignorance than for the victims who suffer physically because of the former's irresponsible choices.

      If you judge everything by your feeling of empathy for one particular person without 1) considering impacts on others, and 2) considering impacts in future as well as impact in the present, then your value system is seriously deficient.

  35. Re: This is what happens when you cut fed funding by physicsphairy · · Score: 1

    I guess you missed the previous slashdot story.

  36. Re: This is what happens when you cut fed funding by coolsnowmen · · Score: 1
    Your point is lost when you apply a specific complaint to the whole. Some taxes, some fees disproportionately hurt poor people. We should look more into fixing that.

    But we know in general that rich people donâ(TM)t take care of poor people out of the goodness in their heart. So we form groups, we form governments. The government is not just some asshat. It is a system of people. It takes real work and leadership to change it for the better.

  37. Re:Medical bankruptcy by PPH · · Score: 1

    They just pray over their sick kids until they die. It costs very little.
    And they have twelve more kids, so it's not that big a deal anyway.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  38. Where’s the rest of the headline? by Anubis+IV · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I didn’t read the article, but I’m pretty sure Slashdot cut the headline off early. I’m not sure how it was supposed to end, but I have a few guesses:

    Hundreds Rally For Their Right To Not Vaccinate Their Children...
    ...measles outbreak ensues
    ...thousands expected but had to stay home with sick children
    ...in what turns out to be the largest CPS sting in history
    ...casket futures soar
    ...millions mourn the demise of reason
    ...immigrants ask if they can fill the upcoming vacancies
    ...then find that their doctors refuse to see them
    ...Doomsday Clock moved closer to midnight
    ...last surviving Iron Lung users gather to protest rally

    I was going to add:
    ...pastor tells them to “stop being stupid”

    But that one actually happened after a measles outbreak in Texas a few years back. The pastor who pushed an anti-vaccine agenda thankfully had the sense to tell everyone to go get vaccinated once the people in their community were getting sick, since the immediate harm was of significantly and obviously greater concern than the fictional harm they were all worried about.

  39. Health & diet nursing sunlight exercise sleep by Paul+Fernhout · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Maybe we should mandate all of these things too? Because there are hundreds of communicable diseases that all those protect people against -- not just measles.

    https://www.drfuhrman.com/shop...
    "In Disease-Proof Your Child, Dr. Fuhrman details how a Nutritarian [vegetable-emphasizing etc.] diet increases a child's resistance to common childhood illnesses like asthma, ear infections, and allergies. He explains how eating a high-nutrient diet during childhood protects against developing chronic illness including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and autoimmune disorders."

    https://www.everydayfamily.com...
    "What all of this means, unfortunately, is that while breastfeeding generally provides the most protection against measles for babies when they are newborns and up to six months, those antibodies wane as they baby gets older. Currently, the CDC doesn't recommend that infants get the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine until they are 12 months old, so babies who are my daughter's age â" 6 months â" are lacking in that protection."

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...
    "It is now clear that vitamin D has important roles in addition to its classic effects on calcium and bone homeostasis. As the vitamin D receptor is expressed on immune cells (B cells, T cells and antigen presenting cells) and these immunologic cells are all are capable of synthesizing the active vitamin D metabolite, vitamin D has the capability of acting in an autocrine manner in a local immunologic milieu. Vitamin D can modulate the innate and adaptive immune responses. Deficiency in vitamin D is associated with increased autoimmunity as well as an increased susceptibility to infection. As immune cells in autoimmune diseases are responsive to the ameliorative effects of vitamin D, the beneficial effects of supplementing vitamin D deficient individuals with autoimmune disease may extend beyond the effects on bone and calcium homeostasis."

    https://www.health.harvard.edu...
    "Just like a healthy diet, exercise can contribute to general good health and therefore to a healthy immune system. It may contribute even more directly by promoting good circulation, which allows the cells and substances of the immune system to move through the body freely and do their job efficiently. ..."

    Adequate sleep is also important for immune function:
    https://valleysleepcenter.com/...
    "One reason our immune system function is so closely tied to our sleep is that certain disease-fighting substances are released or created while we sleep. Our bodies need these hormones, proteins, and chemicals in order to fight off disease and infection. Sleep deprivation, therefore, decreases the availability of these substances leaving us more susceptible to each new virus and bacteria we encounter. This can also cause us to being sick for a longer period of time as our bodies lack the resources to properly fight whatever it is that is making us sick."

