Opinion: Tightening vaccine rules may backfire
By Brendan Nyhan
In a number of states, parents are allowed to opt out of legal requirements to have their children vaccinated before entering school by claiming a “personal belief” or “philosophical” exemption. These provisions have raised a great deal of concern since the Disneyland measles outbreak, including in California, where it began. Unfortunately, the blundering approach state legislators there have taken shows how direct attacks on exemptions can rally the anti-vaccine cause.
Senate Bill 277, which would eliminate the personal belief exemption, passed the Senate Health Committee on a 6-2 vote last week and heads to its second hearing in the Education Committee on Wednesday. The bill is scheduled to go through multiple committees, which is creating numerous opportunities for opponents to promote misinformation about the supposed dangers of vaccines.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine leader, compared the issue to the Holocaust in comments in Sacramento before the screening of a scientifically unsubstantiated anti-vaccine film last week. An anti-vaccine group from Minnesota financed the airing of a television ad showing an infant having a seizure. Other vaccine opponents made similarly dubious claims about the risks of immunization in testimony to the Health Committee and jeered vaccine advocates from the audience.
“What’s worse is that most of the votes for the bill so far have come from Democrats”
Here I thought this opinion piece was going to have some actual facts about the vaccine debate, and what the divide is likely to do to the public school system.
But no. All this guy’s worried about is the Democrats looking bad. LOL!
P.S. I am pro-vaccine, but anti-mandatory. Nobody should be forced to put anything into their body that they don’t want to.
Dogula, once again you don’t get it. The kids are required to vaccinated prior to being cooped up in a classroom with kids who have responsible parents. If the irresponsible parents want to keep their kids at risk for no rational reason then they can do that. But their kids should absolutely not be allowed to sit next to my kids.
If there was any shred of medical literature that suggested vaccines cause disease beyond the 1 / million reaction then the answer should change.
But since there is not even one study that suggests anything other than vaccines being safe and effective their kids should not be allowed to put my kids at risk.
If your kids are vaccinated, how are mine putting yours at risk?
P.S. As noted before, mine would be vaccinated. I am pro vaccine. Just anti-force.
P.P.S. Actually, come to think of it, mine probably wouldn’t be in a public school anyhow. The propaganda has taken over the education in those indoctrination centers. Time to home school.
Gardasil….look it up and then rant about how its ok to be forced to put it in your teenage daughters body.
Ohhhhh, its all the democrats fault. Obama is such a bad man, the liberals are taking over the world!!!! Oh the horror of it all…..lets just keep our heads in the sand..
Get online; go to PBS Frontline; scroll down to The Vaccine Wars and watch it. Then render your opinions
Dogula, It is quite simple. First, not all children can get vaccinated because they are too young or have immune systems that are compromised (like kids with cancer). Second, not all vaccines take. The way only you find out that your kid’s vaccine didn’t take is the that some nimno’s kid who is not vaccinated brings it into the classroom and your kid, who you thought was safe gets sick. Of course no one is talking about how it can kill Grandma off as well. If enough people are vaccinated, then the disease can not get a foothold in the population to become an epidemic. The average person with measles infects 11-14 people and they are highly infectious before they have any symptoms. We all talk mortality, but prior to the vaccine, there were 1-3 MILLION cases a year. About 20% of infant who get it have to hospitalized and many go on to have lifelong complications. That doesn’t even talk about the number that are born with defects because they were exposed in the womb. The anti-vaxers are just plain ignorant and their ignorance is putting millions of children at risk.
I do understand all that, Lisa. And I agree with you that people who choose not to vaccinate against the most dangerous diseases are foolish and misinformed.
But I still cannot support forcing anybody to take a vaccine if they don’t want it. Where will you draw the line?
Lisa is of course correct, but also completely over Dogula’s head.
Dog, what is the difference between mandating no Drunk driving AND enforcing no Drunk driving to mandating Vaccines and enforcing Vaccination? Both “mandates” are for the public good.
The entire anti-vaccination argument was built on debunked research.
We do NOT want Polio to make a comeback like Measles has.
I’m no libertarian, but the government needs to stop poking it’s nose into every damn thing. When will people actually be able to make decisions for themselves and have a little privacy? If they don’t want to vaccinate that’s their decision, end of story. Is this China or America? I forgot.
Grass, you really want “Typhoid Mary(s)” running around again? This is the 21st Century. Infants can’t be vaccinated, should they have to be isolated for 10 months out of fear of catching Measles, Polio etc? How about kids with failed immune systems, same fate? Just because some “Parents” want their children to “experience” diseases?
We are talking about Diseases that are often fatal, NOT the type of shoes to wear.