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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."
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."
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.
I want a religious exemption from speed limits.
Totally with you, I mean which sane person would want their enemies to live a longer healthier life?
... 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.
"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.
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.
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.