    If the logic of forced vaccination holds up, shouldn't we also be putting people in jail for giving children junk food -- as well as for producing or selling junk food consumed by children?

    Or maybe we should jail people who are not getting enough sleep (e.g. people who stay up late reading Slashdot) and so are posing a health risk to everyone?

    Or is that too slippery a slope for people here to consider?

    Humor also boost the immune system. So maybe people who don't laugh enough should also be sent to jail as a health risk? :-)
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.ni

    --
    A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
  40. Re:This is what happens when you cut fed funding by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

    Anti-vaxx disease is most prevalent amongst well-educated, highly-paid Whites. This is not an education problem that money can fix.

  41. Re:They are heroes by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 1

    This comment and clearly half of them in this thread are some sort of crazy propaganda campaign. The density of antivax proponents is too sharp a contrast from the norm of this site

    --

    "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
  42. Re:This is what happens when you cut fed funding by HiThere · · Score: 1

    The federal funding to schools should be cut to zero. Also the federal control over schools. That should be entirely a state or local matter.

    Part of the problem with schools is, indeed, underfunding, but centralized collection of funds and redistribution of them didn't do anything to improve matters. At all. And it allowed the feds to stick ridiculous testing requirements on top of the load. A common test once a year is reasonable. Twice a year is justifiable. Anything more frequent is onerously intrusive interference. But make the test through, not just a multiple choice test that can be passed without understanding the material. Yes, it's harder to evaluate the answers. Tough. That's the real world.

    Also the schools I've encountered are top heavy with administration which is ineffective because of being hamstrung by rules imposed by on high.

    Also, there's no reason a first grade teacher should be required to know calculus, or even algebra. They should be comfortable around simple integers and like to read and love children. Basic medical training is also advisable. Etc. etc.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  43. Why force them or be upset with it? by bussdriver · · Score: 1

    1) Most the stuff you and your children can not catch because you were vaccinated so being exposed isn't a problem. That is why you got vaccinated in the 1st place.

    2) If their kids suffer, it's their own fault. We don't have civilized healthcare but if we did, then it would cost the tax payers something and an argument could be had on that front.

    3) We are overpopulated.

    4) Bad paranoid parents of low IQ (in your opinion) then shouldn't be stopped from lowering their own impact on the gene pool. We have to stop helping Darwin Award contenders from having as many offspring as they can.

    5) The actually quite corrupt medical industry does actually create problems and cover them up. Big Tobacco was an extreme example and it took decades and they are still bigger corps now than ever. The medical industry is less evil and more influential, to not imagine them getting away with murder for profit is just naive.

    6) Statistics. Americans do not grasp math, especially statistics. Even so, people don't think rationally most the time and when you say their kid has a 10% chance of being fucked up unless they get a shot with a 1% chance of also being fucked up... if they hear about that 1% they don't want to take the risk. Don't just apply this topic, Americans freak over everything that isn't even HALF as deadly as driving a car.

    7) P.R. firms helped create the problem. Hired to do a brilliant divide and conquer on where they can get you science and math people attacking their critics for them. Instead of all people uniting against a single bad drug, we've got a Luddite war and nobody is even talking about specifics which would harm the PR firm's employer.

    1. Re:Why force them or be upset with it? by joe_frisch · · Score: 1

      Its not the *kids* fault and they are the ones who suffer.

      Its probably more about education than about IQ. Some children of uneducated parents are very intelligent and to very well later in life.

      The medical industry is not trustworthy - like all industries it is a shark. One should expect it to act like a shark and take appropriate precautions, put in appropriate restraints. Like a shark it isn't "evil", it is just doing what it is designed to do, which is make money.

  44. Ah good, we don't have to round them up by Nocturrne · · Score: 1

    Quarantine those nasty buggers and give them their shots, while we have them together.

  45. Re:Their health insurance should cover the risks.. by HiThere · · Score: 1

    IIUC there is a problem with Dengue fever, in that there are multiple strains, a vaccine against one not only doesn't protect against a different one, it can make that strain considerably more deadly. And the immune system won't allow you to vaccinate against all of them.

