I notice that it is generally REPUBLICANS who are looking to leap to the forefront and take away parental and individual rights.
My daughters are doing this with their kids and had to look everywhere to find a doctor who was OK with it. Most want to do them all at once, collect a fee and be done with it.
Get the vaccines. It is pathetic that we are seeing resurgence of things long ago solved. Yes, I know that many are because of illegal aliens, but still, vaccines work and save lives, not getting them puts kids and everyone at risk. For the public good, until there is credible reason to skip a vaccine, I am all for requiring them. I don’t want my kid sick because some other kid didn’t get their vaccine. I also don’t want my taxes paying for that sick kid when the vaccine could have prevented it. And what about the guilt of the parent who let their kids and others get sick because the skipped a vaccine?
Brilliant, thorough article.
No FReeper should be pro mandatory government vaccine. They need to reread both this article and the US Constitution.
There are much better areas for assertion of parental rights, such as what is being taught in fhe public schools. Questions for the vaccine objectors: What if your kid caught the disease and spread it to somebody else? If your kid did spread the disease to somebody elae, would you approve of that somebody-else suing you for damages?
For a starting point concerning who calls the shots, since the states have never expressly constitutionally delegated to the feds the specific power to regulate, tax and spend for INTRAstate healthcare purposes, vaccination policy starts with the states.
“Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States.” —Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
”State inspection laws, health laws, and laws for regulating the internal commerce of a State, and those which respect turnpike roads, ferries, &c. are not within the power granted to Congress [emphases added].” —Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
”From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited [emphasis added].” —United States v. Butler, 1936.
And if the states decide that the feds should be involved in vaccination policy then the states must appropriately amend the Constitution.
I disagree. Understand that I am pro-vaccine personally, but I dont want to give the government the right to FORCE or COERCE anyone to take medicine. It is the nose under the tent.
Ask yourself this, If the government can force vaccines, why cant it force:
- Guardasil on little girls
- ADHD meds on active little boys
- Prozac on members of those it considers undesirable
- abortions
Secondly, there are those who have medical reasons for not receiving vaccines. I was one. I did not get my small pox vaccine till I joined the Army because of a skin condition. My family considered the risks and decided against the vaccine.
That is what freedom is all about. Making choices and accepting the risks of those choices.
From CDC
In the decade before the live measles vaccine was licensed in 1963, an average of 549,000 measles cases and 495 measles deaths were reported annually in the United States. However, it is likely that, on average, 3 to 4 million people were infected with measles annually; most cases were not reported. Of the reported cases, approximately 48,000 people were hospitalized from measles and 1,000 people developed chronic disability from acute encephalitis caused by measles annually.
From UpToDate ...
Pneumonia is the most common cause of measles-associated death in children; it occurs in approximately 6 percent of cases [4]. Respiratory tract infections occur most frequently among patients <5 years and >20 years of age.
Pulmonary complications of measles virus infection include bronchopneumonia, laryngotracheobronchitis (croup), and bronchiolitis [6,18]. Measles has also been associated with development of bronchiectasis, which can predispose to recurrent respiratory infections [18]. Bacterial superinfection may occur in up to 5 percent of cases.
Neurologic complications associated with measles include encephalitis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis and subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.
Acute measles-induced encephalopathy has been described in the setting of human immunodeficiency virus infection; this manifestation is rare [32].
Encephalitis — Encephalitis occurs in up to 1 per 1000 measles cases... Approximately 25 percent of children have neurodevelopmental sequelae; rapidly progressive and fatal disease occurs in about 15 percent of cases
ADEM Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is a demyelinating disease that occurs in about 1 per 1000 measles cases. ADEM following measles infection is associated with a 10 to 20 percent mortality [33]; this is higher than mortality from ADEM due to other causes (up to 7 percent) [36]. Residual neurologic abnormalities are common among survivors, including behavior disorders, mental retardation, and epilepsy
SSPE is a fatal, progressive degenerative disease of the central nervous system that usually occurs 7 to 10 years after natural measles virus infection. Its pathogenesis is not well understood but may involve persistent infection with a genetic variant of measles virus within the central nervous system [8,37].
Between 1960 and 1974, the estimated incidence of SSPE was 8.5 cases per million cases of measles. Between 1970 and 1980, the incidence fell to 0.06 cases per million; the decline paralleled the decline of measles cases as a result of vaccination (with a lag time of several years) [38]. Data derived from the resurgence of measles infection in the United States between 1989 and 1991 suggest that the risk of SSPE may be 10-fold higher than originally estimated, based on follow-up study of cases of biopsy-proven SSPE [39].
This is the most ‘virulent’ topic on FR. I even had one freeper condemn me to hell and “wouldn’t even spit on me as I suffer burning in hell” for daring to say vaccines are a good thing.
As a practicing Veterinarian, may I offer a somewhat different perspective??? Rabies Vaccination is the only Veterinary vaccination with any legal requirement in most of the US. Although we know that a vaccination series develops immunity and protects our puppies and kittens from a variety of diseases, owners have the right to refuse any vaccinations -— no problem. In fact, they can refuse a legally required Rabies Vaccination -— I am a private citizen with no enforcement authority.
I face the vaccination choice issue on a daily basis. Many times, I get to see the unvaccinated animal back in the clinic within its first two years sick with a disease we might have easily prevented by vaccination -— especially Parvovirus infection, a very serious and often fatal disease. Too many times I have had owners cuss, cry, beg, and offer to pay any amount if I can just promise to save their unvaccinated furbaby that they love so much. Although I always try my best, too many times treatment is unsuccessful for something 90+% preventable.
I have even diagnosed active clinical Rabies in an unvaccinated dog owned by a fellow Veteran, and worked to get him protected ASAP to keep him from becoming infected with that horrific fatal disease. Thankfully it turned out well -— but if his dog had been vaccinated there is a 90+% chance he would never have been exposed at all.
Back when the Parvovirus first mutated from Feline Panleukopenia and jumped into dogs, a completely unprotected species, animals of all ages were infected and many died. Not until an effective vaccine was available, and a significant portion of the population was vaccinated to provide sufficient herd immunity between the active cases, did the Parvo epidemic subside.
Of course, parents should choose for their children -— but they must also be fully willing to accept the personal responsibility for a serious or fatal disease that was preventable, as well as the exposure of other vulnerable children. The fact that so many previously near-eradicated diseases are returning, and spreading through available unprotected populations, is a sad testament to our national immunity.
WE must be careful and cognizant about our choices -— because disease doesn’t care about opinion or politics.
This is a non-scientific comparison. The correct comparison is the death or injury rate from the vaccine to the death or injury rate of the disease in unvaccinated populations. The other item overlooked is the reduction in birth defects caused by infection of unvaccinated pregnant women. Boomers are the last generation that had siblings or schoolmates who were born damaged by Rubella.
I have also seen measles kill children when I worked in Africa.
Measles vaccine saves lives. Epidemics stop quickly because of herd immunity stops it spreading to the vulnerable.
and measles is more severe in adults and in children with immune problems.
No, lady, you are not an expert. You just read a bunch of books including a lot by self proclaimed experts with an anti science agenda.... And as they say, garbage in garbage out.