    OTOH, I'm not real certain of the name of the particular illness. And it was my understanding that it occurred in South America, not in the Philippines. Still, the effect is real, and at the time I read the article how to deal with it wasn't clear.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  46. Re:Ralling for their right to blend their babies by HiThere · · Score: 1

    If you are talking about tetanus, then you've got a point. Measles isn't usually that deadly.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  47. Hundreds Rally to die by Cancer by Hey_Jude_Jesus · · Score: 1

    It is the same thing.

  48. Re:Easy solution to the problem: end public educat by HiThere · · Score: 1

    Umnh...you think you have infinitely fast reaction time? That you can miraculously kill momentum without skid marks? Or what is the basis for your belief about highway speed limits?

    P.S.: The autobahn has (had?) more serious accidents than other roads per mile driven. They were talking about imposing speed limits on it (in the interest of uniformity in traffic regulations across Europe). I don't know what decision they made/are making.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  49. Re:Easy solution to the problem: end public educat by HiThere · · Score: 1

    Where do you live that you aren't forced to have an ID? I live in the US. When I turned 16 I got a social security number, and when I turned 18 I was registered for the draft. (I wasn't drafted, but I was registered.) Earlier as a boy scout my fingerprints were sent to be registered with the FBI. These days infants are given social security numbers at birth keyed to (I think) their foot-prints, but possibly to their DNA. If not, that's coming soon.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  50. Re:Easy solution to the problem: end public educat by HiThere · · Score: 1

    One problem with this is a number of doctors who were falsely certifying that children shouldn't be vaccinated for medical reasons. You need to deal with that.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  51. Re:Illegal Immigrants not anti-vaxxers by HiThere · · Score: 1

    Evidence? If not, I'll consider you a troll.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  52. Burden of Trust by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Should the sheep fully trust the shepherd? Has the US government ever used citizens as guinea pigs "for the greater good"? Have pharmaceutical companies ever gotten sued for selling a product that they *KNEW from their own testing* was injurious? Is there a single pharmaceutical that hasn't been sued in the last few years for corruption / evading controls / hiding side effects? Doctors and insurance companies and politicians and pharmaceuticals are all made of upstanding, honest people who never cut corners, take bribes, inject their own ego or bias, and always act for the good of the individual, the greater good, and never to line their own pockets. Do you trust them fully? Partially? Where should you draw the line?

    The vaccine manufactures have legislative immunity - they can not be sued. They do not have any economic incentive to make products safer. If they straight-up packaged cyanide and sold it as a vaccine they couldn't be sued without changing the laws first. Is this a trustworthy position? How many other products do you use where the supplier/manufacturer has complete legislative immunity? Would you be comfortable buying a car if you knew that you could not sue the manufacturer even if they cut corners which caused you to crash?

    The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) program has paid billions of dollars in compensation to people injured by vaccines in the last three decades to people injured by vaccines. Even the most wildly high estimates say that no more than 5% of adverse reactions are reported.

    The Department of Health and Human Services was mandated to report in 1986 to Congress every two years about vaccine safety. They have yet to submit a single report. HHS admitted in court to failing to perform their job, as well as breaking federal law. Should you trust the government to ensure vaccine safety? Is the government that keeps failing to do their own paperwork a good watchdog?

    At some point, combining repeatedly untrustworthy companies and repeatedly untrustworthy government and mandating that you not simply buy a product, but use it, not just use it, but inject it - for the greater good - should require a lot more research, a lot more transparency, and a lot more trust - and trust that has been repeatedly violated.

  53. Re:Funnny... by mark_reh · · Score: 1

    I don't know about the distribution across the political spectrum, but one thing is for sure, they are all stupid people.

  54. License to have kids by jwhyche · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You have to have a license to have a dog. Why not a license to have a kid? The application should have some questions like.

    There is ___ magical sky fairy?

    The magical sky fairy will ___ save my kids?

    Science ___ the magical sky fairy.

    Some think like that?

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    1. Re:License to have kids by blindseer · · Score: 1

      You have to have a license to have a dog. Why not a license to have a kid?

      We used to have that, it was called a marriage license. That didn't mean people didn't have children outside of marriage but it did mean a license could be denied if a person was "unfit". Those with children out of wedlock were socially shunned, barred from certain government benefits, and so on. To get a license the government and/or church tended to look for things like if the people were old enough, mentally fit, financially stable, not closely related, and more subjective things like "good moral character". It was a good system that many parts of the world adhered to for thousands of years.

      When people thought it unnecessary to get married before having children things tended to not go well for the children. Then we also got people that thought they were due the legal benefits of marriage even though they were unable or unwilling to have any children. Now a marriage license means nothing. In some parts of the world it's quite normal to not get married like we think of it today, with a ceremony and signed legal documents. Instead they get married like before we had marriage licenses where the couple simply make a verbal contract with each other to raise a family. I believe the verbal contract between two future parents is far more important than any license. A couple can sign all the papers in the world but if they have no real intent to stick together then the children have a high probability of poverty, crime, ignorance, and just generally anti-social behavior.

      Yep, we had a license to have children. Then people that thought they knew better tore it to pieces, set it on fire, then pissed on the ashes.

      --
      I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
    2. Re:License to have kids by Agent0013 · · Score: 1

      But, you seem to believe in a magical injection fairy. Same thing, other side of the coin. The stuff you are told is not the whole truth, but you believe it because it comes from your priests (doctors, scientists). You sweep the lies that have been exposed an unworthy, but keep on believing the new lies.

      --

      -- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
  55. Fair enough by duke_cheetah2003 · · Score: 1

    Don't wanna vaccinate? Then please move into the woods and never expose anyone to your unvaccinated kids. Also, no doctors for you. You forfeit the right to all doctor and hospital care. You can stitch your own wounds and set your own bones, since you obviously know better than the professionals.

    They should just make a law about this and be done with it. No one should have the right to endanger their fellow citizens based on falsehoods, unfounded paranoid and/or plain stupidity.

    Society needs to shun these people like the lepers they aspire to be.

  56. Re:Can we stop telling others how to live their li by mark_reh · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I suppose you're right. Civilization and society have no benefit to anyone and we should all be able to just do whatever we want whenever we want to do it. I mean, what's the point of having laws? I don't want some people I don't know telling me what I can and can't do. Screw that. Why should those people have authority over me just because I happen to live in the same country or state, or city as them? I didn't ask them to build all those roads and utility systems that have been around since before I was born. Why should I pay taxes to maintain, repair, or expand them? Let it all fall apart.

    Why do people like you always post as anonymous cowards?

  57. WTF?! by plazman30 · · Score: 1

    Seriously? WTF? As much as I hate to say it, an outbreak of Measles isn't going to convince anti-vaxers to vaccinate their kids. Measles comes and then goes. It's long term health effects aren't seen for years or decades. What will knock some sense in these idiots is if we have a Polio outbreak and only their unvaccinated kids end up in wheelchairs, needing braces, or trapped in an iron lung.

  58. Re:Don't wanna Vaccinate? by Shikaku · · Score: 1

    Except immigrants have higher vaccination rates than the USA: https://www.who.int/immunizati... good job, your "dirty immigrant" argument falls flat on its ass

  59. Re:Illegal Immigrants not anti-vaxxers by Shikaku · · Score: 1

    Except immigrants have higher vaccination rates than the USA: https://www.who.int/immunizati... vs https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fasta...

  60. They will go underground? by Daralantan · · Score: 1

    many vaccine opponents will "... go underground..."

    Do they mean something like 6 feet under?

  61. So, they are all in one place? by Kargan · · Score: 1

    Quick! Now is our chance to take them all out at once!

    --
    Palaces, barricades, threats, meet promises
  62. Re: Funnny... by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

    Most of the anti vaccination folks I have had the surprised pleasure to encounter are very conservative and very much âoesalt of the earth peopleâ. Apologies to the movie Blazing Saddles

  63. Re:Ralling for their right to blend their babies by malkavian · · Score: 1

    It's damn nasty though in the complications:
    https://www.cdc.gov/measles/ab...

  64. Swell by Greyfox · · Score: 1

    Anti-vax rally sounds like a great place to pick up measles.

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    1. Re:Swell by houghi · · Score: 1

      The next time one of these events happen, a kid, who has measels, should join the rally.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  65. Re:Easy solution to the problem: end public educat by malkavian · · Score: 1

    That's an ethics violation, and should have them struck off.

  66. Re:No thank you by Type44Q · · Score: 1, Troll

    There are quite a few studies that show there's no link between mercury compounds in vaccines and autism.

    And only a drooling pro-establishment mouthbreather would expect those studies to show anything else.

  67. Re:Their health insurance should cover the risks.. by dgatwood · · Score: 1

    And what price are you going to put on the price of a death caused by them not vaccinating their child(ren)?

    From a health insurance perspective, IMO, the cost should be the cost of the failed attempt to keep the kid alive, because that's what the health insurance company will end up paying. Basically, parents would have two choices:

    • Liability-only policy — covers the added risk to other people's kids. Using measles as an example, if we assume that it kills one in a thousand reported cases and has a three in a hundred chance of an infected person infecting someone who is vaccinated (to an extent that would result in it being reported), then the cost would be 3/100,000 times a week in the hospital at $2,000 a day ($14k total), which comes to about $0.42 over the expected period between when the patient is born and when that person is likely to get exposed to the illness in question (likely less than five years from the start of schooling) times the number of children that the kid could expose on an average day. So maybe 30 x .42 / 5, or $2.52 per year, per vaccine. However, in the event that the kid whose parents choose this policy gets sick enough to require hospitalization, the parents must pay the entire cost of medical care themselves.
    • Full coverage policy — covers the added risk to the kid him/herself. With the previous numbers, that would be $14 over those same five years. So probably ~$2.80 more per year per vaccine, plus an extra $2.52 per vaccine to cover the liability part.

    So basically, an extra $38 per year should roughly cover parents who choose not to vaccinate their kids. Of course, the parents of the kid who died, assuming they know that an anti-vaxxer kid was involved in spreading it, could easily sue the parents of that kid for negligent homicide. And there's no limit to that liability. Ostensibly, the health insurance companies could require the parents to carry extra liability insurance for fear of getting caught in the middle of such a fight, in which case they might consider the risk to be 3/100,000 times a million dollars over five years, or an extra $6 per year times 30 kids, or $180 a year.

    So my guess is that it would all end up being a couple of $200 to $250 dollars more per kid per year (let's call that 5%). Or if the parents are willing to let their own kid die without hospitalization in the event that he or she gets sick, it would be slightly less.

    However, there's also a secondary risk that has to be factored in. The reason those rates are so low is because vaccination rates are so high. Back when vaccination rates were zero, Measles hospitalized about 1/1000 children in the U.S. every year, by my math (48,000 hospitalizations out of about 47 million people under 18). So that raises it to $14 per year per kid plus that $180 legal liability, times seven vaccines, or just shy of $1400 per year.

    Still not nearly as high as I would have expected. But yeah, not vaccinating your kids is seriously expensive to society. If the anti-vaxxers had to pay a 25% premium on their health insurance per kid, they might think twice about how seriously they value their right to opt out. And this was using measles as a metric. Some diseases like mumps and rubella would likely cost less, but polio is enough more expensive to make up for those and then some.

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  68. Re: Funnny... by terrycarlino · · Score: 1

    I'm afraid Pew disagrees with you. Thier research says that 12% of liberals believe vaccines are unsafe, but only 10% of conservatives do.

    Everyone is allowed to have their own opinions, but they are not allowed to have their own facts.

  69. Re:This is what happens when you cut fed funding by Kohath · · Score: 1

    Staff would also get a more secure pension. That's one of the biggest expenses. Pensions don't teach children.

  70. Re:Ralling for their right to blend their babies by HiThere · · Score: 1

    If you had said "It can be that nasty", I'd agree with you. But you said "is", and that's not usually true.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  71. Time for Colorado to: by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    1) require that all students, in all schools be vaccinated.
    2) require that all large districts (say more than 40K students) offer up 1 school where personal choice un-vaccinated kids can attend school. For those who have a TRUE medical excuse, they will be allowed to attend regular schools.
    3) All students that are personal choice to not vaccinate, shall home school, if not attending one of the aforementioned schools.
    4) any parent that is caught cheating on this will pay for any and all medical treatments of other kids, if an infection is found in said school. If a child dies and and any personal choice unvaccinated child was attending, then parents will be charged with first degree murder.
    5) all universities/post elementary schools will require full vaccination.

    Simple as that. The parents need to be held responsible for this. If they are the cause of others dying, then they need to be charged with murder.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  72. Re:Easy solution to the problem: end public educat by mark-t · · Score: 1

    The number of doctors that do this is also quite small and unlikely to impact the herd immunity to any great degree, since strong penalties can exist for doctors that would knowingly falsify such information, and can therefore be handled on a case-by-case basis.

  73. While we're at it by techdolphin · · Score: 1

    I wonder if the parents who want the right to avoid vaccinations also want the right to kill their children, kill other children, or to shoot a gun in a public place. In a sense that is what they are doing.

    BTW, there are people whose immune systems are compromised and cannot get vaccines for medical reasons. They depend on herd immunity.

    Hopefully, this craziness will end soon, and the government should and will require vaccines, except when their is a medical reason not to.

  74. Jail them. by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    For the record: I don't like having to advocate for an extreme solution like this, but these people are a danger to public health and they must be interdicted. I'm getting damned sick and tired of people being so wilfully ignorant and everyone else paying the price. In 2019 there is NO REASON for anyone to get measles, whooping cough, polio, or anything else there are childhood vaccinations against, these vaccinations have been used safely for DECADES and DECADES. If some adults are so stupid as to insist their kids don't get them, then someone has to step in. Sorry, but I'm not sorry at all, this is just the way it has to be.

  75. Re:Easy solution to the problem: end public educat by mark-t · · Score: 1

    Nobody is saying you can't go off and have your own society where everybody has to be vaccinated

    That's fine... because that's exactly what we are trying to do. The fact that this "own society" happens to be the majority is irrelevant, and the problem is raised when antivaxxers want to also be part of that society.

    Because, as I said, with no upper bound on the number of people that could voluntarily choose to not vaccinate, it poses a *proven* increased risk of death to people around them who didn't make such a voluntary choice... a risk that wouldn't exist in the first place if the only people who didn't vaccinate were those that did so for medical reasons.

    I support your right to choose not to vaccinate, but you better damn well believe that I'm going to expect that you not be welcome in a society where the only grounds for refusal is objectively proven medical data.

  76. Re:No thank you by Dunbal · · Score: 1

    Resorting to insults weakens your argument, it does not strengthen it. What exactly would be the benefit to "giving" a certain percentage of kids autism?

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  77. Re:Easy solution to the problem: end public educat by Dunbal · · Score: 1

    Driving is a right you earn by acquiring a license. However that right comes with responsibilities - the responsibility to obey traffic laws, and the responsibility to maintain your vehicle in good order.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  78. Re: Funnny... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Wow. Ai is sure coming close to generating sentences that have actual meaning.

  79. Re:This is what happens when you cut fed funding by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 2

    Family emphasis on scholastics outweighs all other factors in predicting scholastic success, including dollars per pupil and class size and days in school per year.

    Arguing about this stuff misses the point. Better to look at media crapping on helicopter parents and tiger moms.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  80. Re:Health & diet nursing sunlight exercise sle by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    If the logic of forced vaccination holds up, shouldn't we also be putting people in jail for giving children junk food -- as well as for producing or selling junk food consumed by children?

    Maybe. But what we should definitely do is prohibit advertising to children, as they do in some nations, because studies have shown that young children cannot differentiate between commercials and programming. (There are several jokes there, yes.)

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  81. Re:False Premise of Medical Herd Immunity Drives V by dgatwood · · Score: 1

    In fact, the death rate from measles in 1960 was only 2-3 cases per million.

    That's completely false. Throughout that period, the case fatality rate was one per 1,000 reported cases, or about one per 10,000 total cases, which is two orders of magnitude higher than your claim.

    Also, measles resulted in hospitalization for about one out of every 1,000 minors per year. That's not one out of every 1,000 cases. That's one out of every thousand people under 18. IIRC, about one in ten of those had encephalitis as a result, and a quarter of those likely suffered permanent brain damage. Imagine one person getting brain damage per 40,000 kids, and you'll begin to understand just how wrong you are about the severity of measles.

    Death from measles can occasionally occur but the scary statistics reported in the US and EU about the measles deaths never point out that child mortality is directly proportional to nutritional status and the lack of adequate vitamin C and vitamin A.

    So you're saying that it's okay for kids to die or suffer brain damage, just as long as they're poor people's kids? There's medication for that sort of thinking, you know.

    Besides, you're also factually wrong. Even though the anti-vaxxers tend to be wealthy, and their kids have better nutrition than average, the current U.S. case fatality rate in the U.S. is even higher than it was in the 1960s, at 3 per thousand. Why? Because the other people who aren't vaccinated besudes the anti-vaxxers' kids are all the people who, for health reasons, legitimately cannot tolerate an attenuated virus. So no, skipping the measles vaccine isn't killing people who don't take their vitamins. Rather, it is killing people who through no fault of their own are immunocompromised.

    So although it is pedantically true that case fatality rates much higher (up to one in four) occur in underdeveloped nations, this is also true for pretty much any illness. And measles is still a really bad illness even in developed countries, even today.

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  82. Follow the money by davecb · · Score: 1

    Assume you want to be rich. Where do you profit from selling a lie?

    I can see it in politics, we and the US both have had "monster raving looney parties". People donated money to them, and their leaders profited. Where's the profit in selling flat earths, anti-vaxes (I liked DEC's VAXes) and the like?

    --
    davecb@spamcop.net
  83. Re:Funnny... by Darinbob · · Score: 2

    You don't need to bring politics into this, your agenda of trying to prove that those leaning left are stupid falls on its face because there are plenty of examples of idiots of every political stripe.

  84. Re: Funnny... by Darinbob · · Score: 1

    So 12% versus 10% is enough of a difference to conclude "mostly liberals"?

  85. Re: Funnny... by Darinbob · · Score: 2

    HPV is not harmless. It is harmless to many people but harmful to some. Just like measles doesn't kill most people, even though it does kill a large number.

    Antivaxxers are stupid in the sense that they are more believing in fringe conspiracies than in science, and that they feel good about their rejection of science. Many of them don't just stop at "it's possibly harmless" and head straight into woo-woo land of thinking that vaccines are a government plot. It's one thing to be raised in a religious culture that rejects modern medicine, that's just ignorance and culture, but it's just blatantly stupid to reject your own education and the huge preponderance of science to reject this because of some unverified post on the internet.

    Sheesh, at least the flat-earthers are entertaining because they're harmless, whereas the anti-vaxxers are dangerous.

  86. Hypocrites by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 1

    To those of you digging out your pitchforks and torches expressing disdain towards those who don't vaccinate their kiddos, let me ask you this:

    How many of you get your Flu shot every year ?
    How many of you have received the HPV vaccine ?
    Pneumococcal Pneumonia Vaccine ?
    Shingles ?

    When were your last immunization boosters ? ( for those of you who are old enough for it to apply to you )

    If you haven't done any of the above ( especially the Flu one on an annual basis ) AND are joining in with the mob complaining about people who don't vaccinate their kids, what is your excuse for not getting the aforementioned vaccines ?

    Before you mod-flame this question into oblivion, and I'm fairly certain that's the way it will go because it goes against the echo-chamber hive mind, do make it a point to remember that a simple strain of Flu is responsible for killing more people than probably every other disease combined.

    Some of you probably do get them. I'm guessing, however, the majority do not.

    Thus my question.

    1. Re:Hypocrites by Mike+Van+Pelt · · Score: 1

      Flu shot: Every year.
      HPV: Unnecessary. I'm entirely monogamous, and this is spectacularly unlikely to change.
      Pneumonia: Not yet, though I'm getting up towards the age it might be indicated.
      Shingles: See above. Shingles vaccine doesn't keep you from getting the virus. It keeps you from getting an outbreak of the virus you've already got if your immune system does a dip.

  87. Re:Easy solution to the problem: end public educat by Livius · · Score: 1

    You need to deal with that.

    Take away that doctor's licence to practise.

  88. Re:Illegal Immigrants not anti-vaxxers by Livius · · Score: 1

    ...plus those citizens with legitimate medicals reasons not to vaccinate, or for whom the vaccination was less than wholly effective, etc.

  89. Re:Easy solution to the problem: end public educat by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    So we can force people to vaccinate but we can't force people to have an ID?

    The only connection between those dots is the crap between your ears. You not having an ID isn't going to carry the risk of getting everyone who does have ID's around you sick, or possibly even dead.

  90. Re:Easy solution to the problem: end public educat by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    Do I get to choose what to inject into you?

    Do we get to chose to ignore the lame slippery slope and false equivalency fallacies? There's no connection between a safe and nearly 100% effective vaccine and Tuskegee, you incompetent boob.

  91. Rights by Wizardess · · Score: 1

    The parents have their rights as parents. They can refuse to vaccinate their children. Personally I think these parents are in practical terms dumber than a spoiled turnip despite their likelihood of being well educated. That says something about our educational system and abilities to think critically. Nonetheless, this is their right.

    With all rights lie responsibilities. Their children should have the right to sue their parents for mal-parenting and refer their parents to the police for possible criminal prosecution for endangering the child filing the suit. The parents must be prepared to face their responsibility for their actions.

    Fair is fare, after all.
    {^_^}

  92. Those "individuals" actually live in a society by CptJeanLuc · · Score: 1

    If individuals could do whatever they wanted, and let no "government" impose any restrictions, then everyone should be allowed to walk up to someone and stab them in the back.

    Stabbing a child in the back? Obviously not - nearly 100% of us instinctively recoil from that idea. But ... enough people exercising their right to make idiot decisions causing a measles outbreak, and they will kill that child with weak immune system who cannot get vaccinated due some allergy,.

    Dead is dead, whether it is from a knife in the back or from disease. I think that if you took some of those anti-vaxxers to a hospital, showed them that "here is a group of kids in poor health who cannot get vaccine, if we get a measles outbreak one of them is likely to die - let's just get it over with now, we will let your child not have the vaccine if you strangle one of these kids with your own hands" - there would not be too many takers.

    This is an extension of the same logic that guns are so dangerous. It is a more impersonal weapon which can kill from a distance. In addition to being a force equalizer, it is a lot easier (I assume) to point at someone and pull the trigger, rather than having to go up and wrestle them while stabbing with a knife. Well, anti-vaxxing is just that. It is something which kills someone you don't know from an action that has no violence associated with it whatsoever.

    Those anti-vaxxers should just go live on their own island, and put in place whatever "no government, no regulation, I will do whatever the frack I want" policies - then we send some drones over there and broadcast Lord of the Flies II live for a couple months, until they extinct themselves. Because humans are herd beings, and herds don't functions when its members are not willing to sacrifice for the collective good.

    Actually, that would be one way to deal with anti-vaxxers, government saying "ok, if you are going to do that, here is a metric crap ton of benefits we are not going to provide - no healthcare, no school, here is a chip for your car so you will be paying for using roads, no police coming to your house if you call 911, no help from embassies if you get into trouble while abroad, you are banned from national parks, ..."

  93. Human rights by HeadOffice · · Score: 1

    If we give the government the mandate to forcefully inject our bodies with vaccines against measles, then why not against an arbitrary flu. Having the flu causes economic damage, since you will not show up at work.

    And, why not have a chip implanted that permanently measures your health, so medical attention can be sought immediately when necessary? Surely you wouldn't want your children to risk being late for cancer treatment?

    Oh well, now we have a chip, why not add some more features that are useful for running society more smoothly?

    It's a slippery slope and it's bodily integrity that is at stake here.

  94. Re:No thank you by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    You're 100% correct. Fortunately none of our drugs contain Mercury, not in chemical form not in planet form.

    Read a book.

  95. Re:This is what happens when you cut fed funding by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    Pensions don't teach children.

    Not directly. But they sure as hell have a bearing on the quality of education your child receives.

    Right now you would have to have failed school to decide to become a teacher in a *USA public* school. It's a thankless shit job with horrible pay, crap benefits, long hours, and a bureaucratic overhead that rivals that of the UK government.

  96. Could someone please explain to me... by Moochman · · Score: 1

    how can an "unprotected" kid hurt "protected" kids, if the protected ones are vaccinated?

  97. Re:Easy solution to the problem: end public educat by Dunbal · · Score: 1

    No, but if you drink alcohol and engage in public disorderly conduct, or if you drive while intoxicated, you will be "forced" into jail. Rights and responsibilities. Drink all you want but act responsibly. Drive all you want but do it responsibly. And have all the kids you want but raise them responsibly, which includes vaccines.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  98. Re:Easy solution to the problem: end public educat by walllaby · · Score: 1

    Exactly. In other words, it's the Social Contract.

    Some believe they are born with freedom, which means freedom to do whatever they goddamn well please and everyone else be damned. There are places for them, but they're called communes.

  99. Collective Darwin Award Nomination by Kevoco · · Score: 1

    Rarely do you get to see it working across generations

  100. Re: Funnny... by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

    Poor A/C, are your descendants vaccinated?

  101. Re:Easy solution to the problem: end public educat by sdinfoserv · · Score: 1

    oh, a "taxes is theft" dolt.... Someone who doesn't want first responders, public schools, roads, bridges, highways, jails, parks or anything for the public good. Lets just to back to the lawless old west days.